May 9, 2002

MASSIVE VIOLATIONS OF THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN

 In light of the New York (UN) Conference on the rights and conditions of children it is necessary to restate that the EPRDF in power in Ethiopia continues to grossly violate the rights of children and young people. It is to be remembered that SOCEPP had in the past issued several statements on the matter.

 As a guerrilla organization, the TPLF/EPRDF sued thousands of child soldiers. In power since 1991, the EPRDF has continued to violate the rights of the child even though Ethiopia has signed most of the international covenants regarding the right of children. Of more than a million homeless people the majority of those sleeping on the streets are children. These children are subjected to police brutalities routinely. In one infamous incident hundreds of them were rounded by the police and taken at night to the forests on the outskirts of the capital, Addis Abeba, and dumped. Hyenas devoured a few of the boys. Children have not been given due legal protection and have thud been subjected to debilitating labor under harsh conditions. Small girls continue to be subjected to genital mutilation (in some places Pharaonic practices exist), are married off at an early age, etc. Young girls are sent off as domestic slaves to the Middle East where they continue to be subjected to inhumane treatments without ever getting any protection at all. Youngsters are exposed to the AIDS scourge as child prostitution is getting encouragement from those in power who are desperate to gain cash from sex tourists. In the streets of Addis Abeba and other towns, child prostitutes have become a common sight.

 Children who should be in schools are denied this chance more and more. On the other hand, children are being jailed more and more as the government continues with the infamous practice of holding them as hostages against their parents. In Chilga, Dembi Dollo, Jimma, Harar, Bale, Debre Berhan and other places prisons hold children as young as eight for no other crime than the attempt by the EPRDF to get even with their "rebel" or "dissident" parents. Children continue to be pawns for a dubious and vast adoption operation (both local and foreign) that is brining in money to middle men linked to those in power. Health, education, basic rights, legal protection...on all levels the EPRDF defaults on the rights of children in Ethiopia to enjoy the fundamental rights of the child as detailed in the Convention adopted unanimously by the UN General Assembly on November 20,1989.

SOCEPP