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SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE FOR ETHIOPIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS (SOCEPP) POSTFACH 51213, BERLIN 13372, GERMANY P.O.BOX 413, STATION E, TORONTO, ONT. M6H 4E3, CANADA P.O.BOX 21526, WASHINGTON DC 20009, U.S.A. SOCEPP@AOL.COM WWW.SOCEPP.DE
OCTOBER 16/2004
To:
RE: THE PLIGHT OF ETHIOPIANS IN ARAB COUNTRIES
SOCEPP, a non political human rights organization working in defense of the right of Ethiopians, would like to call upon you all to take up the case of the Ethiopians working and also trying to acquire refugee status in your countries. More than 25,000 female domestic workers are present in Lebanon and most are subjected to inhumane treatment by their employers. The same is true of others in Kuwait, Bahrain, Abu Dhbai, Libya, etc... The plight of Ethiopian refugees in Egypt is horrible. Many Ethiopians languish in jails in your countries in a clear violation of their basic due process rights. Many times newspapers and magazines have reported extensively on the mistreatment of Ethiopians in the Arab countries. Al Hayat of November 5/1999 carried an extensive report on the subject. A December 1999 report put it as follows: " Ethiopian girls in the Middle East are treated as slaves, domestic and sexual, and mistreated. Their employers confiscate their passports, deny them pay, force them to work 18 hours per day, beat them up, rape them, chase them out without any pay, etc. Jealous wives have thrown boiling water or acid on the faces of these unfortunate girls. Many of the girls have returned to Addis Ababa with scarred faces, paralyzed or in coffins...Girls whose passports have been confiscated by their employers and who get kicked out of their house are forced to buy back their passports after paying US$ 2500 or must risk being rounded up by the police. Some arrested girls have been reportedly gang raped by the police. " This report can apply to not only to Lebanon but also to the Gulf States, to Saudi Arabia, to Yemen, to Libya and Egypt. SOCEPP has time and again issued communiqués denouncing the violation of the rights of Ethiopians in most Arab countries. SOCEPP does not have the means and possibility to follow up the cases by being present in the concerned countries and thus is forced to call upon you all, human rights in the Arab countries, to defend the rights of Ethiopians working in your midst and/or trying to get asylum status because they have been forced to flee for their lives by the repressive regime in Addis Ababa. We hope for your prompt and concerned action n behalf of the suffering Ethiopians in your countries.
With thanks, SOCEPP
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