March 4, 2001
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political Prisoners (US Action Group)
ETHIOPIAN REFUGEES IN THE SUDAN DENIED THEIR RIGHTS AND IN GRAVE DANGER OF FORCIBLE REFOULEMENT
Alarming report that an agent of the Ethiopian Government reportedly involved in the refugees screening process
The non-governmental Ethiopian Human Rights Group, Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political Prisioners (SOCEPP), has received reliable information from the Sudan that a large number of refugees have been subjected to the dubious screening process of the UNHCR and, despite their protests, have now been informed that they are no longer refugees.
An overwhelming majority of the refugees, whose status was revoked and who now faces forcible return to Ethiopia, are members or supporters of the opposition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party(EPRP). Most refugees had earlier expressed their strong fear of return and opposition to the arbitrary and capricious action of the UNHCR and some had gone on a hunger strike.
BACKGROUND Thousands of Ethiopians who fled their country fearing persecution by the current Ethiopian Government have been residing in a refugee camp in the neighboring Sudan since 1991. Most of these refugees are political refugees who left behind their family and friends, their businesses, government posts, and other relatively lucrative positions. Some fear persecution on account of their ethnic background while others fear persecution based on their political opinion and/or activities.
After conducting a seriously flowed screening process, the UNHCR informed a large number of these refugees that they no longer qualify as refugees thereby lifting all of the protections accorded to refugees and placing them in danger of forced deportation back to the country from which they had fled. Soon after this decision, the refugees elected a Petition Committee for Ethiopian Refugees in the Sudan. In its January 18, the Committee submitted its petition to Mr. W. R. Urasa, the UNHCR representative in the Sudan. In its letter the Committee made it clear that the screening program was seriously flawed in violation of accepted standards of international law and the internal procedures of the UNHCR.
THE CASE OF THE ALARMING SCREENING PROCESS EMPLOYED BY UNHCR Perhaps the most alarming aspect of the case of the Ethiopian Refugees in the Sudan is the revelation that an Ethiopian Official and agent of the government was involved in the screening process and had access to the information disclosed in the process. The exact extent of the information this individual managed to collect remains unknown.
The Sudanese newspaper, The Monitor, also referred to this story in its January 22 Straight Talk Column. The paper stated "[T]hanks to the refugees who revealed the involvement of Ethiopian government officials in screening Ethiopian refugees, many outsiders now have mixed feelings about the UNHCR which is required to be neutral in dealing with refugees. Although the UNHCR boss in the Sudan assured us that the Ethiopian government agent who posed as an interpreter within the screening committee was removed, a lot of questions about the credibility of UNHCR officials remain unanswered. The incident in which an Ethiopian government agent was found to have penetrated the UNHCR system must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
The UNHCR officials in Khartoum should know that our African refugees can return home when the conditions which forced them out are over." The refugees also raised legitimate issues raising improprieties in the screening process, such as the reluctance of the UNHCR personnel to grant refugee status to non-Oromo members of the group. While the EPRP members and others have been denied their refugee status, the members and supporters of the opposition Oromo Liberation Front have been deemed in danger and accorded protection. Several members of the EPRP who had in the past been deported from the Sudan and forcibly returned to Ethiopia have disappeared after the EPRDF government in Ethiopia seized them. The lives of those who are deported as a result of its arbitrary decision. One returnee, Leul Kassa, has already been detained by the EPRDF. Although the UNHCR denied that he was part of the returnees, Mr. Kassa’s fellow refugees or organizations that have been closely following the developments in the Sudan have not accepted its denial.
INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS VIOLATED BY THE UNITED NATIONS BODY
The 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees provided wide-ranging protections to refugees. According to the Convention, a refugee is "a person who is outside her country because she reasonably believes that her civil or political status puts her at risk of serious harm in that country, and that her own government cannot or will not protect her." A refugee is entitled to refuge and shall not be forced to return to his or her persecutors. This principle is a well-established international norm that was specifically enacted by the Convention. The application of the principle of non-refoulement is mandated by Article 33 of the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The article provides that "[n]o Contracting State shall expel or return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, or membership of a particular social group or political opinion." Refoulement is similarly prohibited in section 243(h) of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (INA): "The Attorney General shall not deport or return any alien . . . to a country . . . [where] such alien's life or freedom would be threatened . . . . " Article 14(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights also states that "[e]veryone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution."
RECCOMMENDED FOR URGENT ACTION
SOCEPP calls upon all concerned individuals, governments, human rights organizations, and international bodies to urge the UNHCR to launch an investigation into the serious and substantial allegations regarding the involvement of an Ethiopian Government agent in the refugee screening process. SOCEPP calls upon all concerned individuals, governments, human rights organizations, and international bodies to urge the UNHCR to immediately issue a stay of any decision regarding the refoulement of Ethiopian refugees from the Sudan until the investigation is completed to avert any possible danger that may flow from the compromised screening process.
SOCEPP calls on Ethiopians in the Diaspora to protest (through letters, demonstrations, etc.) the arbitrary decisions and actions of the UNHCR in the Sudan. SOCEPP calls on Ethiopians in the Diaspora to protest (through protest letters, demonstrations, etc.) to the Sudanese authorities.
We call on all patriotic Ethiopians who stand for human rights and justice to fax , e-mail, and call in protest to the following UNHCR and Sudanese authorities.
UNHCR 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Telephone (41 22) 739-8502
Fax: (41 22) 739-7314 (41 22) 739-7315
e-mail: hqpi00@unhcr.ch
UNHCR Branch office in Sudan e-mail:
UNHCR USA
1775 K Street, NW Suite 300 Washington DC, 20006
Embassy of the Republic of Sudan
2210 Massachusts Avenue Washington DC
Tel: 202-338-8565
Fax: 202-667-2406 Permanent Mission of Sudan 655 Third Avenue New York, NY
Tel:(212) 573-6033
Fax:(212) 573-6160
SOCEPP
