Ethiopia: Donor Aid Supports Repression
19 October, 2010 | Human Rights Watch
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 105-page report, "Development without Freedom: How Aid
Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia," documents the ways in which the
Ethiopian government uses donor-supported resources and aid as a tool
to consolidate the power of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF).
"The Ethiopian government is routinely using access to aid as a weapon
to control people and crush dissent," said Rona Peligal, Africa director
at Human Rights Watch. "If you don't play the ruling party's game, you
get shut out. Yet foreign donors are rewarding this behavior with ever-
larger sums of development aid."
Ethiopia is one of the world's largest recipients of development aid,
more than US$3 billion in 2008 alone. The World Bank and donor
nations provide direct support to district governments in Ethiopia for
basic services such as health, education, agriculture, and water, and
support a "food-for-work" program for some of the country's poorest
people. The European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom,
and Germany are the largest bilateral donors.
Local officials routinely deny government support to opposition
supporters and civil society activists, including rural residents in
desperate need of food aid. Foreign aid-funded "capacity-building"
programs to improve skills that would aid the country's development are
used by the government to indoctrinate school children in party
ideology, intimidate teachers, and purge the civil service of people with
independent political views.
Political repression was particularly pronounced during the period
leading up to parliamentary elections in May 2010, in which the ruling
party won 99.6 percent of the seats.
Despite government restrictions that make independent research
difficult, Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 200 people in 53
villages across three regions of the country during a six-month
investigation in 2009. The problems Human Rights Watch found were
widespread: residents reported discrimination in many locations.
Farmers described being denied access to agricultural assistance, micro-
loans, seeds, and fertilizers because they did not support the ruling
party. As one farmer in Amhara region told Human Rights Watch,
"[Village] leaders have publicly declared that they will single out
opposition members, and those identified as such will be denied
‘privileges.' By that they mean that access to fertilizers, ‘safety net' and
even emergency aid will be denied."
Rural villagers reported that many families of opposition members were
barred from participation in the food-for-work or "safety net" program,
which supports 7 million of Ethiopia's most vulnerable citizens. Scores
of opposition members who were denied services by local officials
throughout the country reported the same response from ruling party
and government officials when they complained: "Ask your own party
for help."
Human Rights Watch also documented how high school students,
teachers, and civil servants were forced to attend indoctrination
sessions on ruling party ideology as part of the capacity-building
program funded by foreign governments. Attendees at training sessions
reported that they were intimidated and threatened if they did not join
the ruling party. Superiors told teachers that ruling party membership
was a condition for promotion and training opportunities. Education,
especially schools and teacher training, is also heavily supported by
donor funds.
"By dominating government at all levels, the ruling party controls all the
aid programs," Peligal said. "Without effective, independent monitoring,
international aid will continue to be abused to consolidate a repressive
single-party state."
In 2005, the World Bank and other donors suspended direct budget
support to the Ethiopian government following a post-election
crackdown on demonstrators that left 200 people dead, 30,000 detained,
and dozens of opposition leaders in jail. At the time, donors expressed
fears of "political capture" of donor funds by the ruling party.
Yet aid was soon resumed under a new program, "Protection of Basic
Services," that channeled money directly to district governments. These
district governments, like the federal administration, are under ruling
party control, yet are harder to monitor and more directly involved in
day-to-day repression of the population.
During this period the Ethiopian government has steadily closed political
space, harassed independent journalists and civil society activists into
silence or exile, and violated the rights to freedom of association and
expression. A new law on civil society activity, passed in 2009, bars
nongovernmental organizations from working on issues related to
human rights, good governance, and conflict resolution if they receive
more than 10 percent of their funding from foreign sources.
"The few independent organizations that monitored human rights have
been eviscerated by government harassment and a pernicious new civil
society law," Peligal said. "But these groups are badly needed to ensure
aid is not misused."
As Ethiopia's human rights situation has worsened, donors have ramped
up assistance. Between 2004 and 2008, international development aid to
Ethiopia doubled. According to Ethiopian government data, the country
is making strong progress on reducing poverty, and donors are pleased
to support Ethiopia's progress toward the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals. Yet the price of that progress has been high.
When Human Rights Watch presented its findings to donor officials,
many privately acknowledged the worsening human rights situation and
the ruling party's growing authoritarian rule. Donor officials from a
dozen Western government agencies told Human Rights Watch that they
were aware of allegations that donor-supported programs were being
used for political repression, but they had no way of knowing the extent
of such abuse. In Ethiopia, most monitoring of donor programs is a
joint effort alongside Ethiopian government officials.
Yet few donors have been willing to raise their concerns publicly over
the possible misuse of their taxpayers' funds. In a desk study and an
official response to Human Rights Watch, the donor consortium
Development Assistance Group stated that their monitoring mechanisms
showed that their programs were working well and that aid was not
being "distorted." But no donors have carried out credible, independent
investigations into the problem.
Human Rights Watch called on donor country legislatures and audit
institutions to examine development aid to Ethiopia to ensure that it is
not supporting political repression.
"In their eagerness to show progress in Ethiopia, aid officials are
shutting their eyes to the repression lurking behind the official
statistics," Peligal said. "Donors who finance the Ethiopian state need to
wake up to the fact that some of their aid is contributing to human
rights abuses."
Background
Led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party is a
coalition of ethnic-based groups that came to power in 1991 after
ousting the military government of Mengistu Haile Mariam. The
government passed a new constitution in 1994 that incorporated
fundamental human rights standards, but in practice many of these
freedoms have been increasingly restricted during its 19 years in power.
Although the ruling party introduced multiparty elections soon after it
came to power in 1991, opposition political parties have faced serious
obstruction to their efforts to establish offices, organize, and campaign
in national and local elections.
Eight-five percent of Ethiopia's population live in rural areas and, each
year, 10 to 20 percent rely on international food relief to survive.
Foreign development assistance to Ethiopia has steadily increased since
the 1990s, with a temporary plateau during the two-year border war
with Eritrea (1998-2000). Ethiopia is now the largest recipient of World
Bank funds and foreign aid in Africa.
In 2008, total aid was US$3.3 billion. Of that, the United States
contributes around $800 million, much of it in humanitarian and food
aid; the European Union contributes $400 million; and the United
Kingdom provides $300 million. Ethiopia is widely considered to be
making good progress toward some of the UN Millennium Development
Goals on reducing poverty, but much of the data originates with the
government and is not independently verified.
Quotes from the Report
"There are micro-loans, which everybody goes to take out, but
it is very difficult for us, [opposition] members. They say, ‘This
is not from your government, it is from the government you
hate. Why do you expect something from the government that
you hate?'"
- A farmer from southern Ethiopia
"Yesterday in fact the kebele [village] chairman said to me,
‘You are suffering so many problems, why don't you write a
letter of regret and join the ruling party?'"
- A farmer with a starving child from southern Ethiopia, denied
participation in the safety net food-for-work program
"The safety net is used to buy loyalty to the ruling party. That is
money that comes from abroad. Democracy is being
compromised by money that comes from abroad. Do those
people who send the money know what it is being used for? Let
them know that it is being used against democracy."
- A farmer from Amhara region
"It is clear that our money is being moved into political
brainwashing."
- Consultant to a major donor, Addis Ababa
"Intimidation is all over, in every area. There is politicization of
housing, business, education, agriculture. Many of the people
are forced or compromised to join the party because of safety
net and so on, many do not have a choice - it is imposed."
- Western donor official, Addis Ababa
"Every tool at their disposal - fertilizer, loans, safety net - is
being used to crush the opposition. We know this."
- Senior Western donor official, Addis Ababa
"Which state are we building and how? It could be that we are
building the capacity of the state to control and repress."
- World Bank staff member, Addis Ababa
19 October, 2010 | Human Rights Watch
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- (London) - The Ethiopian
government is using
development aid to suppress
political dissent by
conditioning access to
essential government
programs on support for the
ruling party, Human Rights
Watch said in a report
released today. Human Rights
Watch urged foreign donors
to ensure that their aid is used
in an accountable and
transparent manner and does
The 105-page report, "Development without Freedom: How Aid
Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia," documents the ways in which the
Ethiopian government uses donor-supported resources and aid as a tool
to consolidate the power of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF).
"The Ethiopian government is routinely using access to aid as a weapon
to control people and crush dissent," said Rona Peligal, Africa director
at Human Rights Watch. "If you don't play the ruling party's game, you
get shut out. Yet foreign donors are rewarding this behavior with ever-
larger sums of development aid."
Ethiopia is one of the world's largest recipients of development aid,
more than US$3 billion in 2008 alone. The World Bank and donor
nations provide direct support to district governments in Ethiopia for
basic services such as health, education, agriculture, and water, and
support a "food-for-work" program for some of the country's poorest
people. The European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom,
and Germany are the largest bilateral donors.
Local officials routinely deny government support to opposition
supporters and civil society activists, including rural residents in
desperate need of food aid. Foreign aid-funded "capacity-building"
programs to improve skills that would aid the country's development are
used by the government to indoctrinate school children in party
ideology, intimidate teachers, and purge the civil service of people with
independent political views.
Political repression was particularly pronounced during the period
leading up to parliamentary elections in May 2010, in which the ruling
party won 99.6 percent of the seats.
Despite government restrictions that make independent research
difficult, Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 200 people in 53
villages across three regions of the country during a six-month
investigation in 2009. The problems Human Rights Watch found were
widespread: residents reported discrimination in many locations.
Farmers described being denied access to agricultural assistance, micro-
loans, seeds, and fertilizers because they did not support the ruling
party. As one farmer in Amhara region told Human Rights Watch,
"[Village] leaders have publicly declared that they will single out
opposition members, and those identified as such will be denied
‘privileges.' By that they mean that access to fertilizers, ‘safety net' and
even emergency aid will be denied."
Rural villagers reported that many families of opposition members were
barred from participation in the food-for-work or "safety net" program,
which supports 7 million of Ethiopia's most vulnerable citizens. Scores
of opposition members who were denied services by local officials
throughout the country reported the same response from ruling party
and government officials when they complained: "Ask your own party
for help."
Human Rights Watch also documented how high school students,
teachers, and civil servants were forced to attend indoctrination
sessions on ruling party ideology as part of the capacity-building
program funded by foreign governments. Attendees at training sessions
reported that they were intimidated and threatened if they did not join
the ruling party. Superiors told teachers that ruling party membership
was a condition for promotion and training opportunities. Education,
especially schools and teacher training, is also heavily supported by
donor funds.
"By dominating government at all levels, the ruling party controls all the
aid programs," Peligal said. "Without effective, independent monitoring,
international aid will continue to be abused to consolidate a repressive
single-party state."
In 2005, the World Bank and other donors suspended direct budget
support to the Ethiopian government following a post-election
crackdown on demonstrators that left 200 people dead, 30,000 detained,
and dozens of opposition leaders in jail. At the time, donors expressed
fears of "political capture" of donor funds by the ruling party.
Yet aid was soon resumed under a new program, "Protection of Basic
Services," that channeled money directly to district governments. These
district governments, like the federal administration, are under ruling
party control, yet are harder to monitor and more directly involved in
day-to-day repression of the population.
During this period the Ethiopian government has steadily closed political
space, harassed independent journalists and civil society activists into
silence or exile, and violated the rights to freedom of association and
expression. A new law on civil society activity, passed in 2009, bars
nongovernmental organizations from working on issues related to
human rights, good governance, and conflict resolution if they receive
more than 10 percent of their funding from foreign sources.
"The few independent organizations that monitored human rights have
been eviscerated by government harassment and a pernicious new civil
society law," Peligal said. "But these groups are badly needed to ensure
aid is not misused."
As Ethiopia's human rights situation has worsened, donors have ramped
up assistance. Between 2004 and 2008, international development aid to
Ethiopia doubled. According to Ethiopian government data, the country
is making strong progress on reducing poverty, and donors are pleased
to support Ethiopia's progress toward the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals. Yet the price of that progress has been high.
When Human Rights Watch presented its findings to donor officials,
many privately acknowledged the worsening human rights situation and
the ruling party's growing authoritarian rule. Donor officials from a
dozen Western government agencies told Human Rights Watch that they
were aware of allegations that donor-supported programs were being
used for political repression, but they had no way of knowing the extent
of such abuse. In Ethiopia, most monitoring of donor programs is a
joint effort alongside Ethiopian government officials.
Yet few donors have been willing to raise their concerns publicly over
the possible misuse of their taxpayers' funds. In a desk study and an
official response to Human Rights Watch, the donor consortium
Development Assistance Group stated that their monitoring mechanisms
showed that their programs were working well and that aid was not
being "distorted." But no donors have carried out credible, independent
investigations into the problem.
Human Rights Watch called on donor country legislatures and audit
institutions to examine development aid to Ethiopia to ensure that it is
not supporting political repression.
"In their eagerness to show progress in Ethiopia, aid officials are
shutting their eyes to the repression lurking behind the official
statistics," Peligal said. "Donors who finance the Ethiopian state need to
wake up to the fact that some of their aid is contributing to human
rights abuses."
Background
Led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party is a
coalition of ethnic-based groups that came to power in 1991 after
ousting the military government of Mengistu Haile Mariam. The
government passed a new constitution in 1994 that incorporated
fundamental human rights standards, but in practice many of these
freedoms have been increasingly restricted during its 19 years in power.
Although the ruling party introduced multiparty elections soon after it
came to power in 1991, opposition political parties have faced serious
obstruction to their efforts to establish offices, organize, and campaign
in national and local elections.
Eight-five percent of Ethiopia's population live in rural areas and, each
year, 10 to 20 percent rely on international food relief to survive.
Foreign development assistance to Ethiopia has steadily increased since
the 1990s, with a temporary plateau during the two-year border war
with Eritrea (1998-2000). Ethiopia is now the largest recipient of World
Bank funds and foreign aid in Africa.
In 2008, total aid was US$3.3 billion. Of that, the United States
contributes around $800 million, much of it in humanitarian and food
aid; the European Union contributes $400 million; and the United
Kingdom provides $300 million. Ethiopia is widely considered to be
making good progress toward some of the UN Millennium Development
Goals on reducing poverty, but much of the data originates with the
government and is not independently verified.
Quotes from the Report
"There are micro-loans, which everybody goes to take out, but
it is very difficult for us, [opposition] members. They say, ‘This
is not from your government, it is from the government you
hate. Why do you expect something from the government that
you hate?'"
- A farmer from southern Ethiopia
"Yesterday in fact the kebele [village] chairman said to me,
‘You are suffering so many problems, why don't you write a
letter of regret and join the ruling party?'"
- A farmer with a starving child from southern Ethiopia, denied
participation in the safety net food-for-work program
"The safety net is used to buy loyalty to the ruling party. That is
money that comes from abroad. Democracy is being
compromised by money that comes from abroad. Do those
people who send the money know what it is being used for? Let
them know that it is being used against democracy."
- A farmer from Amhara region
"It is clear that our money is being moved into political
brainwashing."
- Consultant to a major donor, Addis Ababa
"Intimidation is all over, in every area. There is politicization of
housing, business, education, agriculture. Many of the people
are forced or compromised to join the party because of safety
net and so on, many do not have a choice - it is imposed."
- Western donor official, Addis Ababa
"Every tool at their disposal - fertilizer, loans, safety net - is
being used to crush the opposition. We know this."
- Senior Western donor official, Addis Ababa
"Which state are we building and how? It could be that we are
building the capacity of the state to control and repress."
- World Bank staff member, Addis Ababa
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