"Assistance to Ethiopia's government has increased while its human rights record has deteriorated," HRW

Donors Should Investigate Misuse of Aid Money! HRW
Source: Human Rights Watch (HRW)

Date: 17 Dec 2010


National Parliaments and Audit Institutions Should Demand Accountability

(New York, December 17, 2010) – Ethiopia's international donors should independently investigate allegations that its government is using development aid for state repression, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the Development Assistance Group, a coordinating body of 26 foreign donor institutions for Ethiopia.

In interviews with 200 people across Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch documented in a report released in October 2010 how Ethiopian government officials routinely discriminate against people viewed as political opposition supporters. The report demonstrated how the government uses state resources, including programs financed by large international donors, to suppress political dissent by conditioning access to essential services on support for the ruling party.

"Donor governments should open an independent investigation of the Ethiopian government's manipulation of aid," said Rona Peligal, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Donor governments have a responsibility to taxpayers at home – as well as to Ethiopians in need – to ensure their aid is not contributing to human rights violations."

The Development Assistance Group (DAG) released a joint statement on October 21 responding to Human Rights Watch's 105-page report, "Development without Freedom: How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia." The donors' group denied that political manipulation of aid was widespread, stating: "We do not concur with the conclusions of the recent HRW report regarding widespread, systematic abuse of development aid in Ethiopia. Our study did not generate any evidence of systematic or widespread distortion."

Human Rights Watch said that the Development Assistance Group provided insufficient basis for its disagreement with the report's findings. The donors have not begun an independent investigation of the abuses. The study referred to in their statement, a desk-based analysis of the monitoring mechanisms of four aid programs commissioned in early 2010, was an "exploratory" assessment, which noted that field research would be needed to verify how the monitoring works in practice.

"Donors can't know the extent of abuses if they haven't properly investigated," Peligal said. "National parliaments should demand a credible, comprehensive investigation and, ultimately, a thorough review of aid policy toward Ethiopia."

Human Rights Watch has not called for the suspension of all development programs, but instead urged donors to suspend certain governance programs until critical benchmarks – like the repeal of repressive laws – are met. These include the Democratic Institutions Program, which provides funding and technical support to government institutions, such as the parliament, in an effort to build domestic accountability. Donors should not continue to finance these programs in the absence of the independent institutions, media, and civil society that are critical for accountability, Human Rights Watch said.

"Assistance to Ethiopia's government has increased while its human rights record has deteriorated," Peligal said. "Donors are contradicting their own principles on human rights and good governance by increasing funding without adequate safeguards."

read more from:- http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/12/17/ethiopia-donors-should-investigate-misuse-aid-money