MARCHFORPEACE MARCHFORJUSTICE MARCHFORDEMOCRACY MARCHFORHUMAN RIGHTS
THE INTERNATIONAL OROMO YOUTH ASSOCIATION (IOYA) APRIL 20TH, 2009 - WASHINGTON, DC
THE MARCH STARTS AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT & ENDS AT THE US CAPITOL
(210 SOUTH CAROLINA AVENUE SE, WASHINGTON, DC 20515) FOR MORE INFO: CONTACT 612-237-9993
(PRIMARY) OR 678-357-9419
.
OROMO MARCH IN WASHINGTON AGAINST ETHIOPIAN REPRESSIVE REGIME According to VOA’s Horn of African Service, Oromo youth from schools and colleges
around the United States, some dressed in traditional clothes, stood in the rain outside the U.S.
Capitol to protest against the Meles regime on Monday - April 20, 2009.
They called for world leaders and the international media to urge the Ethiopian government
to stop killing, harassing and detaining Oromo children, students, intellectuals and farmers in
Oromia and neighboring countries.
Their protest was organized by the International Oromo Youth Association (IOYA), an umbrella for Oromo youth
associations and student unions around the world.
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the youth’s peaceful demonstration.
READ MORE
» » »
IOYA: CALL FOR A PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATION The International Oromo Youth Association
(IOYA) hereby calls upon the international public, international media
and government officials of powerful nations to join hands with
the oppressed to push for a democratic change in Ethiopia that
will usher in respect for human rights and also upholds good
governance.
READ MORE
» » »
INTERVIEW WITH IOYA PRESIDENT, MR. KITESSO CHIRI
"We need to be persistent. Unless you are persistent and hold a rally annually, bi-annually, quarterly, or
however many times you are able to do, no one will know about the issues you stand for. That is exactly what we are
trying to do in IOYA: to hold a minimum of two rallies a year,
one around the month of March/April in Washington, DC, and the second one during the Oromo summer annual gathering." Gadaa.com: What does IOYA want to get out of this year’s March in DC? Will
you get to speak with US government officials? Kitesso Chiri: IOYA hopes to raise awareness about the continued gross human rights violations in Ethiopia, to
put media spotlight
on the plight of the Oromo people, and to send
a message to the people at home that we will not back down from doing all that we can until their
living situation improves.
READ MORE
» » » Listen also to Obbo Chiri's interview with the
Voice of Oromia.
IOYA: LETTER TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY Mr. President, we trust that under your
leadership, an institution that discriminates against, beats,
tortures, imprisons, and dismisses Oromo students should not
continue to receive the cooperation and support of your great
University. On behalf of the victims of the Ethiopian government
brutality, we appeal to you to pull off the deal made with such
regime and suspend assistance to the Bahir Dar University until
the regime stops its practice of ethnic segregation and
discrimination against Oromo students.
READ MORE
» » »
»» TOP STORIES ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN ETHIOPIA UNDER TPLF'S
REGIME - 2009
GENOCIDE WATCH CALLS ON UN TO INITIATE ACTION AGAINST MELES Genocide Watch, the international campaign to end genocide, has called on
the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights, Justice Navanathem, to initiate an investigation against the government of Meles
Zenawi. Genocide Watch cited the atrocities committed in Gambela against the Anuaks and ethnic Somalis in the Ogaden
as examples of the
crimes that have not been seriously investigated by the UN body.
READ MORE
» »
THE
UNHEARD SAGA OF OROMO REFUGEES: THE UNVOICED WEEPS FROM NAIROBI
TO MOGADISHU Right to life, absolute prohibition of tortures, or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatments/punishments,
and protection against genocides and crimes against humanity are also considered as some of the
fundamental state obligations on the international plane. More importantly, these state obligations
and international human rights instruments prohibit refoulement, sending back the refugee to the
country where he/she fears persecution. Every country in the world, whether de facto or de jure state,
(including Kenya, Somaliland, Puntland, Djibouti, Sudan…), has the duty to honor their international
obligations by protecting individuals (Oromo refugees) from persecution. Hence, these countries cannot
refouler Oromo refugees to Ethiopia since their lives and freedom can be threatened because of
their race, religion, political opinions, and membership to particular social group.
READ MORE
» » »
TPLF REGIME INCREASINGLY INSTIGATE CONFLICTS AMONG VARIOUS ETHNIC GROUPS, DEFECTING SOLDIER SAYS The soldier, chief inspector of the south western Jimma federal police, Hussein Osman, stated that
the regime is fomenting disagreement and differences among the ethnic groups under various guises so as to suppress any
opposition of the Ethiopian people.
It is particularly committing grave atrocities against members of the Afar ethnic group, he added.
READ MORE
» » »
THE LIFE OF AN ETHIOPIAN
JOURNALIST: NUHAMINE BIQILAA Disappointed! Shocked! Worried! I went home and rested for a while.
It was late evening, I was breastfeeding my four-month baby, and a heavy knock at my door
almost made me leap! “Open! We are the security!” someone shouted. Quite nervous, I opened.
Three armed policemen entered. One of them, pointing his gun at me said, “Where have you hidden the
explosives?” I told him that there was no explosive in my house. They searched,
searched, re-searched and found nothing! They left at last after issuing me some warnings.
READ MORE
» » »
Birtukan Mideksa has been sentenced to life in prison. She spends her days and
nights in solitary confinement in a two-metre by two-metre cell.
She cannot leave it to see
daylight or even to receive visitors. Previous inmates say the prison is often unbearably hot.
READ MORE
» » »
ESAC: WILL MAKHTAL GET FAIR TRAIL? The evidence of war crimes in Somali Region of Ethiopia is a challenge to universal justice:
will Ethiopian official
perpetrators ever stand trial as the Sudanese authorities have been brought to book?
To depict the general condition of human rights abuses of Somali Region will give us a glaring description
of the miserable condition that the innocent young Ethiopian, Makhtal is incarcerated.
READ MORE
» » »
ETHIOPIAN
SOLDIERS KILL, INJURE HIGH SCHOOL OROMO STUDENTS Ethiopian soldiers enjoy impunity after carrying out brutal and
segregationist attacks. In fact, they are known to have been rewarded for discriminating and
killing Oromo students and opponents of the Ethiopian government over the last 18 years.
The rewards take forms of promotion to higher military ranks, salaries and
reassignments to other areas.
READ MORE
» » »
According to information gathered by HRLHA agents in the capital Addis Ababa, the Oromo
detainees have been subjected to the newly introduced form of torture described as “Silent Torture”.
Upon their first appearance in court on January 9, 2009, Mr. Dachasa Marga and Mr. Sileshi Dagafa
complained before the judges that they themselves and other Oromos detained with them have, at different times,
been forced to spend about fifteen hours in standing position. The two have been
scheduled to reappear in court on the 22nd of January, 2009.
READ MORE
» » »
THE 2008 US STATE DEPARTMENT'S HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT: ETHIOPIA In late October, officials arrested at least 53 ethnic Oromos
(some reported as high as 200), including university lecturers, businessmen, and housewives,
many with no apparent political affiliation, for alleged support to the banned OLF. Many
supporters of the mainstream political opposition OFDM were also arrested during the
same time period for the same charges.
READ MORE
» » »
THE 2009 Human Rights Watch Report: ETHIOPIA The Ethiopian government’s human rights record remains poor, marked by an ever-hardening intolerance
towards meaningful political dissent or independent criticism. Ethiopian military forces have continued to commit war crimes
and other serious abuses with impunity
in the course of counterinsurgency campaigns in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali Region and in neighboring Somalia.
READ MORE
» » »
ETHIOPIA: HUMAN RIGHTS FACTSHEET Since 1991, the TPLF has violated numerous international human rights laws.
Political opponents of the TPLF and members of other ethnic groups, especially the Oromo, have been targeted.
Many have been subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, disappeared, or been detained without due process.
READ MORE
» » »
