Hearing on Human Rights in Ogaden - European Parliament 16 March 2010
In a hearing on 16 March 2010 at the European Parliament, MEP Ana Gomes hosted members of the Ogaden community in a discussion about human rights and security in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. Abdullahi Mohamed from African Rights Monitor, Abdikarim Yonis, representing Ogaden communities worldwide and Ogaden civil societies, and UNPO General Secretary Marino Busdachin spoke at the event.
To open the hearing, Mr Yonis presented a brief history of the struggles of the Ogaden people against the government of Ethiopia. The Somalis of Ogaden, who compose 96% of the population in the region, have been marginalised and have had their human rights violated by the Ethiopian government since the post-colonial division of the region . Through violence, rape, torture, illegal imprisonment, and withholding of international aid, the government has waged war on the people of Ogaden. Mr Yonis then presented four recommendations by the Coalition of Ogaden Civil Societies:
1. There needs to be a political solution to the problems in Ogaden, as the problem itself is political. No amount of humanitarian aid will solve the issues.
2. An international fact-finding mission must be created, and a human rights rapporteur must be established. War criminals need to be held accountable by these bodies.
3. A demilitarised zone and humanitarian aid zone must be created in order to prevent the Ethiopian government from using aid as a weapon against the people of Ogaden.
4. The above programmes, and the people of Ogaden, must have the full support of the European Parliament.
Next, Mr Mohamed gave a presentation documenting human rights abuses in the Ogaden. He showed pictures of victims of village razings, and showed aerial photos of towns before and after their destruction at the hands of Ethiopian forces.
Mr Busdachin opened by conveying the full solidarity to the Ogaden Somalis of the 55 members of UNPO. He spoke about the impunity of the acts of the regime of Meles Zanawi with respect to the Ogaden, and decried the lack of public knowledge about the situation in the region. Mr Busdachin called on the European community to withdraw support for Ethiopia, and to publicly recognize the gross human rights violations being perpetrated by the government. He suggested that these violations constitute crimes against humanity, and that a request should be made to the International Criminal Court to investigate.
Original Press Release (128KB PDF)
Paper Prepared by the Coalition of Ogaden Civil Societies (1.2MB PDF)
Presentation Given at Hearing (4.5MB PDF)
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