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Development Without Freedom RIGHTS How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia WATCH Ethiopia HUMAN Development without Freedom RIGHTS How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia WATCH Development without Freedom How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia Copyright © 2010 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 1-56432-697-7 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: +1 212 290 4700, Fax: +1 212 736 1300 [email protected] Poststraße 4-5 10178 Berlin, Germany Tel: +49 30 2593 06-10, Fax: +49 30 2593 0629 [email protected] Avenue des Gaulois, 7 1040 Brussels, Belgium Tel: + 32 (2) 732 2009, Fax: + 32 (2) 732 0471 [email protected] 64-66 Rue de Lausanne 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 738 0481, Fax: +41 22 738 1791 [email protected] 2-12 Pentonville Road, 2nd Floor London N1 9HF, UK Tel: +44 20 7713 1995, Fax: +44 20 7713 1800 [email protected] 27 Rue de Lisbonne 75008 Paris, France Tel: +33 (1)43 59 55 35, Fax: +33 (1) 43 59 55 22 [email protected] 1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 500 Washington, DC 20009 USA Tel: +1 202 612 4321, Fax: +1 202 612 4333 [email protected] Web Site Address: http://www.hrw.org October 2010 1-56432-697-7 Development without Freedom How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia Map of Ethiopia .................................................................................................................. 1 Glossary of Abbreviations .................................................................................................. 2 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 4 Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 8 To the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia ................................. 8 To Ethiopia’s Principal Foreign Donors in the Development Assistance Group ................. 8 To the World Bank .......................................................................................................... 9 To United Nations Agencies Operating in Ethiopia .......................................................... 9 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 10 Background ...................................................................................................................... 12 The Architecture of Repression: The EPRDF State ........................................................... 13 EPRDF and Elections ...................................................................................................... 17 Donor-EPRDF Relations: 2005-2010 ............................................................................... 19 Donor Strategy toward Ethiopia ........................................................................................ 23 Development Programs Vulnerable to “Political Capture” ................................................. 26 World Bank Programs Misused by Ethiopia .................................................................... 27 Protection of Basic Services (PBS) ................................................................................ 30 Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) ...................................................................... 31 Public Sector Capacity Building Programme (PSCAP) ..................................................... 31 General Education Quality Improvement Project (GEQIP) .............................................. 32 Democratic Institutions Program (DIP) ........................................................................... 33 Politicization of Donor-Supported Government Services ................................................... 34 Withholding of Agricultural Inputs ................................................................................ 36 Partisan Access to Micro-Credit Facilities ...................................................................... 38 Political Discrimination in the Productive Safety Net Programme .................................. 40 Discrimination in Food Aid Distribution ......................................................................... 45 Ruling Party Use of State Educational Facilities ............................................................. 50 Political Indoctrination of School Children ..................................................................... 52 Political Repression of Teachers .................................................................................... 55 Business Process Re-Engineering as a Tool of Repression ............................................ 58 Politicization of Judicial Training ................................................................................... 63 Repression as Policy ........................................................................................................ 66 The Donor Response ......................................................................................................... 69 Flawed Monitoring ......................................................................................................... 72 Protection of Basic Services ........................................................................................... 72 Productive Safety Net Programme ................................................................................. 76 Public Sector Capacity Building Programme .................................................................. 78 General Education Quality Improvement Project ........................................................... 79 Not Just Monitoring ....................................................................................................... 79 Alternative Strategies for Policymakers ............................................................................ 81 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... 87 Annex 1: Human Rights Watch to Development Assistance Group, March 19, 2010 ............ 88 Annex 2: Development Assistance Group to Human Rights Watch, April 20, 2010 ............. 101 Map of Ethiopia © 2010 John Emerson/Human Rights Watch. Cities and towns shown on this map were visited by Human Rights Watch in 2009 in the course of research for this report. 1 Human Rights Watch | October 2010 Glossary of Abbreviations BPR Business Process Re-Engineering CIDA Canadian International Development Agency CSO law Charities and Societies Proclamation CUD Coalition for Unity and Democracy CAS Country Assistance Strategy DIP Democratic Institutions Program DFID United Kingdom Department for International Development DAG Development Assistance Group EPLF Eritrean People’s Liberation Front EHRCO Ethiopian Human Rights Council EPRDF Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front ETA Ethiopian Teachers’ Association EC European Commission EU European Union GEQIP General Education Quality Improvement Project HABP Household Asset Building Programme ICAS Interim Country Assistance Strategy IDA International Development Association of the World Bank ILO International Labour Organization IMF International Monetary Fund JRIS Joint Review and Implementation Support JSRP Justice Sector Reform Programme MDGs Millennium Development Goals NGO Nongovernmental Organization ODA Official Development Assistance OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OFDM Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement Development without Freedom 2 OLF Oromo Liberation Front OPDO Oromo People’s Democratic Organization PSNP Productive Safety Net Programme PBS Protection of Basic Services PSCAP Public Sector Capacity Building Programme SNNPR Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region SIDA Swedish International Development Agency TPLF Tigray People’s Liberation Front UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNDP United Nations Development Programme USAID United States Agency for International Development WFP World Food Programme 3 Human Rights Watch | October 2010 Summary Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Half of Ethiopia’s 85 million people live below the poverty line, and 10 to 20 percent rely on food aid every year. A large percentage of the population needs government assistance in the form of food, seeds, fertilizer, and cash support. Ethiopia is also one of the world’s largest recipients of foreign development aid. It receives approximately US$3 billion in funds annually—more than a third of the country’s annual budget—from external donors, including the World Bank, the United States, the European Commission, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, and Japan. Indeed, Ethiopia is today the world’s second-largest recipient of total external assistance, after Indonesia and excluding wartime Iraq and Afghanistan. Foreign donors insist that their support underwrites much-needed agricultural growth, food security, and other putatively non-political programs. However, Human Rights Watch research shows that development aid flows through, and directly supports, a virtual one-party state with a deplorable human rights record. Ethiopia’s practices include jailing and silencing critics and media, enacting laws to undermine human rights activity, and hobbling the political opposition. Led by the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the government has used donor-supported programs, salaries, and training opportunities as political weapons
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