Defending Human Rights from the Bottom Up

Context and rationale for intervention

Human rights have been and continues to be at stake in the outskirts of Addis Ababa. This is mainly associated with the natural expansion of Addis Ababa into the surrounding Oromia region. In particular, the massive demolition of houses and forced evictions in the newly formed Sheger City have caused a humanitarian crisis and left behind a lasting discontent towards government. Many human rights actors including Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), Ethiopian Human Rights Council and other civil society organisations reported this act as illegal and a violation of international and human rights laws. The situation caused humanitarian crises including homelessness, disruption of children’s education and loss of lives. It also disrupted social networks and support systems and eroded trust among community members with different ethnic backgrounds that had lived in harmony.

As part of responding to this crisis, Ethiopian Initiative for Human Rights (EIHR) has been implementing a project with support from AFD. EIHR is a newly established local civil society organisation, with a vision to see a democratic system where citizens are sovereign, human rights are respected, and the rule of law prevails.

Project intervention and changes

The project includes the establishment and empowerment of community-based peace committees in the newly created Sheger City administration which comprises Legetafo, Sululuta, Burayu, Sebeta and Gelan sub cities surrounding Addis Ababa. Five peace committees (each with five members) have been established and supported in each of the sub-cities with an aim to advance community-based human rights promotion and protection including fostering social cohesion and peaceful co-existence. The committees are organized and trained on the fundamentals of human rights to enable them to effectively pursue their mission for which they are established, in a sustainable manner.

The human rights committees started to effectively play their roles and recorded two notable achievements: First, among the 25 committee members, 12 were nominated to participate in national dialogue. Second, the committee members were able to confront and stop the push from Ethiopian National Dialogue participant nominators for the replacement of the quota for minorities and marginalised groups (such as ethnic minorities) with other participants who are likely to be government affiliates.

Going forward and potential impact

Looking ahead, EIHR plans to assist the committee to formulate their vision and objectives, define roles and responsibilities as well as to develop annual plans to be effective, sustainable and to assess their progress. In addition, EIHR has already initiated a network among the five committees in each of the sub-cities to leverage their complementary strengths, foster collective actions and maximise their impact.

The committee members hope to improve the human rights situation, foster social cohesion and build resilience among diverse community groups at the outskirts of Addis Ababa–an area susceptible to conflict and human rights violation.