News Report highlights deteriorating civic freedoms in Ethiopia
December 7, 2024
A new report from a global alliance of civil society organizations characterizes Ethiopia’s civic space as ‘closed,’ putting the country on par with the likes of the occupied Palestinian territory, Burkina Faso, Kenya, and eSwatini at the bottom of the rankings.
The ‘People Power Under Attack 2024’ report released this week by Civicus Monitor provides quantitative and qualitative data on the state of civil society and civic freedoms in 198 countries and territories. It uses data generated through independent human rights evaluations, civil society organizations (CSOs), and in-house experts to rank countries’ civic space ratings as either ‘Closed’, ‘Repressed’, ‘Obstructed’, ‘Narrowed’ or ‘Open.’
Ethiopia’s ranking has fallen to ‘Closed’ from the previous ‘Narrowed.’
The report found that 30 percent of the world’s population, spread across 30 countries, now lives in ‘Closed’ societies, with the most restrictive possible environments.
Meanwhile, just over three percent of people live in ‘Open’ countries, where civic space is both free and protected—the lowest percentage yet and almost half the rate of six years ago. Together, these statistics point to a world in crisis, according to the report.
All but seven of the 50 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa place on the bottom two tiers of the rankings, with 70 percent of the region’s population living within a repressed civic space. Only Cabo Verde and São Tomé e Príncipe enjoy open civic spaces, while Mauritius, Namibia and Seychelles have narrowed civic space, now joined by Botswana and Liberia.
The findings for Ethiopia show there is little room left for people to exercise their fundamental freedoms, and authorities try to stifle citizens’ voices and attempts at activism in an atmosphere of hostility.
The report notes that armed conflict and the imposition of state-of-emergency measures in parts of the country have resulted in serious violations of human rights and caused a decline in civic freedoms.
Human rights activists, journalists and opposition members are subject to physical and online surveillance, verbal harassment, intimidation and threats to try to make them stop their activities, according to Civicus Monitor.
The organization found that arbitrary detentions against journalists, including for covering the conflict in Amhara region, and threats against and shutting down of online news outlets have become increasingly common.
The report cited the cold-blooded murder of Bate Urgessa, a vocal government critic and senior official of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), as evidence of the deteriorating conditions in the country.
Civic space ratings have changed for 18 countries since the last report in December 2023. Conditions for civil society have deteriorated in nine countries – Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Georgia, Kenya, Mongolia, the Netherlands, the Occupied Palestine Territories (OPT) and Peru – while conditions improved in nine countries – Bangladesh, Botswana, Fiji, Japan, Jamaica, Liberia, Poland, Slovenia and Trinidad and Tobago.
Only 40 out of 198 countries and territories have an open civic space rating, while 81 countries and territories are rated in the worst two categories of having repressed and closed civic space, indicating widespread and routine repression of fundamental freedoms.
Some 72.4 percent of the global population lives under these repressive conditions.
Compared with last year, an additional 1.5 percent of the global population now lives in a repressed or closed country. However, despite the overall negative trends, four countries – Japan, Jamaica, Slovenia and Trinidad and Tobago – have moved into the highest category of having open civic space.
Over 42 percent of the world’s population lives under a ‘repressed’ situation, while 30 percent in a closed civic environment, 13 percent obstructed, 11 percent narrowed and only 3.6 percent live in open civic space.
The organization reports that 45 percent of the more than 1,100 civic space violations it recorded over the past year were related to freedom of expression. Violations of freedoms of peaceful assembly made up 29 percent of the total, while freedom of association violations constituted 26 percent.
Civicus Monitor indicates the past year has seen people all over the globe take to the streets to respond to action or inaction from authorities, demand better service delivery and accountability and protest against the high cost of living. Protests in solidarity with Palestine were also noted in the report.
It reveals at least 76 countries used the detention of protestors as a tactic to disperse or prevent public demonstrations. African governments in particular have responded with mass detentions to youth-led protests against the high cost of living, according to the report.
The report notes that Kenya has been downgraded from obstructed to repressed following the government’s brutal and ongoing crackdown since nationwide June and July protests sparked by a proposed Finance Bill, which sought to raise taxes and sharply further increase the cost of living amid unchecked government corruption. The government’s violent response caused the deaths of at least 60 unarmed protesters and police arrested at least 1,000 people.
“Abductions of protesters and online supporters of the protests have continued months after the protests, as security forces hunt down those they suspect of involvement, creating a chilling effect on civic freedoms,” it reads.
It indicates that at least 41 countries used excessive force in disrupting protests, resulting in deaths in Bangladesh, Guinea, Haiti, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan.
“In numerous countries, authorities are targeting free speech and using a range of tactics to silence critical and dissenting voices, including arbitrary detention and threats and intimidation of journalists. Meanwhile powerful forces continue to persecute journalists as a means of preventing information about corruption and human rights violations reaching the public,” it reads.
The global top violation of freedom of expression was attacks on journalists (by both state and non-state actors), documented in at least 49 countries, according to Civicus Monitor.