by Amsale Getnet Aberra
Let Me Defend Your Honor and Ravish Your Woman: The Unchecked Rape-Tale of Ethiopian Army from Eritrea to Gambella and Dollo-Ado
We all have witnessed over the years that the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has no democratic attributes to
show for in the national and international arena. Countries such as United States, United Kingdom and Human Rights advocacy groups such as Human Rights Watch have issued countless reports exposing the lack of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the country. For instance, the 2012 Human Rights Watch report states that the Ethiopian government continues to curtail freedom of expression, association and political participation and dissent. The report also went on to state that citizens, due to their ethnic identities are continuing to be persecuted by the government including the Amhara and Oromo.
The Human Rights records of the government being as clear as it is, I would like to devote the following short article to show the rarely talked about violation committed by the government, violation of the right to be free from sexual violence in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. The writer would, however, like to mention that these are a few instance of sexual violence against women committed by the Ethiopian military personnel and this, by no means is an exhaustive list of such atrocities.
Sexual violence against woman which reinforces the inequality of women touches upon the Human Rights of the victim, including her right to health, dignity, autonomy and security. And when the same act committed on women in internal or international armed conflict settings, it can be a violation of Customary International Humanitarian Law as reflected in the Geneva Conventions.
Rape against Eritrean Women
The Ethiopia-Eritrea border conflict, shaped by its historic complexities received attention from the international community to obvert the two year boundary conflict running from 1998 to 2000. The continued peace negotiations culminated into the signing of the Algiers Peace Agreement that is hailed by many as the “comprehensive peace settlement”, governing, among others, the establishment of an independent boundary commission to delimit the contested boundary of the countries. The agreement has also established the Ethiopia-Eritrea claims commission to adjudicate claims for loss, damage and injury resulting from the conflict.
The Ethiopia Eritrea claims Commission has been vested with passing an arbitration awards on claims relating the Ethio-Eritrean conflict arising from the violation of International Humanitarian Law. Accordingly, among the set of claims presented by both Ethiopia and Eritrea to the commission, there were several cases of rape committed against civilian populations. That is, Eritrea presented a claim to the commission that Ethiopian troops have committed numerous rapes against Eritrean civilian women in Senafe town. Eritrea corroborated its evidence through several eye witnesses, medical professionals including the testimony of Médecins Sans Frontières physicians.
Despite Ethiopia’s claim that rape allegations were followed up, that soldiers were investigated and arrested to rebut Eritrea’s claims, the commission found Ethiopia liable for failure to take effective measures to prevent rape from occurring against innocent Eritrean civilian women.
The current case is, therefore, a clear example that perpetrators of violence against women are not held accountable for their acts. Moreover, the fact that sexual violence is committed by state agents, the lack of investigation into the crime and failure to punish violators makes the state the one condoning the act and also perpetrating the same violence.
Sexual Violence against the Somali Women in Somalia
Somalia has been under clan-based conflict since 1991, when warlords overthrew the longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. When the Islamist militants took control of most of Southern Somalia, including Mogadishu, the troops from the neighboring Ethiopia were deployed from 2006–09. The role of the Ethiopian troops then resulted in removing the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) from power in Somalia’s southern half.
Human Rights Watch in its 2008 report disclosed that the involvement of the Ethiopian troops in Somalia resulted not only in helping to eject Islamic extremism from the tip of the horn of Africa but also in indiscriminate bombardment of urban areas resulting in civilian deaths but also rape and other forms of sexual violence against innocent civilian Somali woman.