III 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 168 

Supporting respect for human rights and encouraging inclusive governance 

in Ethiopia. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 17, 2017 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. DURBIN, 

Mr. CORNYN, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. COONS, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. BOOKER, 

Mr. BROWN, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. MERKLEY, and Mr. 

WARNER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting respect for human rights and encouraging 

inclusive governance in Ethiopia. 

Whereas the first pillar of the 2012 United States Strategy 

Toward Sub-Saharan Africa is to strengthen democratic 

institutions, and the United States Agency for International Development Democracy, Human Rights, and 

Governance Strategy states that strong democratic institutions, respect for human rights, and participatory, accountable governance are crucial elements for improving 

people’s lives in a sustainable way; 

Whereas the third pillar of the 2012 United States Strategy 

Toward Sub-Saharan Africa is to advance peace and security, including supporting security sector reform; 


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•SRES 168 IS 

Whereas democratic space in Ethiopia has steadily diminished since the general elections of 2005; 

Whereas elections were held in 2015 in which the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front and its 

affiliates claimed 100 percent of parliamentary seats; 

Whereas the 2016 Department of State Human Rights Report on Ethiopia cited serious human rights violations, 

including arbitrary arrests, killings, rape, and torture 

committed by security forces as well as increased restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of association, politically motivated trials, harassment, intimidation, and arrest of opposition members and journalists; 

Whereas the Government of Ethiopia has repeatedly abused 

laws such as the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation to 

limit press freedom, silence independent journalists, and 

persecute members of the political opposition; 

Whereas laws such as the 2009 Charities and Societies Proclamation have been used to restrict the operation of civil 

society and nongovernmental organizations in Ethiopia 

across a range of purposes, particularly those investigating alleged violations of human rights by governmental authorities; 

Whereas the case of the ‘‘Zone 9 Bloggers’’, whose arrest and 

detention in 2014 and subsequent trials on terrorism 

charges brought international attention to the restrictions 

on press freedom in Ethiopia, is indicative of the coercive 

environment in which journalists continue to operate; 

Whereas the arrest, detention, and demeaning treatment of 

hundreds of dissidents, including leaders of legally registered opposition parties such as Bekele Gerba, arrested 

in December 2015, and Merera Gudina, arrested in NoVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:04 May 18, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR168.IS SR168

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vember 2016, of the Oromo Federalist Congress, Yonatan 

Tesfaye Regassa, arrested in December 2015, of the 

Semayawi Party (the Blue Party), and the arrest and 

sentencing of Okello Akway Ochalla, former governor of 

the Gambella region, are indicative of repressive political 

conditions that prevail in the country; 

Whereas the Ethiopian Human Rights Council reported last 

year at least 102 protestor deaths from November 2015 

to February 2016 across 9 administrative zones, Human 

Rights Watch reports that Ethiopian security forces have 

killed at least 500 peaceful protestors, and Amnesty 

International reported that more than 800 protesters 

have been killed since November 2015 and that number 

is likely higher; 

Whereas, on October 9, 2016, the Government of Ethiopia 

imposed a far-reaching, six-month state of emergency 

that restricted a broad range of actions, including blocking mobile Internet access and social media communications, undermining freedoms of association, expression, 

and peaceful assembly, which led to the arrest of over 

26,000 persons, and which was extended by four months 

on March 30, 2017; 

Whereas, on October 10, 2016, the United Nations Special 

Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the United Nations Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances and on extrajudicial, 

summary or arbitrary executions publicly called on the 

Government of Ethiopia to allow an international commission of inquiry to investigate the protests and the violence used against peaceful demonstrators; 

Whereas former detainees report torture, lack of rations, and 

other forms of serious abuse in detention facilities; 


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Whereas state-sponsored violence against citizens exercising 

their rights to peaceful assembly in Oromia and elsewhere in the country, and the abuse of laws to stifle journalistic and political freedoms, stand in direct contrast to 

democratic principles and in violation of Ethiopia’s constitution; 

Whereas serious abuses have been and continue to be committed in the Somali regional state by Ethiopian federal 

and regional security forces, some of which may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity; 

Whereas to date, the Government of Ethiopia has held no one 

accountable for any of the aforementioned abuses; and 

Whereas, during President Barack Obama’s historic visit to 

Addis Ababa in July 2015, Prime Minister Hailemariam 

Desalegn expressed his government’s commitment to 

deepen the democratic process and work towards the respect of human rights and improving governance, and 

noted the need to step up efforts to strengthen institutions, but the Government of Ethiopia has failed to take 

concrete actions to follow through with this commitment: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) condemns— 

3 (A) killings of peaceful protesters and ex4 cessive use of force by Ethiopian security 

5 forces; 

6 (B) arrest and detention of journalists, 

7 students, activists and political leaders who ex8 ercise their constitutional rights to freedom of 


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1 assembly and expression through peaceful pro2 tests; and 

3 (C) abuse of the Anti-Terrorism Proclama4 tion to stifle political and civil dissent and jour5 nalistic freedoms; 

6 (2) urges protesters in Ethiopia to refrain from 

7 violence, and to refrain from encouraging or accept8 ing any and all violence in demonstrations; 

9 (3) calls on the Government of Ethiopia to— 

10 (A) fully lift the state of emergency; 

11 (B) end the practice of excessive force by 

12 security forces; 

13 (C) grant the United Nations High Com14 missioner for Human Rights and United Na15 tions Special Rapporteurs full access to conduct 

16 a comprehensive independent examination of 

17 the state of human rights in Ethiopia; 

18 (D) conduct a full, credible, and trans19 parent investigation into the killings and in20 stances of excessive use of force that took place 

21 as a result of protests in the Oromia and Am22 hara regions and hold security forces account23 able for wrongdoing through public proceedings, 

24 and to publicly release the findings through a 

25 written report; 


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1 (E) release all dissidents, members of the 

2 political opposition, activists, and journalists 

3 who have been jailed, including those arrested 

4 for reporting about the protests, for exercising 

5 constitutional rights; 

6 (F) respect the right to freedom of peace7 ful assembly and guarantee freedom of the 

8 press and mass media in keeping with Articles 

9 30 and 29 of the Ethiopian constitution; 

10 (G) engage in open and transparent con11 sultations relative to its development strategy, 

12 especially those strategies that could result in 

13 people’s displacement from land, offering those 

14 displaced from their land the right to seek rem15 edy or redress in courts and providing a trans16 parent means to access justice for those dis17 placed; and 

18 (H) repeal proclamations that— 

19 (i) can be used as a political tool to 

20 harass individuals or organizations that en21 gage in peaceful political dissent or advo22 cate for greater political freedoms; or 

23 (ii) prohibit or otherwise limit funding 

24 for civil society organizations working on, 

25 supporting, or advocating for respect for 


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1 constitutional rights, the rule of law, and 

2 protection of human rights; 

3 (4) calls on the Secretary of State to share with 

4 Congress the results of a review of security assist5 ance to Ethiopia in light of these developments and 

6 to improve transparency with respect to the pur7 poses of such assistance to the people of Ethiopia; 

8 (5) calls on the Administrator of the United 

9 States Agency for International Development to im10 mediately lead efforts to develop a comprehensive 

11 strategy to support improved democracy and govern12 ance in Ethiopia; 

13 (6) calls on the Secretary of State, in conjunc14 tion with the Administrator of the United States 

15 Agency for International Development, to improve 

16 oversight and accountability of United States assist17 ance to Ethiopia pursuant to expectations estab18 lished in the President’s 2012 Strategy Toward Sub19 Saharan Africa; 

20 (7) calls on the President to apply appropriate 

21 sanctions on foreign persons or entities responsible 

22 for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross vio23 lations of internationally recognized human rights 

24 committed against any nationals in Ethiopia as pro25 vided for in the Global Magnitsky Human Rights 


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1 Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public 

2 Law 114–328); and 

3 (8) stands by the people of Ethiopia, and sup4 ports their peaceful efforts to increase democratic 

5 space and to exercise the rights guaranteed by the 

6 Ethiopian constitution. 

Æ 


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