![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.amnestyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Screen-Shot-2017-01-27-at-5.11.20-PM.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
By Adotei Akwei and Miho Mitobe<\/em><\/p>\n At the end of 2016 Amnesty International published a report titled\u00a0Ethiopia Offline: Evidence of Social Media Blocking and Internet Censorship in Ethiopia.<\/a>\u00a0This report documented how social media and networks in Addis Ababa and the Oromia region were being blocked by the Ethiopian government. Among the more alarming findings is that AI and the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), who co-authored the report, detected the use of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology, which\u00a0can be used to monitor and filter internet traffic. The Ethiopian government appears to be using the technology for \u201cmass surveillance internet censorship.\u201d The government\u2019s actions constitute a violation of Ethiopia\u2019s obligations to protect freedom of expression under the African Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and also drastically restricts access to information for the Ethiopian people.<\/span>The internet crackdown is linked to a brutal crackdown by the government in response to protests that started in the Oromo region<\/a>\u00a0in November 2015 against the Addis Ababa City Integrated Development Master Plan. This led to nationwide protests following a stampede in Oromia region on October 2, 2016 that followed\u00a0attacks\u00a0on foreign and local businesses. In response to the attacks and the protests, the Ethiopian government declared a State of Emergency (SOE) on October 9, 2016. The government declared that under the SOE they could \u201crestrict freedom of expression where such freedom is abused\u201d, and imposed a wide range of restrictions on internet access.\u00a0 The government also arrested\u00a0more than 11,000 people<\/a>\u00a0charging them with \u201cviolence and property damage.\u201d<\/p>\n Based on the standards of the ICCPR,\u00a0the State of Emergency in Ethiopia has resulted in many derogations that fail to meet international human rights law.\u00a0For example, the Ethiopian government established a Command Post<\/em> whose purpose was to \u201cstop any media, prohibit any assembly and search and seize any person or place.\u201d\u00a0 Under the SOE,\u00a0WhatsApp,\u00a0Facebook, and Twitter were either blocked or inaccessible in\u00a0Ethiopia, especially in the Oromia region. Further, certain types of URLs were blocked, including news media, web pages of political opposition, LGBTI, calling for freedom of expression, and circumvention tools such as Tor and Psiphon.<\/p>\n The Ethiopian government continues to misuse the Anti-terrorism Proclamation (ATP) legislation to charge and arrest people critical of government policies or actions.\u00a0Amnesty International\u00a0believes that \u201cthe acts of censorship, conducted outside a clear legal framework, over several months and affecting dozens of websites and social media platforms as well as the State of Emergency itself – which is so broadly drafted<\/em> violates Ethiopia’s international legal obligations and permits violations of numerous human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n These violations include the arrest of a number of government critics such as\u00a0Bekele Gerba<\/a>, a leading Oromo human rights activist,\u00a0Eskinder Nega<\/a>\u00a0a prominent journalist and a human rights defender. Who was sentenced to 18 years in jail after he wrote articles demanding freedom of expression and an end to torture in Ethiopia..\u00a0Yonatan Tesfaye<\/a>,\u00a0a prominent opposition figure facing a possible death sentence due to his Facebook post opposing a government plan to extend the capital\u2019s administrative authority to the Oromia region and Merera Gudina<\/a>, a human rights activist and leader in the Oromo community.<\/p>\n An untold number of Ethiopians are subject to human rights violations as a result of the State of Emergency,\u00a0the Anti-terrorism Proclamation and other legislation that the government is using to impose order, and, according to the government, restore peace and security.<\/p>\n As 2017 begins however, the government of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will face very stark truths. In can continue down the current path of increasing repression, and jail anyone who it considers unacceptable, creating a nationwide detention camp, or<\/p>\n it can display the leadership the country needs by ending the State of Emergency, allowing an independent commission of inquiry into the protests that have shaken the country for the last two years, repeal the draconian laws it created to silence opposition, and release the scores of prisoners that it will need to talk to and work with to address the governance and human rights challenges the country is facing.<\/p>\n