Ethiopia

Under a controversial new law, Ethiopia's beleaguered civil-society groups are facing an awful choice: Surrender almost all of their funding, or surrender their work on human rights and democracy.

Across the country, civil-society groups are closing offices, laying off staff and cutting back their activities because of a new law that imposes tough new limits on any group that gets more than 10 per cent of its funding from foreign sources.

Press Release
24 July 2009

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation condemns a move designed to further restrict civil society activities by the Ethiopian Government -- which has suspended the operations of 42 NGOs for “acting out of their mandate”.

Authorities in the Southern region of Ethiopia have accused NGOs reporting on human rights abuses as seeking to interrupt peace and development of the region.

Ethiopian authorities have suspended the operations of 42 NGOs allegedly involved in activities that are out of their mandate in the Southern region of the country.

Ethiopia's Southern regional state justice office chief, Yilma Meresa, points out that those NGOs were out to interrupt the peace and development of the region.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) Africa Regional Office, in conjunction with the Africa Federation for Sexual Health and Rights, the regional representative body of the World Association for Sexual Health, is hosting the 4th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights from 8-12 February 2010 in Ethiopia.