Ethiopia raps Human Rights Watch over call to reject aid bill

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

AFP

A Japanese doctor (bottom-L) and a Dutch nurse (bottom-R) are shown to journalist by their Somali kidnappers in an undisclosed location in Mogadishu on October 10, 2008. A Japanese female doctor and a Dutch male nurse working for French medical charity Medecins du Monde, were kidnapped on September 22 from Fadhigaradle village, in Ethiopia, as they were visiting drought-stricken areas.<br /> They were later moved across the porous border with Somalia. The Somali group that kidnapped the doctor and the nurse from Ethiopia last month said they would free their hostages if Ethiopia released Somali prisoners. "We are fine, we are getting food, water and everything. We have been kidnapped from inside Ethiopia but now we are in Mogadishu," the Japanese doctor told AFP

ADDIS ABABA, Oct 14, 2008 (AFP) - Ethiopia on Tuesday condemned Human Rights Watch's call on the country's lawmakers to reject a draft law that would give government more control in the affairs of foreign aid groups.

The New York-based rights group on Monday said the Charities and Societies Proclamation to be debated by parliament this month would 'criminalise human rights activity and seriously undermine civil society groups.'

Ethiopia's information ministry said the group's call 'contravenes directly the sovereign power and rights of the Ethiopian people and government.

'Ethiopia's internal affairs are within the sovereign power and rights of the Ethiopian people and government,' it said in a statement.

It added that HRW call was to 'patronise the opinion of the international community' after it called on donor governments to warn Addis Ababa that the law would jeopardise funding.

The legislation would give the government greater control over foreign NGOs and ban them from work related to ethnicity, gender and children's rights, HRW said.

It would also carry severe criminal penalties for violations, including three to five years of imprisonment for minor administrative violations, the group added.