On 5 September, UNPO celebrated the release of seven members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) who were unlawfully detained in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Gada Gabisa Abdisa, Kenasa Ayana Alabe, Michael Boran Iticha, Abdi Regassa Kopessa, Gada Oljira Gobana, Qajela Lammi Begna, Hundessa Dawit Abdeta, had been wrongfully detained since 2020. Some of them were arrested without any legal justification whilst others were imprisoned under the false accusations of having connections with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA); an armed group which decided to secede the OLF in 2018, whilst the latter remained a pacifist movement. The release of these individuals represents an encouraging victory for unrepresented peoples within a political context marked by the use of arbitrary arrests as a tool of political repression in a country filled with violence and injustice. Having submitted a report to the OHCHR’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) early on this year denouncing these wrongful and arbitrary incarcerations, the UNPO applauds the positive outcome.
With a national landscape marked by a history of brutal civil insurgence and systematic marginalisation, ethnic nationalistic aspirations, and the deadly consequences of the climate crisis, which has also exacerbated the tensions with neighbouring countries in its consequent fight for resources, Ethiopia sees itself engulfed in a situation where political instability and impunity reign and allow for the unceasing violation of human rights all over the territory; predominantly affecting marginalised and minoritised communities, such as the Oromo. In the midst of this turmoil, in February 2024, the UNPO submitted a report to the WGAD calling for the release of the imprisoned OLF members. In it the UNPO condemns the wrongful detention of the 7 victims, as well as any other unlawful detentions carried out by the Ethiopian Government, for whom arbitrary arrests seem to have become a common practice.
With Ethiopia’s upcoming UPR session fast approaching, the UNPO remains hopeful and eager to see the progress made as to how these human rights mechanisms can be used to realise the rights of unrepresented peoples, like the Oromo. Whilst we await to see how the situation progresses and celebrate this small triumph, the UNPO will continue its advocacy on behalf of the Oromo and unrepresented peoples facing unjust imprisonment for standing for their rights peacefully.
