Hurt and abused children in Ethiopia

8/2/2019 Hurt and abused children in Ethiopia

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Hurt and abused children in Ethiopia

By Graham Peebles

No defence, no support, no voice

Almost half the 82 million population ofEthiopia are under 14 years of age, thechildren of a new time. Throughout the worldthe call for justice, freedom and unity is beingmade loud and clear. It is overwhelmingly theyoung who cry out, often in pain and anguish,in determination to build a fair and decentworld. The 40-million-plus children in Ethiopiaare the hope and promise of this wonderfulcountry, and in their hands lies the possibilityof a new day and a just future.

The African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) report,Violence Against Children in Ethiopia, in TheirOwn Words, states; A large proportion ofchildren, our beloved children, are victims ofviolence everyday around the world. This isespecially true in Ethiopia, where

approximately 99 percent of the childrenpolled in this study (of 1750) said they hadencountered violence in their home, school orcommunity. The issue is of the utmosturgency and should be of primary importanceto the ruling Ethiopian People's RevolutionaryDemocratic Front (EPRDF), Ministry of Labor

and Social Afairs (MLSA) reassuringly state,The welfare of children is a priority concern
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2859.htmhttp://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2859.htmhttp://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2859.htm


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for the Ethiopian Government. On the face ofit at least, this sounds like good news for thegreat numbers of sufering children inEthiopia.

Criminal neglect

An umbrella of ignorance and denial casts adark and painful shadow over the lives ofEthiopias little ones, knowledge of the natureand extent of the problem of violence againstchildren remains limited (ACPF). Abuse,justified often as cultural behaviour, denies thereality of the pain and sufering of manychildren.

The Ethiopian government, in the form of the(EPRDF), led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi,have signed and ratified the Convention on theRights of the Child (UNCRC). Internationaltreatises signed and laws written into theFederal Criminal Code by the EthiopianGovernment are clear and firm, to the letter.The law though remains unenforced andindolent, allowing the plague of abuse to

continue, grow and intensify. Ethiopia is notimplementing her obligations under theinternational conventions relating to the rightsof children. (ACPF ,However there is no[Federal] law [specifically] against corporalpunishment at home.(ACPF) Provisions in theCivil Code oppress the child and place it under

dictatorial parental authority. The code, forexample, empowers the guardian to inflict
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPRDFhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Ethiopiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPRDFhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meles_Zenawihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meles_Zenawihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meles_Zenawihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPRDFhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPRDFhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Ethiopiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Ethiopiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPRDFhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPRDF


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light bodily punishment on the minor for thepurpose of ensuring the latter'seducation (Article 267/2) (SSBB) The Federalpenal code is [here] in direct conflict withArticle 19.1 of the CRC. (See below) This isimmaterial from a legal standpoint as Ethiopiais compelled under the UNCRC to uphold therights of the child, however in not makingviolence in the home an ofence under Federallaw, the EPRDF is endorsing abuse in homesthroughout Ethiopia.

The children whose moral and most basichuman rights are being trampled on, know wellthe crime and neglect of the government andthose in whose care fate has placed them. Over60% of children who were interviewed saidthat they considered violence against childrenas a human rights issue. (ACPF). The primarysettings for physical and psychologicalviolence were at home and in school. (ACPF)Violence towards children within the family isendemic in Ethiopia children regularly facehumiliating physical punishment andpsychological abuse at home, in school and in

the community-at-large, where childrenacknowledged the prevalence of sexualviolence (ACPF)

Abuse within the home, at the hands ofparents, grandparents and extended familymembers, often goes unreported and

unpunished. Focus group participants (ACPF)aged 10 to 18 years old report that the


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government does not take strict measuresagainst child abusers. Even those that aredoing terrible things like rape and abductionare treated leniently. Also parents gounpunished in most cases even when they doterrible things to their children. Rape withinthe family and community is widespread, Thestudy (Sticks stones & broken bones. Violenceagainst children in Ethiopia Save The ChildrenSweden-SSBB) found that fathers, stepfathers,and sometimes close relatives, such as uncles,sexually abused children. It is a hiddensubject, barely utter able, a vulgar violation,abhorrent and shameful. Trust, that bedrock ofrelationship, shattered.

Domestic violence is often the cause ofextended hardship and exploitation. A son ordaughter sufering repeated abuse at thehands of a parent or other family member,feeling hopeless and alone, turns often to thestreet. A girl on the street all to often meansprostitution and for boys, criminality, alcohol/drugs and further violence become the cocktailof childhood, poured out at the hands of

family and community, sanctioned by theState, who allows the abuse to continue.

Whilst there is clearly a responsibility withinthe family to put an end to the barbarictreatment many children are subjected to, theburden of responsibility, moral and legal under

international law falls ultimately to theGovernment. According to Article 19 UNCRC,


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State parties shall take all appropriatelegislative, administrative, social andeducational measures to protect the child fromall forms of physical or mental violence, injuryor abuse, neglect or negligent treatment,maltreatment or exploitation, including sexualabuse, while in the care of parent(s), legalguardian(s) or any other person who has thecare of the child.

It is criminal neglect by the ruling FPRDF, inbreach of its internationally bindingagreements that allows the sufering of somany children to carry on.

Seen but not heard

There is little or no freedom of expressionthroughout Ethiopian civil society. Within thehierarchy of family and the community,including school, children are held firmly intheir subservient place. In the majority ofEthiopian communities, children are generallyviewed as parental property. (Ending Physicaland Humiliating Punishment against children.

Save the Children Sweden - EPPAC)

This inhibiting restricted state of controlextends from the family into the community atlarge. Children are treated as servants, littlebetter than slaves in fact, children are notbeing treated as human beings born and

endowed with their own particular interestsand the capacity to make decisions for


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themselves. (EPPAC) The childs human andmoral rights are not observed and the childrenthemselves are unaware they have any. Theyare conditioned, by pervading attitudes asdemonstrated by parents, teachers andmembers of the community into believing theydeserve to be mistreated, have no recourse tolaw or communal support and no avenues ofcomplaint.

Excluding children from society, denying thema voice and forcing them to work, maintainsmethods of repression and abuse, whichcontrol children throughout Ethiopian society.The low status accorded to children and lackof awareness was frequently mentioned bychildren and adults as the major cause for thecontinued practice of corporal and other formsof punishments against children. (EPPAC)

Parental abuse, lasting damage

There are various types of physical violenceand verbal abuse commonly employed topunish and control children. More than 60

percent of adults in the study admitted to tyingup a child with rope or electrical wire. Over70% had been hit with a stick or some otherweapon. Hitting on the head, slapping,pinching, and whipping with a belt, kneeling orsquatting down are all methods of crueltyemployed and revealed in the ACPF study. All

at the hands of loving parents, grandparentsand other family members.


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Conditioned into violence, children repeat thedestructive pattern of behaviour they havebeen the victims of. Parents need to be madeaware of the efects of repeated verbal andphysical abuse and that violence towards thechild is a criminal ofense. Political will andmoral responsibility In accordance with theGovernments legal obligations must beexpressed in the enforcement of the law by theappropriate authorities. Education, deterrentsand platforms of expression plus clearchannels of recourse for children, will togetherhelp change attitudes, curb destructivebehavior and empower the young.

Protect the children

The Ethiopian Government is legally andmorally responsible to uphold its internationalobligations; these are many and varied, butclear and specific. They have a duty to put inplace efective enforcement mechanisms tosafeguard the children in their care. In notdoing so, they are in violation of International

Law and of their solemn duty to the children ofEthiopia. A state violates international lawwhen it commits an internationally wrongfulact", which breaches an internationalobligation thatthe state was bound by at thetime when the act took place. A state is boundto act according to international treaties it

signed. (DIAK) Children, some as young as 11years old, working as Commercial Sex workers
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(CSW) is by any standards an internationallywrongful act.

A web of deceit and contradictions surroundthe Meles Government that asserts, Thesupreme law of the land, which is the FederalConstitution, provides a sound framework forthe protection and promotion of the rights ofchildren (MLSA) The EPRDF, as one wouldexpect signs all the right agreements, courtsall the right friends and says all the rightthings and appearsmore concerned to be seenas a friend of their international donors than aBrother of the child in need. Internationallybinding Laws are dutifully incorporated intoFederal Law, what one would expect, howeverthe many agreements and signatures are but ashadow of dishonesty and apathy upon thedarkness and shame that haunts theGovernment of Ethiopia and destroys the livesof so many of its children.

A nationwide strategic delivery of theinternational agreements ratified by Ethiopiais needed, along with education counseling

and support programs to help families,communities and most importantly thechildren, those abused overcome the traumathat is destroying the lives of Ethiopias littleones, too many to count. The child frightened,without a voice, isolated and powerless, makeeasy pickings for a Government that continues

in denial of the truth of their neglect andcorruption. Sitting behind walled artifices of


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control and conceit sits a duplicitous regime,that cares little for the men and women ofEthiopia, their wellbeing and Human Rightsand even less it seems for their children.

--

*Graham is Director of The Create Trust, a UKregistered charity [[ www.thecreatetrust.org ]]supporting fundamental social change and thehuman rights of individuals in acute need.
http://www.thecreatetrust.org/http://www.thecreatetrust.org/

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Hurt and abused children in Ethiopia