The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced that it is concerned at the slow pace of changes to detention conditions and free operation of opposition parties in Gambella Region. The Commission deployed a monitoring team to the region’s Agnwah Zone which, from December 21 to December 24, 2020, also talked to various relevant authorities.
The detention conditions in all the region’s prisons and/or detention centres that the Commission has visited needs to be improved urgently. In particular, the Commission was alarmed to find two boys aged 11 and 12 and a girl, aged 14, detained since mid-December 2020 on suspicion of being members of OLF Shane. “At the time of the visit, EHRC urged the authorities for their immediate release and for due investigation and measures to be taken regarding the severe beatings of the two boys,” the statement states.
