Norwegian appeal for
respect of academic, human rights in Ethiopia
Norwegian Centre of
Human Rights
January 10, 2003
The Norwegian
Centre of Human Rights at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo (previously
the Norwegian Institute of Human Rights), has been observing and researching the
political developments in Ethiopia since the fall of the Derg in 1991. Through
various research projects in the country - on the process of democratisation
and elections, on human rights and minority issues, on conflict and war - the
Centre has built a considerable competence on Ethiopian political development
since the coming to power of the EPRDF Government. Although the Ethiopian
Government has achieved considerable progress within several policy sectors
since 1991, the Norwegian Centre of Human Rights has raised a concerned voice
on the lack of respect of international human rights standards as enshrined in
the Ethiopian Constitution, which the Ethiopian Government has pledged to obey.
Since 1997, the
Norwegian Centre of Human Rights has had an institutional cooperation agreement
with the College of Social Sciences at Addis Ababa University (AAU). We have
felt privileged to be able work together with Ethiopian scholars and colleagues
in order to strengthen the capacity of AAU to undertake independent research
into various aspects of development in the country; research which benefits the
educational competence of the university, and the interests of the civil
society and the authorities in general.
It is thus with
great concern the Norwegian Centre of Human Rights has followed the last
months' development at Addis Ababa University. Without commenting on the
Ethiopian Government's educational policies as such, we feel obliged to speak
out on the unconventional handling of internal university affairs. First and
foremost, we urge the Government to respect independent scholarly work, and
that the faculty's academic performances must be evaluated according to
objective scholarly criteria in an accountable process. Furthermore, we regret
the resignation of the former university leadership, which has voiced the
concern of the majority of the university's faculty. The Government's
appointment of a new university President is a clear breach of the university's
procedures of nomination and election of Presidents.
With the enormous
challenges facing Ethiopia today, it is of vital importance that the country
has independent academic institutions which can partake in the public discourse
based on academic knowledge and scholarly experience, without preference to political
affiliation or conviction. With the Government's appointment of new AAU
President, the image projected is a curtailment of academic freedom. Thus, the
recent developments at AAU seems counterproductive to the Government's own
elaborate policy of capacity building, which also included promises of autonomy
for institutions of higher education.
The Norwegian
Centre of Human Rights is currently in the process of evaluating our long-term
cooperation project with AAU, with the intention of entering into a new five
years period of inspiring cooperation. However, taking the current developments
at AAU into consideration, we are reluctant to enter into institutional
cooperation programmes with countries which so openly violate academic rights
and freedoms. Considering our long-term involvement with assisting in building
Ethiopian academic capacity, we hope that the Ethiopian Government may offer a
response and explanation to our concern.
We at the
Norwegian Centre of Human Rights express our sympathies with the faculty at
Addis Ababa University and urge the Ethiopian Government to reconsider its
interference into internal university matters. We sincerely hope that our
fruitful cooperation with Addis Ababa University can be prolonged, and are
willing to offer our capacities in any way deemed necessary by the AAU faculty
and the Ethiopian Government in order to try to settle these matters in
accordance with the principles of academic freedom.
Sincerely yours,
Nils Butenschøn
Director
Norwegian Centre of Human Rights
Programme Director
Kjetil Tronvoll
Research fellow
Horn of Africa