Global Diaspora Oromo Communities’ Council (GDOCC)

Primary contacts: chairperson.gdocc@gmail.com; secretariat.gdocc@gmail.com

PETITION

To the permanent members of the UN Security Council: China, France, Russian

Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States

The government that butchers innocent civilians for protesting against forced arbitrary

displacement and land dispossession should NOT be given membership of the UNSC: You

can block the Ethiopian government’s bid to be a member of the UNSC.

Photos of some of the Oromo students tortured and killed by the Ethiopian security forces in 2014; 2015, and; in Jan

2016 (https://yerooblog.wordpress.com/2015/12/02/eprdf-loves-killing-oromo-students/;

ethiopian-government/10152371553245435/; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCWguJF0RFM;

https://www.hrw.org/africa/ethiopia)

– Aware that the 2016 United Nations Security Council election will be held in June

2016 during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly;

– Further, aware that, on January 30, 2016, the African heads of state and government

summit has endorsed Ethiopia’s interest to participate in the United Nations Security

Council (UNSC) for two years representing Africa;

– Again, further aware that the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Office has been

campaigning widely to gather support for Ethiopia’s bid to become member of the

UNSC;

– Noting that in 2005, the TPLF-led government of Ethiopia was voted out of

government but had nonetheless declared itself the winner, detaining the would-be

parliamentarians and killing over 196 peaceful protesters;

– Noting further Amnesty International’s ongoing documentation of the Ethiopian

government’s appalling human rights records and specifically its 2014 report in which

Global Diaspora Oromo Communities’ Council (GDOCC)

Primary contacts: chairperson.gdocc@gmail.com; secretariat.gdocc@gmail.com

it stated that the year “2004 saw another onslaught on freedom of expression and

suggestions of dissent, including further targeting of the independent media and

arrests of opposition political party members and peaceful protesters. Several attempts

by opposition political parties to stage demonstrations were obstructed by the

authorities. The Anti-Terrorism Proclamation continued to be used to silence

dissidents. Opposition party members were increasingly targeted ahead of the 2015

general election” (https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/africa/ethiopia/report-
ethiopia/);

– Noting further that the TPLF-led government of Ethiopia declared itself the winner of

100% Ethiopia’s parliamentary seats in the 2015 elections (all 547 seats) by

completely blocking opposition political voices;

– Again, noting further that the current TPLF-led government of Ethiopia pretends to be

democratic to the outside world where in reality it has failed to allow the opposition

political parties to win even 1 out of 547 seats;

– Acknowledging the Human Rights Watch report

(https://www.hrw.org/africa/ethiopia) that “The Ethiopian authorities use arbitrary

arrests and politically motivated prosecutions to silence journalists, bloggers,

protesters, and perceived supporters of opposition parties. Security forces respond to

peaceful protests with excessive force, and detainees routinely allege torture and ill-
treatment. Repressive laws restrict nongovernmental activity”;

– Welcoming the recent Joint Motion of European Parliament resolution on the

situation in Ethiopia (2016/2520(RSP) that “… over the past two months Ethiopia’s

largest region, Oromia, home of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, has been hit by a

wave of mass protests over the expansion of the municipal boundary of the capital,

Addis Ababa, which has put farmers at risk of being evicted from their land”;

– Further acknowledging the European Parliament’s resolution that “according to

international human rights organisations, security forces have responded to the

generally peaceful protests by killing at least 140 protesters and injuring many more,

in what may be the biggest crisis to hit Ethiopia since the 2005 election violence”;

– Emphasising that the Ethiopian government contributed to the famine that has

currently affected 10 million Oromo farmers and their families by transferring

millions of hectares of farmland from farmers to foreign and national companies who

have used the land for growing food and non food crops that are earmarked for export

market;

– Concerned about the ongoing covert activities that the TPLF-led government of

Ethiopia has been carrying out to escalate into civil war the longstanding interethnic

clashes between Oromos in Eastern Oromia and the Somali communities in the

Somali National Regional State;

– Underlining the fact that the current TPLF-led government of Ethiopia is an enemy of

peace and stability in Oromia and in Ethiopia as a whole, the Horn of Africa and the

entire region;

– Convinced that Ethiopia’s membership of the UNSC will send the wrong message

about the UN’s values about human rights, governance, global peace and stability;

Global Diaspora Oromo Communities’ Council (GDOCC)

Primary contacts: chairperson.gdocc@gmail.com; secretariat.gdocc@gmail.com

We, the Global Diaspora Oromo Communities’ Council, petition you, the permanent

members of the United Nations Security Council, to use your moral and legal authorities to

stop Ethiopia, while the current TPLF-led government remains in power, from being elected

into membership of the UNSC.

Name of community organization

represented Email address (printed)

Calgary Oromo

Community (Canada) contact@calgaryoromocommunity.org

Oromo Community in Toronto,

Canada toronto@oneoromo.org

Oromo Community in Minnesota,

USA info@oromomn.org

Oromo Community of Las Vegas,

USA oromo.lv@yahoo.com

Oromo Community in

Switzerland haoro2008ch@gmail.com

Unity of Oromo Students in

Germany khg@tboj.de

The Netherlands Oromo

Foundation oromummaan@yahoo.com

Oromo Community in the UK you@oromo.co.uk

Oromo Community in

Melbourne, Australia ocaustralia@gmail.com

Oromo Community in Perth,

Western Australia president@oromedianet.com