Communication 445/13 - Human Rights Council and Others v. Ethiopia

Rapporteur:

Summary of the Complaint

1. The Secretariat of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Commission) received this complaint at its Secretariat (the Secretariat) on 13 April 2013. It is submitted by Human Rights Council (HRCO, the first Complainant), a Non-Governmental Organisation registered in the Federal Democratic of Ethiopia. HRCO is supported by International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS), which subsequently withdrew from the matter; East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project; CIVICUS; International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH); and Word Organisation Against Torture (the Co-complainants).

1. The Complaint is submitted against the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (the Respondent State), a State Party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Charter).¹

1. The Complainants state that in January 2009, the Respondent State adopted the Charities and Societies Proclamation No. 621/2009 ("the CSO Proclamation"). The CSO Proclamation came into force on 13 February 2009 (the effective date). The law was promulgated to aid and facilitate the role of Charities and Societies in the overall development of Ethiopian peoples. Among others, the CSO Proclamation establishes the Charities and Societies Agency (the CSO Agency), and a Board. Upon coming into force it required all existing human rights organisations to re-register with the CSO Agency within one year from the effective date.

1. Further to the CSO Proclamation, the Respondent State issued several directives and regulations to facilitate the implementation of the CSO Proclamation. Among them is the Council of Ministers Regulation for the Registration and Administration of Charities and Societies (the Council of Ministers Regulations). Article 10(2) of the Council of Minister Regulations provides that "the effects of re-registration shall commence only one year after the effective date of the CSO Proclamation and not immediately after registration."

¹ Ethiopia ratified the African Charter on 15 June 1999

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1. In March 2009 the Ministry of Justice issued a circular indicating that all charities and societies were permitted to continue their work in accordance with the previous legal framework until the Agency was established and the re-registration process commenced.

1. The first Complainant applied for registration on 22 October 2009. On 8 December 2009, without a court order or prior notification, the Agency froze the first Complainant's assets including private bank accounts and sustainability fund which together were in the sum of approximately nine million Birr (equivalent of US$ 566,000.00). These funds had been acquired from both international and domestic sources since 2002.

1. The first Complainant received its certificate of registration as an Ethiopian charitable society on 11 December 2009. Three days later, on 14 December 2009 the first Complainant received a written notification of the freezing of its assets on the ground that a charitable society cannot convert to an Ethiopian charitable society while still in possession of foreign funds.