Ethiopia’s rights abuses ’being ignored by US and UK aid agencies’ | Global development | guardian.co.uk
▻http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/jul/17/ethiopia-rights-abuses-us-uk-aid-agencies
The UK Department for International Development (DfID) and USAid, the American aid agency, have been accused of ignoring evidence of human rights abuses allegedly linked to their support for a multibillion-dollar social services programme in Ethiopia.
A report published on Wednesday by the US-based thinktank the Oakland Institute details a long list of grievances presented to aid officials from the UK and US by communities in the Lower Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia. They claim they suffered intimidation, beatings, rape, forced evictions and other abuses as a result of the government’s controversial “#villagisation” resettlement programme, which seeks to clear land to make way for commercial investments.