Did you know that the government of Ethiopia has, for a month now, blocked people in the country from accessing some social media platforms?

Development Diaries reports that access to Facebook, Tik Tok and Telegram was restricted by Ethiopia in February following widespread tensions between the country’s orthodox Christian church and the Ethiopian government.

It is understood that the church leaders threatened to call for country-wide rallies and counter-rallies after they accused the government of interfering in their affairs.

Amnesty International (AI) has called on the government to lift its restriction of access to these platforms as it violates the right of Ethiopians to the freedom of expression.

‘The authorities thus continue to violate people’s right to freedom of expression, which includes the freedom to seek, receive and impart information’, Deputy Regional Director, East and Southern Africa, AI, Flavia Mwangovya, said in a statement.

Available data on Ethiopia’s human rights record is worrisome. Freedom House ranked the country as ‘not free’ in its Freedom in the World 2023 report on political rights and civil liberties, with the East African nation earning 21 points out of a possible 100.

Also, the United Nations Human Rights Council, in a 2022 report, noted that the parties to the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region had committed serious violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law since November 2020.

As noted by AI, the blockade on selected social media platforms clearly violates citizens’ rights to freedom of expression and access to information and must be condemned.

Development Diaries, therefore, joins AI in demanding that the authorities in Ethiopia respect citizens’ rights to freedom of expression and access to information.

Photo source: Save the Children