JANUARY 3/2005

Independent observes have reportd that the violation of the rights of children in Ethiopia is on the increase. The ruling EPRDF is behind the ongoing sale of children under the cover of approved adoption and one report reveals that more than 425 children have "disappeared" in Dire Dawa alone in the past year.

A child put up for adoption by agencies and traffickers linekd to the ruling EPRDF costs very cheap as compared to other places in Africa or Asia.The main countries that "adopt" Ethiopain children are France,Ireland,America,Australia and Sweden. For example, the sale of children to French couples is monopolized by a close relative of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi himself. The laws of the country governing the procedures of adoption are ingored as the drive to sell as many children as possible is increased.

It is to be noted that children have been given to undeserving couples (one Dutch woman who adopted a five year old beat himl to death) and not only the orphaned but children with poor parents have also been sold off for a pitiful price paid to the parents. The EPRDF has also let loose predators who come to the country under cover of this or that NGO and sexually abuse both young boys and girls.The case of the street children and an NGO with its HQ in Geneva is a case in point (at least one Briton pedophile is jailed in Addis Ababa). The EPRDF is giving no protection to defensless children while it allows its own officials to engage in and profit from the violations and the trafficking of children. Its officials have also been apprehended by the police in exclusive bars and brothels where underage girls are employed as prostitutes contrary to the country's laws. The rape of young girls, their abduction and forced marriage is also tolerated on the whole and engaged in by those in power. The system has favored the spread of child prostitution.

SOCEPP condemns the ongoing violations of the rights of children and demands its immediate cessation.