Human Rights Violations and the Policy Crossroads

Abstract

The pursuit of Omo River basin development is leading to a major human rights crisis in the Ethiopia-Kenya-South Sudan transboundary region of eastern Africa. Among the principal human rights being violated are those recognized by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) Treaty adopted by the U.N. General Assembly. Although the Ethiopian government is most immediately responsible for initiating human rights violations in the region, the Kenyan government and international development banks are variously complicit, collaborative and partnered in these transgressions. The World Bank, African Development Bank and major donor countries continue to support—even legitimate—the development despite predictable destruction of hundreds of thousands of indigenous peoples’ livelihoods and major political rights violations, particularly within Ethiopia. Cumulative and synergistic effects of the Gibe III megadam and its linked irrigated plantations and energy export transmission system must be integrally considered for adequate social and environmental impact assessment, yet both governments and development banks have failed to act on this mandate. A crossroads in public policy has now emerged: either pursue the present pathway toward massive scale hunger, regional economic collapse and major new cross-border armed conflict or suspend the development underway in order to take genuine account of human rights and proceed in a direction that is accountable to citizens and provides for a sustainable future for the three nations involved.