The Human Rights Blog

During the 1960's and 70's, Dutch company HVA International established and ran sugar factories in Ethiopia. Apparently, their activities resulted in toxic levels of fluoride appearing in the drinking water. Excessive fluoride causes dental and skeletal fluorosis. In the former, teeth are stained and the tooth emanel are pittled, while the latter leads to changes in bone structure and making them extremely weak and brittle. In its most severe cases it results in calcification of ligaments, immobility, muscle wasting, and neurological problems related to spinal cord compression. These are not reversible diseases.

According to its successor company (operating under the same name), when HVA International learned of the use of fluoride, it installed fluorination filters and later paid compensation to the Ethiopian government. The people from the affected areas, however, did not benefit from such measures.

A lone Wonji activist, Almaz Mequanint, has taken on their cause, appealing to the company and the United Nations. While I'm unable to ascertain what responsibility HVA may have, it is clear that the Ethiopian government has the obligation under international law to provide the affected population with reparations, including access to medical care. I have written to the authorities reminding them of such obligations and I urge you to do the same:

* Prime Minister, His Excellency Meles Zenawi, Office of the Prime Minister, P O Box 1031, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Fax:+ 251 1 552020 / 552030

* Ambassador Fisseha Yimer, Permanent Mission of Ethiopia to the United Nations in Geneva, 56 rue de Moillebeau, Case postale 338, 1211 Geneva 19, Switzerland, Email: mission.ethiopia@ties.itu.int / info@ethiopiamission.ch, Fax: +41 22 919 70 29

Paris-Geneva, April 19, 2007. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of their joint programme, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, have been informed of a recent update in the trial of human rights defenders, opposition leaders, and journalists that has been pending December 2005, and which was subsequent to massive protests and violent crackdowns in the aftermath of the parliamentary elections in May 2005[1].

Citizens International forwards this story from the New York times about the quiet war that is going on in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government is responding to attempts for independence in the region with a blunt repression of the civilian population in the area. Gang rapes, burning down of villages and killings of civilians have become common place. Meanwhile, the United States continues to arm the government, purportedly for its help in fighting terrorism in the region.