CREW\’s Editorial: The Charities and Societies Proclamation and its impact on human rights and women’s rights activism in Ethiopia

Ethiopia passed the Charities and Societies Proclamation (CSP), (No.621/2009), in February 2009 to regulate the work of civil society organizations in the country. This Law classified Ethiopian organizations into Charities or Societies, Resident Societies and Foreign Charities, and required all non-governmental organizations to register under one of these. Regardless of calls by different international commissions on human rights for its amendment, the CSP law is still untouched. It is still obstructing human right activism, including the monitoring of information on human rights.

As an Ethiopian women’s rights organization, the Center for the rights of Ethiopian Women (CREW) opposes the Charities and Societies Proclamation. CREW advocates against women’s and human right abuses perpetrated from any position of power, familial, governmental or other. CREW, therefore, strongly calls for the amendment of the Charities and Societies Proclamation. Read more