Laetitia Bader, Human Rights Watch

Laetitia Bader

Human Rights Watch

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Recent:
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Past:
  • Human Rights Watch
  • African Arguments

Past articles by Laetitia:

Somalia Reeling from Devastating Attack on Education Ministry

On the afternoon of October 29, residents of Mogadishu were once again hit by a devastating attack in a crowded and bustling area of Somalia’s capital. → Read More

Civilians in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region at Heightened Risk

For several weeks, towns in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have endured regular bombardments from an escalating joint offensive by Ethiopia and Eritrea forces against Tigrayan forces. Yesterday, the government forces captured Shire, a major town in Tigray. → Read More

EU Should Press Ethiopia for Tangible Rights Progress

The future of European Union engagement in Ethiopia will be high on the agenda of EU foreign ministers gathering next Monday in Brussels. This meeting takes place 19 months into an armed conflict originating in the northern Tigray region that has been devastating for the civilian population. → Read More

Still No Justice in Somalia Health Workers Massacre

Two years ago, Gololey village in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region was shaken to its core by the chilling massacre of eight health workers. On the afternoon of May 27, 2020, five masked gunmen abducted seven male health workers from a healthcare clinic run by a nongovernmental organization. → Read More

Ethiopia’s Warring Parties Should End Attacks on Women, Girls

For 16 months, in an often hidden and ignored armed conflict in northern Ethiopia, warring parties have doubly victimized women and girls, subjecting them to widespread, horrific acts of sexual violence and then deliberately obstructing their access to care. International Women’s Day, March 8, is an important time to reflect on the plight of these women and girls and ending it. → Read More

How international bodies can help prevent more Ethiopia massacres

A full year has passed since Eritrean government forces massacred Tigrayan civilians in Ethiopia’s historical town of Axum. But survivors of the massacre and of other atrocities in Tigray are still no closer to accessing justice and redress – an accountability shortfall that is fuelling further abuses as conflict spreads. → Read More

International Investigation Needed into Abuses in Ethiopia

On Wednesday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission released a much-anticipated joint report into abuses committed in the first nine months of the conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. It finds evidence of serious abuses, some of which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. → Read More

US Authorizes Sanctions in Ethiopia’s Tigray Conflict

Today, United States President Joe Biden signed an executive order that allows the US government to impose sanctions against those responsible for a range of serious human rights abuses in northern Ethiopia. → Read More

G7 Leaders Can’t Ignore Ethiopia’s Looming Famine

G7 leaders meeting this week should galvanize an immediate global response to the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. → Read More

Ethiopia’s Axum Findings Ignore Massacre of Civilians

The findings, as well as reports of atrocities committed throughout the conflict, raise questions about how the Ethiopian government distinguishes between combatants and civilians. → Read More

UN Security Council Needs to Act on Ethiopia’s Tigray Region

Five months into one of the world’s gravest humanitarian and human rights crises, the UN’s most powerful body needs to end its paralysis and support concrete measures to deter further abuses. → Read More

African Union Shouldn’t Endorse Eritrea for UN Rights Body

This week, Eritrea announced it is running for reelection at the United Nations Human Rights Council. The African Union usually endorses candidates from the region – but this carries a responsibility to only put forward credible candidates who uphold “the highest standards of human rights” – a bar that Eritrea, with its dismal rights record, clearly fails to meet. → Read More

Ethiopian Forces Should Show Restraint at Upcoming Festival

Each year, massive crowds gather in the town of Bishoftu in Ethiopia’s Oromia region for the Oromo harvest festival of Irreecha. But this year’s festival, on October 3 and 4, occurs against the backdrop of escalating tensions and unrest in Oromia. → Read More

Eritrea Busses Thousands of Students to Military Camp

Videos and photographs circulating on social media earlier this week showed buses in Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, crowded with students, who were not wearing masks, as they were separated from their families and sent off to a military training camp in the country’s west. → Read More

Baseless Charges Against Prominent Somali Journalist

On July 7, Abdiaziz Ahmed Gurbiye, the chief editor and deputy director of the independent Goobjoog Media Group, is expected to appear in court in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. But his case should have never gone this far. → Read More

Ethiopia Cracks Down Following Popular Singer’s Killing

Protests erupted in several towns across Ethiopia in response to the June 29 killing of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular Oromo singer whose songs captured the struggles and frustrations of the Oromo people during the 2014-2018 anti-government protest movement. → Read More

High-Profile Jailbreak Undermines Somalia’s Fight for Justice

Abdirashid Janan’s arrest suggested justice might soon be served. His escape shows how far away it remains. → Read More

High-profile jailbreak undermines Somalia’s fight for justice

Abdirashid Janan’s arrest suggested justice might soon be served. His escape shows how far away it remains. On 31 August 2019, dramatic news emerged that the notorious security minister of Somalia’s Jubaland region had been detained. In the capital Mogadishu, federal authorities had arrested Abdirashid Hassan Abdinur (commonly known as Abdirashid Janan) for “serious crimes”. News of his… → Read More

Millions of Ethiopians Can’t Get COVID-19 News

Millions of Ethiopians living under a months-long government-imposed shutdown of internet and phone services in western Oromia are being left in the dark about the health risks. → Read More

Canadian Firm Can Be Sued for Alleged Eritrea Abuses

Canada’s Supreme Court has just ruled that a Canadian mining company which had operations in Eritrea can be sued in Canada for alleged abuses abroad. The ruling, made last Friday, sets a groundbreaking precedent. → Read More