To the members of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, 

We call on you to lead Congress in passing US House Resolution 128, to help end the gross violations of human rights in Ethiopia.

It is urgent that Congress act now. According to a recent report from Human Rights Watch, over 500 people were killed by government security forces at peaceful demonstrations in 2015-2016. The Ethiopian regime that ordered these mass murders continues to arrest and detain its citizens by the thousands, while receiving US aid and cooperation. 

The US cannot spend another year enabling a government that is killing and imprisoning its citizens who protest.

The resolution does 3 main things.  

(1) It condemns the Ethiopian government's violations of human rights, including: killing peaceful protesters and arresting journalists, students, activists, and political leaders. It encourages peaceful negotiations between all parties in Ethiopia.

(2) It calls on the Ethiopian government to: lift the state of emergency; end the use of excessive force by security forces; conduct a full, credible, and transparent investigation into the killings at protests; hold security forces accountable for wrongdoing through public proceedings; release dissidents, activists, and journalists who have been imprisoned, including those arrested for reporting about the protests, and for exercising constitutional rights; respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and guarantee the freedom of the press and mass media, as is stated in the Ethiopian constitution; and allow a rapporteur appointed by the United Nations to conduct an independent examination of the state of human rights in Ethiopia.

(3) It calls on the US Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury to apply appropriate sanctions on foreign persons or entities responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of human rights of Ethiopians. 

Do not let this Resolution disappear.  It has bipartisan support. Your actions can save lives through peaceful diplomacy.

We will be watching to see that you act on this. 

Read more about the Ethiopian people's struggle for justice: https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/06/16/such-brutal-crackdown/killings-and-arrests-response-ethiopias-oromo-protests

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/ethiopia

Read the bill's text: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-resolution/128/text?r=50

Take further action: https://oromoadvocacy.org/advocacy/