MARCH 1995—MARCH 2011: SOCEPP’S 16 YEARS OF STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

SOCEPP was established 16 years ago to bring to the forefront the plight of political prisoners and that of the disappeared who had been, for various reasons, ignored by other human rights organizations. For 16 years, it has struggled with persistence to achieve its objective and met with success.

For 16 years SOCEPP has struggled for the respect of human rights in Ethiopia. It has published hundreds of communiqués, exposed violations against ethnic groups and minorities, raised consistently the case of the disappeared, helped the families of political prisoners and those brutally murdered by the regime’s death squads, the thousands in the regime’s known and secret dungeons and consistently exposed the Meles regime’s gross violations of human rights. For its effort, SOCEPP has been mainly assisted by concerned Ethiopians all over the world. One of the secretly active members of SOCEPP, journalist and human rights activist Tesfaye Tadesse, was knifed to death in Addis Abeba by the security agents of Meles Zenawi. 

SOCEPP has raised its voice against the persecution of refugees or the denial of their rights be it in the Sudan, Djibouti or Norway. It has also criticized foreign human rights organizations that ignore the plight of refugees and political prisoners for one reason or another. The disappeared leaders and members of the EPRP, the illegally jailed Abera Yemane Ab, the jailed journalist Berhanu Ijigu, the disappeared trade unionist Abebe Ainekulu and many others have not been mentioned by foreign and local human rights organizations. SOCEPP has raised its voice to echo their names and their fate.  

SOCEPP observes its 16th years of existence and struggle renewing its vow to continue the sacred struggle for the respect of human rights in Ethiopia. SOCEPP asks all to continue helping SOCEPP financially and in all other ways.