The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has expressed serious concern over the growing restrictions on people’s freedom of movement across several regions of Ethiopia.
In a report issued on Saturday, the commission said movements of people have become increasingly dangerous and obstructed basic social and economic life due to ongoing abductions, road closures, checkpoints, and curfews.
The commission said it has documented extensive violations of the right to movement between April and September this year through monitoring and investigations in the Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella and Ormia regions of the country.
In its findings, the commission blamed both armed groups and government forces for the increasingly troubling pattern of insecurity and restrictions.
“The right to freedom of movement is being jeopardized in the areas where monitoring and investigation were conducted,” the EHRC stated, noting that curfews, checkpoints, road closures, and attacks remain to be life threatening situations for travelers.
According to the report, several key roads, including those connecting Assosa, the capital of Benshangul Gumuz region, to Addis Ababa and Kamashi of the region to the Oromia Region, remain closed due to threats by armed groups.
The commission documented multiple cases of abductions and killings on public roads. In April gunmen abducted around 40 passengers traveling from Adama to Chole and shot one person attempting to flee. In the East Wollega Zone, an armed group abducted six travelers and killed one who tried to escape, demanding ransoms of up to 200,000 Ethiopian birr per person. Similar incidents were recorded in Arsi, West Guji, and North Gonder zones, where civilians, civil servants, and humanitarian workers were attacked or abducted.
In one incident in August, three Ethiopian Red Cross staff members were abducted in North Gonder while delivering an ambulance. One of them, Honelign Fantahun died from injuries sustained during beatings and exposure to cold after a ransom of 400,000 birr was paid for their release.
The EHRC also reported government-imposed road closures and curfews that have further curtailed civilian mobility. Roads such as the Mekane Selam–Merto Le Mariam and Adet–Mota–Bichena routes, in Amhara region, have been closed for months, while curfews in Metekel Zone, Benishangul-Gumuz, restrict movement from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
In Bati town, in Amhara region, the administration imposed an indefinite curfew, banning three-wheel Bajaj movement from 6:00 p.m., which the EHRC said has negatively affected “pregnant mothers, patients, and the general daily activities of the residents.”
EHRC Chief Commissioner Berhanu Adelo urged authorities to take “urgent corrective measures” and ensure accountability. “The government should deploy sufficient security forces on roads frequently subjected to attacks, abductions, looting, and destruction of property,” he said. “It should re-examine the necessity of roads that have been closed and checkpoints that have been imposed for prolonged periods… and ensure that future measures comply with human rights principles of strict necessity and proportionality.”
MG/as/APA