Kenya and Ethiopia: Obama must speak up on human rights
US President Barack Obama should use his visit to Kenya and Ethiopia, which began today, to call for dramatic improvements in the human rights situation in both countries, said Amnesty International, alongside 13 signatories to a letter sent to the President.
"Both countries face real security threats but we are concerned by the way in which each government has responded, often with abusive security measures and increased efforts to stifle civil society and independent media," the letter states.Whilst in Kenya, the President should "address both
new and longstanding challenges with which the country continues to grapple - from security force impunity and the need for criminal justice reforms, to an increasingly restrictive environment for media and civil society, and growing pressure on Kenya's Somali refugee population and its Muslim
communities."
Whilst in Ethiopia President Obama should "send the message that the United States is giving short shrift to the profoundly repressive policies pursued by the government."
Link to Letter to President Obama