Reuters: Police hold children in dire conditions in Ethiopia's Oromia State
Posted: 07 May 2021, 10:24
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said on Thursday that police from the Oromiya region are holding a large number of detainees, including babies and children, without charge, in "unhygienic and overcrowded" police stations across the region.
The state-appointed commission said children aged between 5 months and 10 years were being held along with their mothers, and that children as young as 9 were suspected of offenses and held with adult prisoners.
Detainees in the region, which is in central Ethiopia and like other regions has some autonomy from the central government in running matters such as law enforcement and education, are held in "dire conditions" with no access to water, medical care or sanitation and with limited food, the report said.
Oromiya's Police Commissioner Ararsa Merdasa told Reuters he had not read the report but would comment after he had done so. Getachew Balcha, a spokesman for the regional government, did not immediately answer phone calls seeking comment.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/po ... 021-05-06/
The state-appointed commission said children aged between 5 months and 10 years were being held along with their mothers, and that children as young as 9 were suspected of offenses and held with adult prisoners.
Detainees in the region, which is in central Ethiopia and like other regions has some autonomy from the central government in running matters such as law enforcement and education, are held in "dire conditions" with no access to water, medical care or sanitation and with limited food, the report said.
Oromiya's Police Commissioner Ararsa Merdasa told Reuters he had not read the report but would comment after he had done so. Getachew Balcha, a spokesman for the regional government, did not immediately answer phone calls seeking comment.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/po ... 021-05-06/