Document #1105702
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
According to Country Reports on Human
Rights for 1990, there were no legal restraints on the
surveillance (visual and electronic) of persons and all mail was
subject to government monitoring (1991, 118).
After the overthrow of that regime in May
1991, a National Charter was introduced, and freedom of speech,
assembly, association, religion and travel were more widely
respected than under the previous regime (Country Reports
1992 1993, 85). This information is corroborated by Human
Rights Watch World Report 1993. The Charter prohibited
arbitrary interference in privacy, family, home or correspondence,
but there were complaints about intrusions into private premises by
the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)
troops (Country Reports 1992 1993, 85). The source does not
mention these intrusions as also involving correspondence to and
from Ethiopia.
This response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum.
Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 1992. 1993. United States Department of State.
Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 1990. 1991. United States Department of State.
Washington, D.C: US Government Printing Office.
Human Rights Watch. December 1992.
Human Rights Watch World Report 1993. New York: Human Rights
Watch.
Human Rights Watch. December 1992.
Human Rights Watch World Report 1993. New York: Human Rights
Watch.