Document #1097321
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
In a telephone interview on 15 January
1996, an official of the Washington-based Coalition of Ethiopian
Democratic Forces (COEDF), an umbrella group of Ethiopian political
activists in the United States, stated that not everyone related to
an officer who served under Mengistu would be at risk. The source
stated that the officer's degree of activism and the nature of his
activities against the then opposition Tigray People's Liberation
Front might influence how family members are treated by the current
government (ibid.).
A December 1994 U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) report stated that Amnesty
International was "aware of incidents in which relatives of those
detained on charges related to Mengistu-era misconduct have been
questioned or subjected to surveillance, but is not aware of any
jailings of family members solely for their familial relationships"
(5-6).
Additional and/or corroborating information
could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.
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.
References
Coalition for Ethiopian Democratic
Forces (COEDF), Washington, DC. 15 January 1996. Telephone
interview with official.
Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS) Resource Information Center. December 1994. Profile
Series: Ethiopia: Update on Political Conditions. Washington,
DC: United States INS Resource Information Center.
Additional Sources Consulted
Amnesty International. 1995.
Ethiopia: Accountability Past and Present: Human Rights in
Transition.
Critique of 1994 DOS Country
Reports. 1995.
DIRB Amnesty International Ethiopia
Country File.
Ethiopian Human Rights Council. March
1995. Democracy, Rule of Law and Human Rights in
Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Review. 1995.
Freedom of the World. 1995.
Oral sources.