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Ethiopia: Commission Calls for Improved Treatment of Inmates
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The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
13 July 2008
Posted to the web 14 July 2008
Fikmariam Tesfaye
Addis Abeba
The Ethiopian Human Right Commission (EHRC) on Friday recommended that steps should be taken to improve the treatment of prisoners at correctional centers in the country.
Presenting a report on status of prisons in the country, Getahun Kassa, Executive Director of EHRC said most of the prisons house inmates twice as much as their capacity which has resulted in lack of infrastructural facilities, poor sanitation and bedding services.
He said the report recommends that some of these prisons will have to be closed.
Getahun said five team members of EHRC were sent on a mission top visit 35 prisons for the last months, as part of the comprehensive study on the condition of the country's prisons from the point of view of human rights.
More than 41,750 prisoners were found that among those 2,123 were women.
Ato Getachew on the observational and revised report of the commission pointed out that most prisons of the country don't fulfill the minimum standards of international conventions.
Shortage of water supply, less standard of medical service and lacking provision of enough water and necessary materials for keeping good sanitation and hygiene are some of problems observed by the theme as facing the prisons.
The commission said it did not however found any evidence of torching, nor heard any complaint of any sort from the inmates the team talked to.
He said the prisoners' rights to every day visits by their families and legal consultants were maintained, but inmates must be provided with a better quality vocational education.
Some measures will have to be taken in order to improve the living standards and human rights of inmates in a manner it complies with standard of Ethiopian constitutional and international human right conventions, the director observed.
Getahun presented his report at a consultative meeting with the Federal and regional states prison officials at TDS Hotel on Friday.
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Some 80,000 prisoners are presently detained in120 prisons that are found across the country.
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