Blog #1: Ethiopia forces thousands off land - Human Rights Watch

A devastating uprooting of people is going on within Ethiopia. Human Rights Watch reports that around 70,000 people have been forcibly taken away from their homes and placed in areas of the country that do not provide adequate supplies for them to live. This is all do to the government leasing out the land, that these people live on, to foreign investors. The Ethiopian Information Minister, Bereket Simon, is combating the claims that they are relocating people to sell the land to foreign companies. Simon says that no one is being "forcibly" relocated and that they have 3 million hectares of land with no inhabits. Human Rights Watch has interviewed 100 people and document areas where people have been relocated. These places are barren and not able to sustain life for the indigenous people. Saudi Arabia and China have purchased land to grow rice and take back to their homeland. The Oakland Institute reports that this is not an uncommon phenomena in Africa. Africa is a cheap place to invest in land and produce goods that can be sold at a cheaper price elswhere.

This is a classic example of greedy super powers taking advantage of the helpless everyday human being. It violates all of the rights to a human being. The only way that the government is getting away with this is the indigenous people don't officially own the land that they live on. It is not part of indigenous culture to settle on a piece of land and buy a document that claims it as theirs. Human Rights Watch brings forth a good point that because of this the government claims that the land they are selling to investors is uninhabited. The indigenous people lose their voice and are at the mercies of the greedy government that controls their land. It is easy to think that this is just one case but we are seeing this everywhere. America takes part in it when we outsource jobs to Asia. Sure we get cheaper goods but it is at the expense of the workers losing their rights. Everyone deserves the right of freedom from want. Whether you are an official citizen or an indigenous group no one should be persecuted so that super powers can live easier.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16590416