 Apologizing. This is just an amazing crowd. Thank you so much for coming. We actually had to go to the basement to get more chairs and this room is so new that we didn't know how to open the glass walls in order to expand it but I think we just fit which is great. So I'd like to welcome you all to our third talking in the library event for this this semester and we will have three more in the spring semester. So thank you so much for coming to hear Dr. Avivi talk this evening. I'm Betsy Peck-Learned. I'm the interim dean of the library and the space that you're sitting in here is the Mary Teft White Cultural Center that has been transformed and I'd like to tell you a little bit about Mrs. White and then I'll tell you how this space is really being used differently now. Mary Teft or Happy White was an alumna of the university and she was a benefactress to this space that we're in now. She really enjoyed our students here and she enjoyed hearing their stories and what she intended by endowing this space was to to have people like Dr. Avivi come and speak to the students and encourage them and inspire them on their career paths. So we're very grateful to Mrs. White. She passed away unfortunately several years ago but her son John Hazen White Jr. who was here recently this fall to give our inaugural address talking in the library event here. John Hazen White also gave us a very generous gift this year to transform this instant theater as what we're calling it this space the Mary Teft White Cultural Center Instant Theater to a space that could be used when there are no events in here for students to work collaboratively and to study. So this is really state-of-the-art technologically as well as a transformable space on campus so we're very grateful to both of the Whites for their generous donations. And now I'd like to introduce Adam Braver our writer-in-residence and he will introduce Dr. Avivi. Thank you. Thanks Betsy. I will be brief and the first thing I need to say before I because I know I will forget this is professors McKenna and Dunn or students of professors McKenna and Dunn I have your sign-up sheet. I'm going to pass started passing around. The really welcome it's great to see all of you here and I know this particular event was also co-sponsored with the School of Justice Studies and so I presume that many of the you know faces that are not normally here are here as part of that and welcome we're glad you're here. Welcome President Mrs. Farish. Provost workman somewhere in the back moving chairs around earlier. I think you'll be in for an interesting evening. As a quick note, Semahina Baby you know can tell his story better than I can so I won't attempt to retell it. Only to let say briefly how we came to know Semahina is the students in the Advocacy Seminar course. We're working last year on the case of an Ethiopian political figure and writer named Abra Hadesta who among many Ethiopian intellectuals was imprisoned and without really any charges or trumped up charges. As we tried to dig and get information which was very difficult to get we were put in touch with Semahina who himself had been he'd been a professor of law in Ethiopia he'd also been a prosecutor in Ethiopia and it had run into similar problems as some of these imprisoned people but was maybe one step ahead in order to get out of the country before going to jail and was connected with scholars at risk and we met several times with Semahina at the University of Connecticut where he's a research fellow and an assistant professor yeah visiting assistant professor and was just instrumental in not only helping helping the students helping me learn but also just in educating us to do a part of the world to systems of the world the legal systems of the world that were so out of our understanding and was very helpful in making it part of our understanding. So it seemed natural that we would want to have him share that with him. When we meet with people from different parts of the region there's often a few of us in the room and we always think boy we wish there were more people here to hear this because it's so fascinating and interesting so so now there are more people in the room and before I forget in the back there are two students at a table Abby and Emily with another scientist sign a postcard for Professor Rafi. Professor Rafi is an Iranian chemist retired chemist who is currently in jail in Iran for some you know critiques of the government in Iran and they are organizing a what is called a flood the mail drive a flood the jail with mail drive of sending postcards on a regular basis to him so there are postcards back there available for signing and on your way out I hope you take a minute to sign a postcard but I will stop and very pleased to introduce Sima and a baby. Thank you very much I'm really very much pleased to be here today and I see many of you coming to really follow my speech I'm very much happy I would like to also really pass my really appreciation to Adam because they are really very they are doing a very great job in terms of really promoting human rights so I'm very much really grateful for that today I'm going to really through my story I'm going to show you how it has become very difficult for human rights activists and the scholars in other parts of the world and it's not really my story may not be really very impressive compared to other people but at least it would give really an insight into how people pass through which you may take granted here some of the freedoms in the writers but in other parts of the world it is it's very different so I will share you the Ethiopian experience the democratization and human rights situation in that country and how I myself really have been passing through that system so first I would give you a background about Ethiopia the political system its history and also the challenges we are facing and then I will share you my my story Ethiopia is a country in the Horn of Africa as you may know the Horn of Africa is one of the really the most conflict-ridden part of the world there is Somalia in the east we have Sudan and also South Sudan recently Ertria in the north so it is really a region where there is a lot of conflict when we see Ethiopia it has really a long history it has been a country which has never been colonized by European colonial powers because Ethiopia had a long history of its own monarchy which has been really which were protected the country for years and also the last 40 years the most the oldest fossil is found in Ethiopia so it's like 3.2 million years of age so it is considered it appears now considered as the first place of mankind but it was characterized by the history was characterized by civil war conflict is for a long time total population I think many people will be surprised recently the CIA fact books states that Ethiopia has almost 100 million people which is really a big country one of the reliefs of the mental feature what you know about Ethiopia you may need to know about Ethiopia is it is very diverse we have so many ethnic groups we have so many linguistic groups political groups so that might have contributed for really the conflict is because of lack of really effective system of governance in the country that there are in terms of religion the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the most dominant one but also we have also a significant proportion of the Muslim people and also Protestant people so it's really a diverse country the recent history of the country particularly since in 1974 has been very difficult after the end of Emperor Haile Selassie if you have heard about him he is really long he rules the country for a long time from in 1930 to 1974 and he really united the country and also had really a very repressive regime obviously because it is a feudal monarchy system most of the political issues raised by the student movement and also the military and others started during his time because of really due to lack of also I think appropriate policy he was not willing to undertake political reformers to address the needs of the people during that time so it was really resisting any change and finally I think this invited a very conflict history the country 1974 the military government came to power he was removed from the power and also he was imprisoned and that he was killed the military government immediately declared socialism to be the ideology and they engaged in killings extrajudicial killing us arrestes torture it was one of really the most serious challenging times in the country's history as you see here the Ethiopian dictator the military dictator Mungustwa Lamariam is seen with Fidel Castro because immediately after the revolution Fidel Castro came to Ethiopia to visit and this was really a new era because before the revolution during the imperial time Ethiopia was more really related to the United States and other Western countries but after the revolution the history changed so due to the repression different rebel groups came to really oppression operating particularly two groups one is called the Tigrayan People Liberation Front which was later called Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front and also the other one was Ethiopian People's Ertria People Liberation Front which was fighting for the liberation of Ertria they were the ones who really forcefully fight for the military government for almost 17 years so the country was under a very devastating civil war for almost 17 years finally in 1991 the military government was removed by these rebel groups and between in 1974 and 1991 almost maybe one million people might have been killed by the conflict civilian military and all so it was very devastating so the change of the regime in 1991 was very welcomed by many groups because it was considered as a new era to really translate the country into democracy protection of human rights and really where different political opinions will be strengthened in the country that was a very optimistic time immediately different political organizations came together as a transitional justice system as a transition from autocracy conflict to democracy and a charter was enacted which was really very important because it recognized the right to freedom of movement freedom of expression and also association all the basic fundamental rights but it was predominantly dominated by the rebel groups which were which came to power so during that time it was very interesting because for the first time most of us were able to read private newspapers private magazine and really we had enjoyed it for some time in 1995 we had also a constitution after four years the regime also enacted a constitution which also really recognized most of the international human rights treaties so in terms of really providing the legal framework needed for transformation I think the first five years had done a lot but the problem is practical the practical implementation of the constitution or the human right instrument is most of the constitutional provisions were not put into practice they were not implemented we had elections from in 1995 until recently in May 2015 all the elections were rigged still now there is only one party ruling the country the one the rebel groups which are now ruling the country so there really is a principles which are provided under the constitution and other legal document is where not put into practice so the country is according to the freedom house annual report the country is not free so it is one of a country where there is a repression particularly which is also very much related to my story is the election we had in 2005 it was somehow different from the others because the regime decided that this time let's give more space to opposition groups particularly freedom of association and freedom of expression so most of us all particularly scholars journalists human rights activists were highly engaging during this election but after the election result was declared because it was rigged there was really demonstration at least one that people were killed and 30,000 people were in prison during that time it was really one of really the most challenging times even for myself so I think the country's democratic process reversed after this time this is really the most important time framework for the reversal of democratic rights in the country just last May the Ethiopian government claimed that it won the election hundred percent that means we have like 547 members of parliament and they have won all the members so I think it has become now absolute dictatorship the other is civil society groups are highly restricted in the country before 2005 even though the regime was not really interested to promote human rights there were many human rights groups operating in the country but in 2009 the government came up with a law that provides that local civil society groups may not be engaged in human rights activities and also foreign human rights organizations were forbidden to conduct any human rights activities in the country and also freedom of expression and also freedom of academic freedom were highly restricted after that time they regulate even classroom what you are saying in the classroom what are you are doing outside the campus and every aspect of your life was under surveillance during that time so there are now so many journalists in human rights activities in prison the picture is from that of Skender Naga he is really a renowned journalist in the country he has been really in prison for many years but finally the final imprisonment was in 2011 because he was really speaking really about freedom about the rights of the people in 2014 I think he won the award from the pen international but still he is now in prison he was he's sentenced for 18 years in prison based on a law which is anti-terrorism law the government is using anti-terrorism law to restrict freedom of expression in the country so whenever a person is expressing his ideas if it is again as a government or if they don't like it they would use the anti-terrorism law to arrest and also in prison the others are very bloggers they were blogging about freedom of expression in Ethiopia constitutional rights in Ethiopia but they were in prison for one year they were also charged with crimes of terrorism but finally I think there was a very significant international pressure to release them and I think they released just last month from prison there are still many of them the one Adam expressed indicated there is a scholar Abraha Desta who is still now in prison so it is a very difficult situation the anti-terrorism law is the most important one used by the government scholars opposition party members and activists are routinely arrested and tortured by the government still now it is continuing what's interesting is Ethiopia is considered as one of really the partners for the Western countries last July even president Obama visited Ethiopia and annually Ethiopia receives almost four billion dollars in the form of development assistance it's not clear why they are doing it but there may be some really reasons they are doing it because one is the fact that Ethiopia is considered as fighting terrorism in the Horn of Africa so they considered as a partner the other is there are some people who are gives that you guys doing well in terms of expansion of education health and other development infrastructure but I think this has also very much undermined our advocacy activities because when these democratic governments are working with such a repressive government it has become very difficult for us really because it gave the region a very good legis busy for the government so this is how the Ethiopian situation is look like so when I come to my story I was I grew up in the region where it is a rural most of the people are farmers or related to farming and also the time that was in 1980s it was one of the most difficult times because as you may know maybe in 1984 85 the worst famine happened in Ethiopia and it claims the lives of I think a million people that was the time when I was really a young person and also the civil war was very serious during that time so I really pass through that conflict and all that challenges but despite all the challenges I was able to join the University in 1992 this is one of the biggest and also the best university in the country it's at the University and I decided to study law because I thought that it may help me to really contribute something for the country so after five years of legal study I started a job at Ministry of Justice as a public prosecutor it was exciting for me because on the one hand it was really an opportunity for me to bring those who commit crimes to justice and I enjoyed it in that aspect but there were many challenges to it because it was really highly corrupted system as the judges or the prosecutors or the police are corrupted and it is very difficult really to work in merit-based work and also there are many cases it's very difficult to address and the most important part was most of the evidences produced against people who are charged is based on confessions forced confessions from the prisoners it was usually presented in the court as evidence against so it was very self-incriminating statement is made by the prisoners were usually used so that was not really I was not happy about it so I decided to leave and then I joined the University which is as a lecturer the University which I joined was different from the others because it is a university which was established to train government officials and civil servants so it was become very very challenging because the student is and also the administration are one way or the other part of the regime either they are members of the ruling party or their supporters so that's how it began my problem whenever I speak about torture whenever I speak about freedom of expression there were always challenges from the student as they try to intimidate and also the university administration they usually call me to their offices to tell me that they are not happy about the thing is that I was doing so it was very challenging to work there I think there's a particularly after 2005 this was an opposition demonstration during the 2005 elections I participated in this demonstration because I was actively involved during that time after this time it has changed dramatically before 2005 they were really able to tolerate some some aspect of descent but after the election it has become clear that they are not willing to do it as I told you earlier almost 200 people were killed during the demonstration and it has become also threatening for myself the opposition party leaders were imprisoned most of my friend's colleagues were in prison but I think I'm saved because some people told me that I am under a really surveillance and I have to really take care particularly some of the students who are also part of the regime but who are who are really having good relationship with me who are police officers and also officials told me that I have to really stop what I was doing so in 2006 I seriously stopped what I was doing and I just considered how to really escape because that was the only option even some of the university officials told me clearly that either have to really stop speaking against any of the things they are doing or I may face some consequences and also I received some kind of warning notices so I started to considering going out of the country there were no many options particularly to travel to other countries unit visa and other so the best option I thought was to really apply for some kind of scholarships and I know some a professor in Germany I he knows me very well and I really share my story he knows already the tpn situation and he even contacted Ethiopian embassy in to facilitate the visa and he got me scholarship and I 2007 I went to Germany it was a relief on the one hand I was really relieved because I think I feel that I was safe after that time but also it was a time of challenge because it is a new life I don't know the culture I don't know the language really took me almost two three years to really adapt to that life but I don't have any choice so I stayed in Germany for almost five years I studied my masters and also my PhD I was always expecting that there will be some kind of changes the country so I'll be back but 2007 8 so things were worsening particularly 2012 so I was really very my disappointed so when I was finally completing my studies I really became very worried because what can I do now so I was searching for some jobs or postdoc opportunities somewhere else it was also not easy to find but finally when I was searching I found a scholar satiric program and I contacted them I share my story and my professor also really told them about my situation even other people wrote about myself and I became really part of the scholar satiric system so after that they helped me to find different in different workers in different universities to continue my work the first job I found was at Irish Center for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland I stayed for one year there I was working on my book and also teaching a course on international trade and human rights so it was really a great experience there then I moved to the Miguel Center for Center for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism I was there also teaching a course on governance governance and human rights in Africa and also I was working on my book my book this is the book I published with Ashgate publisher it is about Ethiopian political system the federal system the democratic and human rights system so after I finished my studies in I mean my work in Miguel I moved to Connecticut now the last two years I am now working in the city the University of Human Rights at the University of Connecticut I have continued my research and teaching I am teaching on African human rights and democracy and also I am doing research on different issues on legal pluralism in Africa about rights based approach to development and also I am involved in different research groups in the University the other thing which I am doing is on advocacy I work with different human rights organizations I write also blogs about human rights in Ethiopia so I am trying to really continue my work and also to contribute to the really to change the political repression in Ethiopia but still as I told you due to the international situation the case of terrorism and all other things are really undermined our references and I always hope that things would really improve or there should be some kind of reform and so that I may go back to my country and contribute to really the people because Ethiopia is one of really the first country we need people to teach in the university as well as in different ways but still we couldn't go back and really things are continued legacy so that's how that's my story and that's the situation in Ethiopia and really I'm happy that I have the opportunity to share my story if you have questions or any commenters I'm very much happy thank you for listening well first of all I want to say thank you for coming and sharing your story so my question is do you think that someday you will be able to go back to Ethiopia yeah it's a good question I think it's very some sometimes I feel that really there will be some reformists but for instance if you remember during the 2011 Arab Spring really we have hoped that I think this would change this change would also affect Africa and also Ethiopia and there will be some kind of change in the country but I think as you know the revolutions that were held in Egypt or in Libya and other countries they have become very problematic and really when I see all this kind of international development is I feel that it may be it may take some time particularly when you see the really the issue of terrorism it has become the focus of many international leaders so there is no now really much focus on promotion of human rights and also one of the really the very interesting thing which is happening in Africa is the involvement of China in the last two decades most African countries now resorted to get resources from China and more and more limited influence from Western countries so they are followed that like for instance the Ethiopian government is following the Chinese model which is human rights repression but on the other hand they try to bring about economic development which without any kind of any kind of human rights perspective so it is really very challenging for change to come but I hope that at least either there may be international dynamics which would force the government to make some changes and also we have so many challenges for instance we have minority writers to be addressed there are many groups demanding for writers and we have also now there are like eight point two million people are now in food assistance in need of food assistance these are all challenges which need some kind of political reformist democratic reformist so it is it's really sometimes I feel that I will go someday but sometimes I feel that it's hopeless so it is a really difficult situation hello you said that the United States was like a big supporter and helped get them a lot of money do you wish that they were doing more to help like reform the government or do you think that it would be better for it to kind of happen on its own when the United States gets involved sometimes things can go wrong yeah it's a very good question you know for the United States from their position the most important thing they consider is the stability of the region if you know about al-Shabaab in Somalia their fundamental terrorist group operating in Somalia the Ethiopian security forces are fighting this terrorist group in Somalia so for the United States the most important interest in the region is security of the country but there is a challenge here for sons if you recall they were working with Egypt they were working with Libya so how could a stability of a repressive regime kind of stay long so I think the most important really process for the United States interest is working with promoting democracy and human rights because when there is democracy and human rights there will be stability so I think it's a kind of short-term kind of approach of the United States they wanted for the present time they wanted really some kind of stability but when this repression continues and one day when there is a revolution like Libya you can't even manage it so I think they are ignoring the really the accumulated grievances of the people what is interesting is when you when you read the the United States annual State Department Human Rights report they document every human rights violations in the country but still they are supporting it so whether they have to stop it or not I think what what should be done is there should be some kind of condition at least when president Obama was visiting the country at least you know he should have really demanded for release of political prisoners at least some kind of conditions to be made before they accept some of the the assistance they get so last I think before a week I was at New York University at the law school I was presenting my paper the same question was raised what if the United States and other governments continue to support these countries I think if they don't really enforce the conditions they have to stop providing development assistance to these countries they can provide assistance like humanitarian assistance for these countries if these countries are not willing to undertake any democratic reform I think there should not be any kind of development assistance because there is corruption really it's not clear who's benefited from this assistance and also this assistance is highly used to entrench a repressive government so I think there should be a condition and if they couldn't really enforce the government I think if they stop it for some time the government would come because they can't they can't exist without development assistance almost 45 percent of the annual budget of the country is from foreign assistance so I think the problem with the United States and other cities they are not forcefully really demanding conditions from the government so that's the situation now we have wherein you said that there was people getting killed in Ethiopia do you think that there will ever be a decrease in people and children getting killed in Ethiopia? When it is compared to the time of the military government during that time there was civil war and most of the victims were children and women that was really very during that time almost a million people died the the famine many of the children and women died when you see now the the situation the government is targeting those people who are trying to demand for their rights particularly university students, scholars, journalists, human rights activists so really the number of women and children dying from the conflict has has really significantly decreased but particularly for young people women and women also and also men and also scholars and university students has become very problematic so still continuing but it's not really directly killing children and women is not really the same as it was before but there are other cases which which are which are affecting women and children the one is the famine we have a very serious famine now like 8.2 million people are affected so women and children are the most affected ones and also due to the ethnic based political system we are following there are some conflict is particularly one tribal group or ethnic group fighting with the other and there are displacements of women and children from their places so still I think they are continued to be affected and also until I think there is some kind of appropriate political reform and also addressing economic demands of these people I think that it would have it would continue affecting women and children the anti-terrorism laws you've cited as being really a turning point and and and terrorism being a broad term meaning a journalist who who critiques the you know critiques the government is considered a terrorist in academics such as yourself who talks critically about a government policy is considered a terrorist correct foreign journalists right are they the government is imprisoned foreign journalists in the country as well so my question is and and also the one-to-five policy is that what is system yeah which is surveillance system essentially four people watching yeah one people one person or people yeah so my question is within the system if you're there what can you know how does someone get legal representation what are people doing with within the system if being if expressing oneself is is is is to the legal law to you know to the letter of the law being a terrorist what are people doing inside how the lawyers work in there for example how do they defend someone like yeah yeah that's a very good question I have still friends and my colleagues who are lawyers who are teaching in the university and they are involved in in many ways the system workers any kind of fear they used anti-terrorism law clearly the terrorism law is applicable to terrorists or people who are trying to destabilize the country of the system but they interpret the very broadly interpreting if you are if they say that if you are critical of the government and writing something they say that it is against the stability of the country so it is an act of terrorism so even those people who are charged with crimes of terrorism it is very difficult for them to find legal representation there are only some very really brave lawyers who decide to be represented to represent these people most of the people they don't want to engage in these cases most of the lawyers they would work in other cases civil cases or ordinary criminal cases but whenever there is some cases which involve the government or politics they avoid it even if you really approach any lawyer or any scholar in Ethiopia and ask him about human rights or the democratization they don't even speak because they know the consequences so as Adam raised they have now established a kind of one to five system that is in the university the student is for instance one university student should regulate five people and these five people would meet regularly per week or two weeks time they have to report what have they witnessed or any kind of unusual activities in the campus or anything or any person who said something against the government even the university professors they are ordered organized under the system the civil servants they are organized under systems that's the farmers they are organized under system what the government claims that they use the system to really promote development to get really people organized so that they would meet economic and social demands but it is not it is a surveillance system a control system they usually so really people are really under a very severe fear so as much as possible they try to avoid any kind of contact with the government even my family members of my family they always tell me that I have to stop doing this because it is threatening not only for me here but here I'm maybe safe place but it may affect my family back home sometimes if I really continue and challenge the government they try to use your family back home so that they will tell you that you have to stop it so it is really a complete repression happening in the country you kind of already answered my question but it was after your exile were you able to maintain contact with your friends and family back home or have they been too afraid of the consequences to kind of speak to you or your friends yeah thank you yeah I continued my contact particularly what's very I'm very much happy is our time you know the 21st century the technology development the internet and Viber Skype email and all these communications have helped it really us to communicate because for some in 2030 the government was decided deciding to stop Skype this time but even if they try to do it there are many ways to communicate when you see the internet penetration in the country is only 2% but still we have friends, colleagues, families, they have internet access and also telephone access so we continue communicating that's why I do my research too that's how I collect data and interview people and try to include it in my research so I continue really communicating we have many websites Ethiopian websites working from different countries is a West and Europe the government has blocked all of them you can't access all these websites from Ethiopia but we get information and that we publish the information for the people in Ethiopia there are some ways that Ethiopian especially some active people can access these sites using different ways by really breaking the the blockage so we have really strong connections so my way of one more question here I was just gonna ask do you think that since Ethiopia wasn't colonized did that take a big part of of the government and how corrupted is because I would kind of think that you know the fact that it wasn't colonized it would it would be kind of further as far as an African country to develop more do you think that kind of played a role in that yeah very interesting it is really usually when I when I'm really thinking about this thing what is really the significance of maintaining independence most of the African countries almost all of them passed through colonial rule and Ethiopia was not clearly there are differences particularly in terms of really accepting or being open to new way of life or new kind of thinking it has become very difficult in Ethiopia because it was blocked for many years from international communication so one thing which I see which is very different from other countries is when you for instance I would I always try to compare the 2007 crisis in Kenya the same time in 2005 we have the same political crisis the way Ethiopia and Kenya try to address very different for Kenya the political groups they negotiated and they established power sharing and they continued working on coming up with a new constitution so now I think the country is going well in terms of really addressing human writers and also conflict is when you come to Ethiopia the culture of repression that continued for really hundreds of years it has been it has never been really addressed still the political elitists they don't have any willing to negotiate or to try to share power it is a kind of if you win you take all there is no any negotiation if you are in power the people and all other groups have the obligation to accept so I think it really the Ethiopian independence has seriously we're proud of it because we have we have maintained our culture compared to other African countries Ethiopia is using its own language nationally we don't use English we don't use French as a national language we use our language some hurricane others that's really great thing but in terms of really being open to this new modern political thinking opposition party and also journalism or freedom of expression I think that has really it is really holding us back from being changed that's how I say it