Ethiopian lawmakers should reject proposed amendments to the civil society law that would grant the government sweeping powers to restrict nongovernmental organizations, Human Rights Watch said today. Ethiopia’s partners should denounce the draft law, which is yet to be introduced to parliament, and make clear that any legal revisions should adhere to international human rights standards.
The draft amendments would enable federal authorities to prohibit foreign funding to groups engaged in governance and election-related work and deny registration to, suspend, or dissolve organizations on vague “national security” grounds without judicial oversight and the right to appeal. The proposal has been put forward ahead of elections scheduled for June 2026.
“The proposed amendments to Ethiopia’s civil society law would dismantle the very reforms Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government had enacted,” said Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Adopting these amendments would be a deadly blow to the country’s civil society and civic space.”
The amendments were put forward when Ethiopian authorities were already cracking down on civic space and independent rights groups. In the past year, Ethiopian security and intelligence forces increased their intimidation, harassment, and threats against Ethiopian human rights advocates and organizations.
The current civil society law, the Civil Societies Organizations Proclamation No. 1113/2019, was passed in 2019 and regulates all domestic and international civil society organizations carrying out activities in the country.
In June 2025, the Ministry of Justice and the Authority for Civil Society Organizations, a governmental body that oversees the work of civil society groups, consulted with individuals representing government institutions and a selected group of nongovernmental organizations to gather input for the draft amendments. Human Rights Watch reviewed a copy of the presentation given to participants.
If adopted, the draft amendments would reverse gains reflected in the 2019 law, introduced after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office. The amendments resemble the country’s draconian 2009 civil society law, which imposed a broad range of restrictions on civil society groups, onerous bureaucratic hurdles, harsh criminal penalties, and intrusive surveillance. The 2009 law forced most independent human rights groups to close or severely reduce their activities.
The draft law opens the door to significant government interference by shrinking the size of the Civil Society Authority’s board and giving five out of seven seats to government officials appointed by the Justice Ministry, leaving only two for civil society representatives. The changes would do away with the more inclusive representation in the current law, which reserved seven seats for civil society groups, including two representing women’s rights organizations and two from disability rights groups.
With upcoming national elections, the bill would provide significant obstacles to organizations working on governance issues, Human Rights Watch said.
It also explicitly bars international and domestic organizations funded by foreign nationals, including Ethiopian residents, from political advocacy, voter education, election monitoring, or any election-related work. Domestic organizations are also prohibited from receiving foreign assistance, both technical and financial, for election-related work. The draft does not define the meaning of “political advocacy,” leaving the term open to overbroad and arbitrary interpretation by the government.
The bill also subjects organizations to onerous registration and reporting requirements that would require the Civil Society Authority’s approval. Groups would be required to file reports within 15 days before receiving property of any kind. They would also need to obtain prior permission to open bank accounts or borrow money. The draft also reintroduces a requirement for groups to renew their licenses every four years. The Authority would have unfettered discretion to deny registration based on mere belief that an organization poses “a threat to national security.”
The draft outlines new procedures that the Authority could use to suspend organizations. The current law only permits suspension after having a legitimate basis to carry out an investigation, and suspending an organization after an investigation confirms a group committed a grave violation of law. The existing law limits the suspension to three months and allows an appeal in federal court.
The bill, however, allows the suspension to be extended for an additional three months. During the suspension period, the Authority would be able to freeze an organization’s assets and bank accounts, effectively requiring a group to close down. The group could submit a complaint to the Authority’s board within 30 days but with no right to appeal the decision in court.
Since December 2024, Ethiopian authorities have suspended five prominent human rights groups, including the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, Ethiopia’s oldest independent human rights organization, on vague and politicized grounds. Between January and June 2024, federal authorities also closed 1,504 civil society organizations for allegedly failing to submit annual reports.
Government authorities and agencies have also pressured, harassed, and arbitrarily arrested independent or critical voices, including journalists and political opposition members, leading several to flee the country. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that at least 54 journalists and media workers had gone into exile since 2020.
Parliament also passed problematic amendments to the country’s 2021 media law in April over the concerns of journalists, civil society groups, and rights advocates. The law increases government control by shifting the power to suspend or revoke media licenses from the board of the country’s media regulatory body to its head, whom the prime minister now appoints. The law further stifles the country’s limited media freedom by holding news organizations directly responsible for the content of their live broadcasts.
Independent public scrutiny and documentation of Ethiopia’s rights situation remains critical as the country grapples with numerous crises, including ongoing conflicts in the Amhara and Oromia regions, rising tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and a deepening economic crisis.
The 2026 national elections make monitoring the rights situation by civil society groups and independent media, free from government interference absolutely critical, Human Rights Watch said. Ethiopia’s regional and international partners should be more outspoken in condemning the government’s latest assault on independent groups and the media and press the authorities to urgently withdraw the draft amendments to the civil society law.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights special mechanisms and United Nations special rapporteurs should urgently assess the draft law’s compliance with international human rights law and condemn the wider crackdown on civil society.
“Ethiopia’s partners need to make clear that the government’s 2019 reforms offered a lifeline to human rights defenders and independent journalists,” Bader said. “Rolling them back demonstrates that the Ethiopian government has returned to a repressive past that many hoped it had left behind.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).
