National Press Club to Host Media Briefing on Ethiopia and Human Rights with Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ)

Monday, October 22, 2007
10:00-11:00 a.m.
National Press Club (Lisagor Room)

Rep. Christopher Smith, R-NJ
House Foreign Relations Committee will discuss
Ethiopia and Human Rights

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Africa and Global Health Subcommittee, will be speaking about his efforts to advance human rights reform in Ethiopia as well as recent legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that aims to hold Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government accountable for their abuses and promote change in the country’s human rights practices.

Smith, the author of the “Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Advancement Act of 2006” (H.R. 5860) which was introduced during the 109th Congress, will discuss that legislation and the efforts that led to House passage of a similar bill earlier this month.

Last year, an Independent Commission of Inquiry established by the Ethiopian Parliament reported that Ethiopian security forces fatally shot, beat or strangled 193 people protesting election fraud in 2005 — a number that far exceeds the Government’s official death toll.

SOURCE National Press Club