In-Picture | Jul 14,2025
Jul 17 , 2022
By Robel Mulat
While the United States provides hundreds of millions of dollars in critical humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable people in the Horn of Africa, thousands of workers have been laid off from their steady jobs at an industrial park due to a recent decision by the same country. Hawassa Industrial Park, which has over a dozen factories and around 35,000 employees, is facing a threat. Because Ethiopia has been suspended from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), many jobs could be lost, affecting poor women, who disproportionately make up the majority of garment workers.
Ever since President Joe Biden decided to suspend Ethiopia from AGOA, it has been devastating to think of the potential impact on the factory workers, while the war actors have little to lose. As a Hawassa resident, I have yet to find a reasonable explanation for why they deserved this punishment.
What role did they play in the civil war? Why should they pay the price when they did nothing to contribute to the fighting?
I remember July 13, 2016, like it was yesterday. It was a bright and sunny day, as well as a hopeful one. Despite its reputation as a tourist destination, Hawassa became a source of hope for economic development and industrialisation following the establishment of the industrial park. The city’s residents were ecstatic during the inauguration, which promised to create 60,000 new jobs.
As a participant in that exciting inauguration ceremony, I recall how many other city dwellers were present and how optimistic they were about the park's future economic contribution. Authorities of the city looked forward to increased economic activity as a result of the park. Youths hoped they would get gainful employment and support their rural families.
It was not all perfect. Much has been written about low pay. Due to Ethiopia's high unemployment rate, workers are frequently forced to accept low-wage jobs. Other workers, on the other hand, are grateful for the employment, the work experience they receive and the promise of a steady job.
In 2020, President Biden was elected to office. Barely a year later, he decided to turn the hope into frustration using an untimely, unrelated, and unconvincing decision to suspend Ethiopia from AGOA.
I have met with a variety of workers who are currently in a difficult situation, particularly after global fashion giant PVH Corp closed its manufacturing facility and others gave warnings to quit. For many young women, insecurity over their job, combined with high inflation, has led to a sense of alienation and desperation. Almost a year since the Biden administration withdrew Ethiopia's benefits under the AGOA due to "gross violations of internationally recognised human rights," employees in the park are still at a loss how this relates to factory work.
Which types of human rights did they violate? Why should they, who support their families in the countryside, be punished?
There is much to be said about the economic and labour situation in the country. This much is true. A national minimum wage for industrial park workers is overdue. In addition, through collaboration with various colleges, it is necessary to raise awareness about how workers' living conditions can be improved.
However, when an unfair, untimely, and unreasonable action is taken against workers, most of them young women from rural areas, and many of them supporting households, we need to call it out loudly. If a person has a right to a dignified standard of living, is taking jobs away from them not a form of human rights violation? Is taking away people’s hopes and aspirations not a human rights violation?
Why should these innocent girls pay the price while contributing nothing to civil war?
One only hopes that the US president would reconsider the decision and that members of Congress would listen to the voices of thousands of strong young women. The workers' dreams and aspirations deserve to be restored. I am still hopeful.
PUBLISHED ON
Jul 17,2022 [ VOL
23 , NO
1159]
In-Picture | Jul 14,2025
Fortune News | Apr 21,2025
Viewpoints | Apr 15,2023
Fortune News | Oct 15,2022
Radar | Aug 20,2024
Radar | Apr 12,2020
Radar | Sep 22,2024
Radar | Dec 15,2024
Viewpoints | Apr 10,2023
Photo Gallery | 156907 Views | May 06,2019
Photo Gallery | 147198 Views | Apr 26,2019
Photo Gallery | 135766 Views | Oct 06,2021
My Opinion | 135287 Views | Aug 14,2021
Dec 22 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Charged with transforming colossal state-owned enterprises into modern and competitiv...
Aug 18 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Although predictable Yonas Zerihun's job in the ride-hailing service is not immune to...
Jul 28 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Unhabitual, perhaps too many, Samuel Gebreyohannes, 38, used to occasionally enjoy a couple of beers at breakfast. However, he recently swit...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Investors who rely on tractors, trucks, and field vehicles for commuting, transporting commodities, and f...
Sep 13 , 2025
At its launch in Nairobi two years ago, the Africa Climate Summit was billed as the f...
Sep 6 , 2025
The dawn of a new year is more than a simple turning of the calendar. It is a moment...
Aug 30 , 2025
For Germans, Otto von Bismarck is first remembered as the architect of a unified nati...
Aug 23 , 2025
Banks have a new obsession. After decades chasing deposits and, more recently, digita...
Sep 15 , 2025 . By AMANUEL BEKELE
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Africa's largest hydroelectric power proj...
Sep 13 , 2025
The initial budget in 2011 was 80 billion Br, but this figure swelled to a revised cost of 240 billion Br by 2024, a challenge that was exac...
Banks are facing growing pressure to make sustainability central to their operations as regulators and in...
Sep 15 , 2025 . By YITBAREK GETACHEW
The Addis Abeba City Cabinet has enacted a landmark reform to its long-contentious setback regulations, a...
Loading your updates...