; Whereas criminal courts in Ethiopia are weak, overburdened, subject to political influence, accept the use of forced confessions, and allow detainees to be held for months without charge; Whereas serious concerns have been raised regarding prison conditions in Ethiopia, including overcrowding, poor sanitation, lack of access to potable water, excessive use of solitary confinement, the use of rape and torture, withholding access to medical treatment, and denial of access to proper legal counsel or to visitors; Whereas laws such as the 2009 Charities and Societies Proclamation have been used to restrict the operation of civil society organizations in Ethiopia, especially those investigating alleged violations of human rights by governmental authorities; Whereas in June 2016, the Government of Ethiopia announced that it closed down more than 200 nongovernmental organizations within a nine-month period from 2015 to 2016 for failing to comply with the restrictive provisions of the 2009 Charities and Societies Proclamation; Whereas the development strategy of the Government of Ethiopia has targeted the relocation of more than 1,500,000 people, including indigenous Anuaks in the Gambella region, from their ancestral lands for large-scale land development under the villagization program; Whereas the case of the Zone 9 Bloggers , whose arrest, detention, and trials on terrorism charges brought international attention to the restrictions on the freedom of the press in Ethiopia, is indicative of the coercive environment in which Ethiopian journalists operate; Whereas, on October 9, 2016, the Government of Ethiopia imposed a far-reaching, six-month state of emergency that restricts a broad range of actions, including blocking mobile Internet access and social media communication, undermining freedoms of association, expression, and peaceful assembly, which led to the arrest of over 22,000 persons according to Ethiopian Government accounts, and codifying such tactics as arbitrary detention