(A4O, 27 June 2014) In order to raise global awareness about the protests and the imminent threat facing students who have been expelled from school and those imprisoned, the International Oromo Youth Association (IOYA) is launching a social media campaign.

IOYA has prepared a short informative documentary that provides a summary of the protests to date. IOYA is also calling for the immediate release of thousands of Oromo students currently being held in detention and are likely to face torture for peacefully protesting against the Integrated Development Master Plan.

Amane Badhasso, the current president of IOYA, says that the purpose of the IOYA campaign on the Oromo student protests is to raise global awareness and to ask for the immediate release of thousands of Oromo students currently being held in detention and very likely being tortured for simply protesting against the Integrated Development Master Plan.

“We want to show the world that a government’s disregard for basic human and constitutional rights is unacceptable,” she says.

The Ethiopian government’s continuous use of brutal force, arbitrary detentions, and torture to severely restrict freedom of expression and rights of citizens should be condemned.

The campaign will call on various international human/governmental organizations to urge the Ethiopian government to release the students arrested and to refrain from expelling and abducting innocent students.