the CSO Proclamation which they assert are unduly restrictive and inconsistent with the African Charter.2 13. To illustrate the implications of the impugned legal framework, the Complainants state that regional and international human rights bodies have also expressed concern about the limitations that the CSO Proclamation places on human rights activities in Ethiopia in particular concerning the 10% limit on the foreign funding of national NGOs and unanimously called on Ethiopia to abolish such restrictions. 14. Specifically, they state that the CSO Proclamation has negatively impacted the HRCO and other approximately 120 human rights organisations which have been forced to terminate all human rights activities in return for eligibility for foreign funding or continue conducting human rights work and forgo international financial assistance. They aver that domestic funding opportunities are severely limited in Ethiopia. As a result human rights organisations are effectively deprived of the means for undertaking their human rights protection and promotion work. 15. The Complainants also state that the first Complainant was forced to reduce the number of its branches across the country and it staff from 58 to a meagre 12 at its head office and three remaining branches so that it could free up resources for its Human Rights Monitoring and Investigation Department. The first Complainant has also had to scale down its work significantly owing to the limited resources remaining. Alleged violations of the Charter 16. The Complainants submit “that [the first Complainant’s] rights under Article 1, 7(1), 9(1) and (2), 10, 14 and 15 of the African Charter have been violated. In particular, they plead that: (a) by freezing the first Complainant’s funds without affording it a prior chance to be heard, and failing to provide a copy of the judgment of the Supreme Court, the Respondent State has violated Article 7 of the Charter. (b) by forcing the first Complainant to scale down its monitoring, investigative and reporting roles, and by granting the CSO Agency the power to demand For the present purposes, the Commission does not find it necessary to reproduce all the provisions of the CSO Proclamation alleged to be inconsistent with the Charter. 2 4|Page