The International Committee of the Red Cross has intensified its efforts to support Dessie prison authorities to protect the rights and dignity of the detainees. Dessie prison is a correctional facility in Dessie Town, Ethiopia.

These efforts include rehabilitating basic infrastructure and supporting essential services to ensure humane conditions. This will give the detainees access to proper accommodation, healthcare, food, water, and sanitation services among others. The primary purpose of this is to ensure detainees’ well-being is respected and conditions of detention are in line with the law and internationally recognized standards.

With the improvement in the security situation and basic social services fully restored in Dessie town, and measures taken to protect and keep the detainees safe, the priority remains to improve conditions of detention and to maintain contact between the detainees and their relatives.

One of the members of the detainee community said that the ongoing support by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has brought significant progress. The ICRC is boosting resources allocated to Dessie Prison to improve the living conditions and make them safer and more humane for detainees to live with dignity.

Another member of the detainees’ committee explained that the committee had first identified and distributed items from the ICRC like blankets, clothes, and hygiene and sanitary items to the most vulnerable inmates – such as the mentally ill and those without family visits.