Methodology

How we collect, review and publish records · Last updated: October 29, 2026

The Oromia Human Rights Monitor (OHRM) keeps a public record of reported human rights violations in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. This page explains where the records come from, how volunteers review them, what is published and what is kept private, and what the record can and cannot show.

1. What a published record is

Each published incident is a documented account: a description of a reported violation, with the date and place as far as they are known. It is not a court finding, and publication does not mean that every detail has been proven. Each record says whether OHRM has verified it (see section 5).

2. Where records come from

• Reports sent through this websiteAnyone can report a violation, anonymously by default. Name and contact details are optional and never published.
• News coverageAn automated monitor reads Addis Standard, BBC Afaan Oromoo, BBC Amharic, VOA Amharic and Google News searches for human rights coverage of Oromia. It only lists articles for reviewers; a person decides whether an article becomes a record, and writes it up with a link to the article.
• A compiled datasetRecords with references starting "OHRM-" come from a dataset compiled from media and human rights organisation reports, including Addis Standard, Amnesty International, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Watch, OMN and the Oromia Support Group. Each cites its source.

3. How a report is reviewed

New reports wait for review and are not public. Volunteer reviewers (monitors) read each one and:

• check the sources they can, and record each one in the report's verification notes: what the source was, whether it supports or contradicts the account, and how credible it is;
• look at possible duplicates the system suggests, such as reports about the same zone and dates, or the same article (nothing is merged automatically);
• set the type of violation, the severity, and a general public location;
• recommend the report for publishing, or ask an administrator to reject it.

Only an administrator can publish a record. Administrators can also restrict a report whose details could put someone at risk if more people saw them: only administrators can then see it, and it cannot be published. Every review action is logged with who did it and when.

4. What is published, and what is kept private

• The reporter's own words are never published as they areFor reports sent through the website, a reviewer writes a separate public title and summary. Before saving it, the reviewer works through a checklist: no names of victims, witnesses or the reporter; places at woreda level at most; no phone, ID or plate numbers or exact times that could identify someone; no details only a few people would know. Records based on published news or the compiled dataset can be shown as they appeared in their public source.
• LocationThe public sees the zone and, where a reviewer sets one, a woreda or town. The reporter's own description of the place is never published.
• IdentityReporters' names and contact details are never published. They are stored encrypted, visible only to administrators through a logged "reveal", and deleted 6 months after the report is published or rejected (see the Privacy Policy for all retention periods).
• EvidencePhotos and videos are shown only when an administrator marks them public. Hidden location and device data is removed from uploaded photos, including photos inside PDF documents. PDF documents are also cleaned of the author's name, device details and earlier versions, and are never published.
• CommentsComments on published incidents appear only after a moderator approves them.

5. Verification labels

Publishing and verification are separate. Every published record carries one of these labels:

Only an administrator can change a record's label, and each change is logged. Most records are currently "not independently verified".

6. Types of violation and severity

Each record has one type: extrajudicial killing; arbitrary detention; torture and ill-treatment; enforced disappearance; sexual and gender-based violence; forced displacement; freedom of expression and press; property destruction and looting; restriction of humanitarian access; or other.

Severity (low, medium, high or critical) is a reviewer's assessment. Reports start at medium until a reviewer sets it. Records in the compiled dataset start from a default for their type (for example, killings and enforced disappearances as critical), which reviewers can change.

7. Numbers and dates

• People affectedThe number given by the report or source, when there is one. It is often an estimate.
• Incident countsCounts on the map and elsewhere count records, not people. One record can describe an event affecting many people.
• People killedAdds up the number affected in extrajudicial killings where a number was reported. Records that summarise many events, such as a report covering several years, are left out of that sum to avoid counting the same deaths twice.
• DatesThe date of the incident as reported. Some records from the compiled dataset give only a month or an approximate date, and the map marks those as approximate.

8. Places and the map

Records are placed on the map at their woreda or town when it is known, and otherwise at the main town of their zone, so a circle at a zone's main town can combine incidents from across the zone. Zone boundaries follow OCHA's 2025 official set, so every zone of Oromia is drawn, including East Bale, West Guji, Buno Bedele, East Borena and Sheger City (the Special Zone Surrounding Finfinne). The responsible party shown on the map is set by a reviewer only when the account makes it clear; otherwise it reads "not stated". The map shows published records only and updates as records are published or withdrawn.

9. Languages and translation

The site is written in Afaan Oromoo first, with English, Amharic or Tigrinya alongside. Records based on published news can be machine-translated into the other languages; machine translations are labelled, and names and places in them may be wrong. Reporters' own accounts are never sent to a translation service: those records are translated by hand.

10. Corrections and withdrawals

If a record is wrong, or puts someone at risk, email us with its reference code and what should change. Reporters can also ask for their own report to be corrected or removed.

[email protected]

When a published record is taken down, its page keeps a short notice with the date and the reason, so anyone who cited it can see what happened. Its details are no longer shown.

11. What the record cannot show

• It is incompleteMany violations are never reported, especially where communications are cut, travel is restricted, or people fear reprisals. The numbers here are a record of reported incidents, not a measure of everything that happened.
• Coverage is unevenAreas and periods with more journalists, internet access or organisations working there produce more records.
• Sources differAccounts from media and organisations reflect their own access and methods, and some may be disputed.
• Details are approximatePlaces are generalised to protect people, and dates and numbers are often estimates.

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