Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/ethiopia.txu

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TITLE:  ETHIOPIA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995




     b.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The National Charter and the new Constitution endorse the right
of peaceful assembly, freedom of association, and the right to
engage in unrestricted peaceful political activity.  Although
the Government has used legal instruments and other measures to
abridge these rights on numerous occasions, the Government did
not interfere with several large antigovernment protests held
in November and December.  The TGE proclamation of August 12,
1991, required organizers to inform authorities of peaceful
demonstrations or public political meetings 48 hours in
advance.  In 1994 this process, not the law, was reversed and
tightened.  Organizers must now obtain a permit from regional
authorities prior to a public demonstration.

In a sign that the Government is responding more responsibly to
legitimate public expressions of dissent during the period
leading up to the 1995 elections, there were several large
peaceful demonstrations in November and December.  On November
28, there was a peaceful rally and march by between 40,000 and
50,000 Muslims who demonstrated in Addis Ababa in support of
unrestricted freedom to practice their religion.  On December
4, several opposition groups staged a peaceful rally in central
Addis Ababa to protest the Government's "unilateral" adoption
of the new Constitution and to condemn human rights abuses.
Approximately 50,000 people attended the rally, which proceeded
without incident.

The TGE permits the existence of independent nongovernmental
associations but has sometimes harassed and intimidated groups,
which have criticized the Government on purely political
grounds, such as the Ethiopian Human Rights Council.  These
associations are required both to register with the Relief and
Rehabilitation Commission and to hold a special permit issued
by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.  In particular, the permit
is necessary for an association to open a bank account or
acquire official seals.  Three years after EHRCO applied for
registration and a permit, the Government continued to delay
action on the applications, claiming that EHRCO is primarily a
political organization (see Section 4).  Many other
nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) have made similar
complaints.

The TGE requires political parties to register with the
National Electoral Board (NEB).  As of year's end, there were
60 political parties (44 of whom had received registration
certificates from the NEB); of these, 53 are regional parties
and 7 national.

Credible reports from many sources demonstrate that the
authorities at both the national and regional levels harassed
opposition political parties.  The authorities often refused to
rent meeting halls to opposition parties, surveilled party
activities, and harassed individual members.  A member of the
Ethiopian Democratic Union Party (EDUP) was detained and beaten
severely by two EPRDF officials in Addis Ababa for several
hours after they discovered his EDUP membership card while
interrogating him and a friend on the street.  Two officials of
the opposition Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Coalition
(SEPDC) were allegedly summarily detained on December 28 after
presenting local authorities in the town of Hosanna a written
notification of SEPDC's intention to establish a party office.
In August police detained 46 supporters of the newly formed
ENDP in Awassa and Dilla in what many suspect was an attempt by
southern region authorities to dismantle the party (see Section
1.d.).

     c.  Freedom of Religion

The National Charter and the new Constitution provide for
freedom of religion, including the right of conversion, and
freedom of worship exists in practice.  Roughly 40 percent of
Ethiopia's population are Muslims who, for the first time in
the nation's history, are able to participate fully in
political, economic, and social life.

     d.  Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
         Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

Freedom of movement, including the right of domestic and
foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, is provided under
the National Charter and the new Constitution.  Citizens may
freely change their residence or workplace.  Citizens and
residents of Ethiopia are required to obtain an exit visa
before departing, which the authorities issue in most cases,
except for persons with pending court cases or debts.

An average of 100 Ethiopian Jews (Falashas) and Feles Mora
(Ethiopians who claim Jewish heritage but have not been
accepted as Jews by the Israeli Rabbinate) emigrated to Israel
every month.  This outflow has remained at about the same level
since the major exodus of Falashas in 1991 and 1992.  Several
thousand Ethiopians who claim Jewish heritage remain in
Ethiopia.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
and to foreign diplomats, the TGE treats asylum seekers fairly
and is cooperative on issues concerning the repatriation of
Ethiopian refugees.

Section 3  Respect for Political Rights:  The Right of Citizens
           to Change Their Government

This right has yet to be exercised in Ethiopia.  The TGE
extended the transitional period originally scheduled to expire
in January until a new national government is elected in
mid-1995.  Throughout the year, the TGE continued preparations
for a transition to multiparty democracy, and in December the
Constituent Assembly announced plans to the hold parliamentary
elections within 6 months.

Since taking power in 1991, the EPRDF has dominated the
political process and maintains a preponderance of seats in the
quasi-legislative Council of Representatives.  Of the four
constituent parties of the EPRDF, the TPLF is the most
powerful, and its members included the President and (until
their exclusion from the party at the December 1994 Congress]
most key national security officials.  The EPRDF also dominates
the regional councils and executive committees as a result of
the flawed 1992 elections in which principally the EPRDF, but
also the OLF, were guilty of numerous breaches of the electoral
process.

In March the commission charged with drafting a new
constitution completed its task and submitted the draft for
review and approval by the Council of Representatives.  In
October, the 548-seat Constituent Assembly elected in June
began deliberations on the draft constitution, which it
approved on December 8.  Opposition to the new Constitution
includes an objection to the alleged "unilateral" nature of its
adoption by a ruling party and to specific controversial
articles.  Prominent among the latter are provisions for
self-determination "up to secession" (Article 39) and for state
ownership of all land.

All major opposition groups boycotted the June Constituent
Assembly elections, claiming that the Government would impede
their ability to participate in the political process.  Leading
up to the election, there were credible reports of EPRDF
harassment of some opposition party members and independent
candidates, especially in regions outside Addis Ababa.  The TGE
and the National Electoral Board made credible attempts to
investigate abuses when made aware of their occurrence.  A
limited attempt was made to provide registered candidates with
media access.  In at least one instance, the NEB reversed an
announced victory in favor of a non-EPRDF candidate.
International observers considered the elections
administratively fair.  However, as a result of the lack of
opposition candidates, the election was largely noncompetitive,
and the better organized and funded EPRDF candidates won 89
percent of the contested seats.

In general, the opposition parties are poorly organized and
funded and lack leadership and alternative programs.  Most such
parties also have little active support outside Addis Ababa,
although 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas.
Participation remains closed to a number of organizations which
have not renounced violence or do not accept the TGE and its
Council of Representatives as a legitimate authority.  These
groups include Medhin, the Coalition of Ethiopian Democratic
Forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party, the Oromo
Liberation Front, and several smaller Somali groups.

Neither law nor practice restrict the participation of women
and minorities in politics.  Although by historical standards
women's status and political participation is greater than ever
before, women are underrepresented in the TGE Council of
Ministers and among the leadership of all political
organizations.  Only 2 of the 20 Ministers in the TGE Council
of Ministers are women; 3 other women hold ministerial rank,
and a number of others hold positions among the senior ranks of
government.  Only 1 of 30 judges on the central High Court is a
woman.

Section 4  Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
           Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
           of Human Rights

The Ethiopian Human Rights Council is the country's most
prominent independent human rights monitoring group, but it has
been criticized for its political agenda.  However, EHRCO
continued to operate without legal status because the
Government considers it a political organization.  The
Government refused to register EHRCO, and security officials
regularly monitored people visiting its office.  Although in
1993 the Government arrested and released on bail the EHRCO
Secretary General, it had not formally charged him with a crime
by year's end.  EHRCO public statements and periodic reports
are highly critical of the TGE's political program as well as
its performance on human rights.  In its seventh report, it
submitted a list of alleged extrajudicial killings to the
Attorney General and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.  The
former replied that it was unaware of such cases; the latter
had not responded as of year's end.

Other human rights organizations include the Ethiopian Human
Rights and Peace Center (EHRPC), affiliated with the law
faculty at Addis Ababa University, the Ethiopian Congress for
Democracy, and the Inter-Africa Group.

The TGE allows visits by the ICRC and international human
rights groups and permits them to operate and travel freely.
International human rights groups and foreign diplomats have
been encouraged to observe the war crimes trials which began in
December.  Although allegations of human rights abuses have
been raised with the TGE, the Government took remedial action
in only the most public and egregious cases.  Rarely, if ever,
did it punish responsible officials for abusing or neglecting
their authority.  Officials in the Ministry of Interior have
generally been responsive to requests for information about
specific human rights cases and have facilitated visits to
prisons and meetings with prominent detainees.

Section 5  Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
           Disability, Language, or Social Status

The new Constitution states that all persons are equal before
the law.  The law provides that all persons should have equal
and effective protection without discrimination on grounds of
race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, wealth, birth, or other
status.

     Women

Although women played a prominent role (including service in
combat) during the civil war and hold some senior government
positions, in practice women do not enjoy equal status with
men.  Ethiopian law holds men and women to be equal, but
tradition and cultural factors place the man as head of the
household, and, in practice, men typically hold land tenure and
property rights for the whole family.

Discrimination is most acute in the rural areas, where
85 percent of the population lives, and where women work over
13 hours a day fulfilling household and farming
responsibilities.  In urban areas, women have fewer employment
opportunities than men, and the jobs available do not provide
equal pay for equal work.  In September 1993, the TGE launched
an initiative to promote the equality of women by changing
statutes and including women's concerns in the Government's
development planning, although the Government took limited
concrete action other than to establish women's affairs desks
in each of the ministries.

Domestic violence, including wife beating and rape, is a
pervasive problem.  While women theoretically have recourse
through police and the legal system, societal norms inhibit
many women from seeking legal redress.  There was sporadic
media coverage of domestic abuse cases, although the press
rarely covers instances of rape because of the stigma attached
to the crime.  There are disturbing reports that some husbands
force their wives into prostitution to supplement family income.

     Children

The Government has not given children's issues a high priority,
but has encouraged the efforts of domestic and international
NGO's, such as Save the Children, which focus on children's
social and health issues.

Societal abuse against young girls, however, continues to be a
serious problem.  Almost all girls undergo some form of female
genital mutilation (FGM), which international and TGE health
experts have condemned as damaging to both physical and
psychological health.  Clitorectomies are typically performed
7 days after birth, and the excision of the labia and
infibulation, the most extreme and dangerous form of FGM, can
occur any time between the age of 8 and the onset of puberty.
Early childhood marriage is prevalent in rural areas with girls
as young as 9 years being party to arranged marriages.  The
National Committee on Traditional Practices in Ethiopia, an
indigenous NGO, along with the Ministries of Health and Labor
and Social Affairs, international organizations, and other
NGO's, has begun a nationwide program to educate women,
community leaders, and traditional leaders on the harmful
effects of FGM.  Ethiopia has an extremely high maternal
mortality rate, partially due to food taboos for pregnant women
and birth complications related to FGM, including infibulation.

     National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Ethiopia has more than 80 different ethnic groups.  Although
all of these groups have had some influence on the political
and cultural life of the country, Amharas and Tigrayans from
the northern highlands have traditionally dominated this
process.  Some ethnic groups, such as Oromos, the largest
single group, claim to have been dominated for at least a
century by the Amharas and Tigrayans.  In an attempt to rectify
this problem, the Government has supported a loose federal
system and in 1994 changed regional boundaries to encompass
more completely entire (major) ethnic populations.

     People with Disabilities

The Government does not mandate access to buildings or
government services for persons with disabilities.  The new
Constitution stipulates that the State shall allocate resources
to provide rehabilitation and assistance to the physically and
mentally disabled.  There is no officially condoned or legally
sanctioned discrimination against people with disabilities, but
cultural attitudes toward the disabled are often negative, and
even people with minor disabilities complain of rampant job
discrimination.  The Council of Representatives passed a law
mandating equal rights for the disabled, but it is unclear if
the law can be rigorously enforced.  An official at the
Rehabilitation Agency, a semiautonomous institution under the
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, estimated that there are
more than 5 million disabled people in Ethiopia out of a
population of roughly 53 million.

Section 6  Worker Rights

     a.  The Right of Association

Only a small percentage of the population is involved in wage
labor employment, which is largely concentrated in the
capital.  Approximately 85 percent of the work force lives in
the countryside, engaged in subsistence farming.

Under the National Charter, Article 42 of the 1994
Constitution, and the 1993 Labor Law, most workers are free to
form and join unions and engage in collective bargaining, but
only about 200,000 workers are unionized.  Employees of the
civil and security services (where most wage workers are
found), judges, and prosecutors are not allowed to form
unions.  Workers who provide an "essential service" are not
allowed to strike.  Essential services include a large number
of categories such as air transport, railways, bus services,
police and fire services, post and telecommunications, banks,
and pharmacies.

Unions are not affiliated with the Government or political
parties.  There is no legal requirement for unions to belong to
the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions (CETU), which was
established in November 1993.  CETU comprises nine federations
organized by industrial and service sector rather than by
region.  In December the Government decertified CETU following
a 30-day probationary period given to permit CETU to resolve
internal disputes.  Under Ethiopian law a trade organization
may not act in an overtly political manner.  The CETU split
over allegations that CETU chairman Dawey Ibrahim's harsh
criticism of the Government's structural adjustment program was
politically motivated.  Factions of three federations,
including Dawey, took possession of CETU offices, prompting the
Government to issue the order that CETU must resolve its
internal problems.  The central High Court later affirmed the
Government's right to decertify CETU but found the decision to
close CETU's offices to be improper.  Nonetheless, at year's
end the CETU offices remained closed.

The 1993 Labor Law explicitly gives workers the right to strike
to protect their interests, but it also sets forth many
restrictions which apply before a legal strike may take place.
These restrictions apply equally to an employer's right to
lockout.  Strikes must be supported by a majority of the
workers affected by the decision.  The 1993 Labor Law prohibits
retribution against strikers.  Both sides must make efforts at
conciliation, provide at least 10-days' notice to the
Government and include the reasons for the action, and, in
cases already before a court or labor board, the party must
provide at least a 30-day warning.

If an agreement between unions and management cannot be
reached, the Minister of Labor may refer the case to
arbitration by a labor relations board (LRB).  The TGE has
established LRB's at the national level and in some regions.
The Minister of Labor and Social Affairs appoints each LRB
chairman, and the four board members are composed of two each
from trade unions and employer associations.  It is unlawful to
strike against an order from an LRB.

There were no strikes organized by unions during the year.

In mid-1994, the TGE reinstated 46 of 52 employees of the
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia who had been fired in 1992 for
attempting to strike.  In the absence of a labor law in 1992,
the attempt to strike had been judged illegal.

Independent unions and those belonging to CETU are free to
affiliate with and participate in international labor bodies.

     b.  The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

Collective bargaining is protected under the Labor Law and
under the new Constitution, and it is practiced freely
throughout the country.  Collective bargaining agreements
concluded between 1975 and the promulgation of the January 1993
Labor Law are covered under the 1975 Labor Code and remain in
force.  Labor experts estimate that more than 90 percent of
unionized workers in Ethiopia are covered by collective
bargaining agreements.  Wages are negotiated at the plant level.

The law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers against
union members and organizers.  Grievance procedures are in
place to hear allegations of discrimination brought by
individuals or unions.  Employers found guilty of antiunion
discrimination are required to reinstate workers fired for
union activities.

There are no export processing zones.

     c.  Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The National Charter and the new Constitution proscribe
slavery--which was officially abolished in 1942--and
involuntary servitude.  The Criminal Code specifically
prohibits forced labor unless instituted by court order as a
punitive measure.  Forced or compulsory labor is virtually
nonexistent.

     d.  Minimum Age for Employment of Children

Under the 1993 Labor Law, the minimum age for wage or salary
employment is 14.  Children between the ages of 14 and 18 are
covered by special provisions in the Labor Law.  Children may
not work more than 7 hours per day, work between the hours of
10 p.m. and 6 a.m. or on public holidays, or perform overtime.
While some efforts to enforce these regulations are made within
the formal industrial sector, large numbers of children of all
ages work outside of most government regulatory control on
farms in the countryside and as street peddlers in the cities.

     e.  Acceptable Conditions of Work

There is no statutory minimum wage.  However, since 1985 a
minimum wage has been set and paid to public sector employees
who are by far the largest group of wage earners.  This public
sector minimum wage is $16.67 (105 birr) per month, which is
insufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family.  According to the Office for the Study of
Wages and other Remunerations, a family of five requires a
monthly income of $62.40 (390 birr), and even with two minimum
wage earners a family receives only about half the income
needed for healthful subsistence.

The legal workweek is 48 hours, 6 days of 8 hours each, with a
24-hour rest period.  The 48-hour workweek is widely respected.

The TGE, private industry, and unions negotiate to set
occupational health and safety standards.  However, the
Inspection Department of the Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs enforces these standards ineffectively, due to a lack
of human and financial resources.  Workers have the right to
remove themselves from dangerous situations without jeopardy to
continued employment.