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Ethiopia

Monthly Event Reports

August 2023 | Human rights situation in Amhara deteriorates as heavy fighting breaks out
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The human rights situation in Ethiopia’s Amhara region deteriorated in August, as heavy fighting broke out between the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) and Amhara militias known as Fano. The fighting follows months of tension and sporadic clashes over the federal government’s plans to disband the country’s regional forces. It began in early August when Fano fighters moved into towns and cities across the region, where they attacked police stations and regional administrators. The federal government responded by moving in the ENDF, which reportedly struck urban areas with heavy weaponry. The fighting caused large-scale civilian casualties, disrupted access to basic services and confined residents to their homes. Reports also indicate that the government shut down the internet and used broad powers acquired under a state of emergency declared on 4 August to carry out mass arrests, with journalists and an opposition MP amongst those detained. The UN called for an end to the arrests and the release of those arbitrarily detained.  

July 2023 | UN experts condemn Ethiopia’s mass deportation of ‘hundreds’ of Eritreans

On 13 July several UN Special Procedures (independent experts) issued a statement condemning and calling for an end to what it described as ‘Ethiopia’s summary expulsion of hundreds of Eritreans at the end of June [2023]’. On 24 June, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission had said it was monitoring the forcible return of an estimated 200 Eritreans and, according to local media, several earlier reports indicated that in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian authorities were rounding up and forcibly returning ‘tens of Eritreans.’ Collective expulsions are prohibited under international law, which requires that an individual and objective risk assessment is made of the deportee’s exposure to human rights violations upon their return. The UN experts have previously documented patterns of such violations perpetrated against Eritreans forcibly returned to the country, including torture and arbitrary detention. The fate and whereabouts of the June deportees was not known to the experts.

June 2023 | Enforced disappearances on the rise in Ethiopia, says rights commission

In a press release issued on 5 June, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) called for the government to end enforced disappearances, which the Commission has observed to have increased in the aftermath of the war in the Tigray region and in connection with conflicts elsewhere, including those in the regions of Amhara and Oromia. The EHRC said it was monitoring cases across the country, but that the situation was particularly acute in the capital, Addis Ababa and in Oromia and Amhara. Victims have included members of the Ethiopian National Defence Force and opposition political parties, some of whom allege that they were tortured.       

April 2023 | Head of ruling party in Ethiopia’s Amhara region shot dead
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On 27 April, the head of the ruling Prosperity Party in the Amhara region, Gairma Yeshitila, was shot dead alongside four others in what the federal security agencies claim to have been an attempt by Amhara nationalists to overthrow the regional government. The security agencies responded to the shootings by arresting 47 people they allege to have been involved in the attempted overthrow. Among those arrested were several public figures, media personalities and scholars reported to have Amhara nationalist loyalties. These developments took place against a backdrop of rising tensions between Amhara nationalists and the federal government, as the latter pushed through security sector reforms disbanding Ethiopia’s regional forces (a move strongly opposed by the nationalists). Earlier in April, the reforms had triggered violent clashes between the federal forces and militant Amhara nationalists, which claimed the lives of two aid workers.

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GSoD Indices Data 2013-2022

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Basic Information

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Population Tooltip
117 876 230
System of government
Parliamentary system
Head of government
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (since 2018)
Head of government party
Prosperity Party
Electoral system for lower or single chamber
First Past the Post
Women in lower or single chamber
41.5%
Women in upper chamber
30.6%
Last legislative election
2021
Head of state
President Sahle-Work Zewde
Selection process for head of state
Indirect election (assembly)
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) date
14/05/2019
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) percentage of recommendations supported
94.29%
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Human Rights Treaties

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State Party State party
Signatory Signatory
No Action No action
United Nations Human Right Treaties
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
State Party
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
State Party
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
State Party
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
State Party
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
State Party
Convention on the Rights of the Child
State Party
International Convention on Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
No Action
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance 
No Action
International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
State Party
International Labour Organisation Treaties
Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention
State Party
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention
State Party
Equal Remuneration Convention
State Party
Abolition of Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention
State Party
Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment
State Party
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
State Party
Regional Treaties
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
State Party
in
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Categories of Democratic Performance

Representation neutral Representation
Apr 2023
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Representation neutral Rights
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Representation neutral Rule of law
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Representation neutral Participation
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Global State of Democracy Indices

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Representation
Representation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rights
Rights
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rule of Law
Rule of Law
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Participation
Participation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Annual value

Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time

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