Government Corruption and Transparency

The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption; however, the government did not implement these laws effectively. The World Bank’s worldwide governance indicators reflected that corruption remained a serious problem.

The MOJ has primary responsibility for combating corruption, largely through the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Ethics Commission). A combination of social pressure, cultural norms, and legal restrictions limited corruption. However, government officials appeared to manipulate the privatization process, and state and party-owned businesses received preferential access to land leases and credit.

During the year, there were numerous arrests of senior and junior officials on corruption charges. For instance, on February 18, the Ethics Commission arrested Tesfaye Birru, former ETC managing director, and 12 other senior management staff and accused them of approving an equipment and technology contract outside of government bid regulations, costing 1.52 billion birr ($148.2 million). The case was before the Federal High Court by year’s end.

Also early in the year, the Ethics Comimision accused eight high-ranking National Bank officials for involvement in a gold scandal worth 158 milllion birr ($15.4 million). The trial began in July before the Federal High Court and continued at year’s end.

The law provides for public access to government information, but access was largely restricted in practice. The Press Law passed in July included freedom-of-information provisions but will not take effect for two years.

The government publishes its laws and regulations in the national gazette prior to their taking effect. The Ministry of Information managed contacts between the government, the press, and the public; however, the government routinely refused to respond to queries from the private press (see section 2.a.).

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

A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated with limited government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. The government generally was distrustful and wary of domestic human rights groups and international observers.

Two of the most prominent domestic human rights organizations were EHRCO and the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA). The government routinely discounted EHRCO’s reports and labeled it a political organization.

EWLA’s primary function was to provide legal representation for women. These and numerous other groups mainly engaged in civic and human rights education, advocacy, legal assistance, and trial monitoring. However, the government neither shared information nor acknowledged the existence of human rights abuses.

During the year the government introduced restrictive legislation that would affect numerous civil society organizations. The Charities and Societies Proclamation seeks to prohibit civil society organizations that receive more than 10 percent of their funding from foreign sources from engaging in activities that promote human rights and democracy; the rights of children and the disabled; equality among nations, nationalities, people, gender and religion; or conflict resolution or reconciliation. Since nearly all civil society organizations that work in these areas rely on foreign funding, it is likely that many will be unable to continue their activities. Among the civil society organizations likely to be affected are the two most prominent human rights organizations, EHRCO and EWLA.

The government sometimes cooperated with international organizations such as the UN. However, the government continued to restrict the ICRC, MSF, and other NGOs from working in the Somali Region. Both the ICRC and MSF had expressed concern about the government’s counterinsurgency campaign against the ONLF (see section 1.g.).

Two NGO members detained in 2005 were pardoned (see section 1.d.).

The government denied the ICRC access to federal prisons, police stations, and political prisoners.

Security officials continued to intimidate or detain local individuals to prevent them from meeting with NGOs and foreign government officials investigating abuse allegations.

The government-established Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) investigates human rights complaints and produces both annual and thematic reports; however, their reports were not public. This year, the EHRC received 300 complaints but determined that most fell outside of its jurisdiction and, at year’s end, had eight to 10 cases pending.

Early in the year, an EHRC team investigating human rights abuses in the Somali Region was prohibited from traveling outside of the regional capital and was permitted access to only one detention facility.

The Office of the Ombudsman has the authority to receive and investigate complaints with respect to misadministration by executive branch offices. The office received hundreds of complaints this year, mainly focused on delays or denials in services, improper institutional decisions, promotions or demotions, and pension issues. It is not known which complaints were investigated or acted upon.

Section 5 Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons

The constitution (Article 25) provides all persons equal protection without discrimination based on race, nation, nationality, or other social origin, color, gender, language, religion, political or other opinion, property, birth, or status; however, in practice the government did not fully promote and protect these rights.

Women

The constitution (Article 35) provides women the same rights and protections as men. Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs) such as female genital cutting, abduction, and rape have been explicitly criminalized. Enforcement of these laws lags. To address this, the government established a National Commission for Children’s and Women’s Affairs in 2005, as part of the EHRC, to investigate alleged human rights violations against women and children.

Women and girls experience gender-based violence daily, but it is underreported due to shame, fear, or a victim’s ignorance of legal protections. The National Committee for Traditional Practices in Ethiopia identified 120 HTPs. The 2005 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey found that more than 74 percent of women and girls were subjected to FGM, although this was declining. In the context of gender-based violence, significant gender gaps in the justice system remained due to poor documentation, inadequate investigation, and lack of special handling of cases involving women and children.

The law criminalizes rape, calling for five to 20 years of imprisonment depending on the severity of the case. The law does not include spousal rape. The government did not fully enforce the law, partially due to widespread underreporting. The Addis Ababa 2006 annual police report listed 736 rape cases out of an estimated population of five million persons. Statistics on the number of abusers prosecuted, convicted, or punished were not available at year’s end.

Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, was a pervasive social problem. The 2005 Health Survey found that 81 percent of women believed a husband had a right to beat his wife. A 2005 World Health Organization (WHO) study found that in two rural districts, Meskan and Mareko, 71 percent of women were subject to physical or sexual violence, or both, by an intimate partner during their lifetime. While women had recourse to the police and the courts, societal norms and limited infrastructure prevented many women from seeking legal redress, particularly in rural areas. The government prosecuted offenders on a limited scale.

Limited access to family planning services, high fertility, low reproductive health and emergency obstetric services, and poor nutritional status and infections all contributed to high maternal mortality ratio (673/100,000 mothers), according to the 2005 Health Survey. Maternal health care services did not reach the majority of women; skilled birth attendants aided only 10 percent of births. The national average for antenatal care (ANC) is 28 percent.

Prostitution was legal for persons over age 18 and was commonly practiced around the country; however, the law prohibits pimping and benefiting from prostitution. Persons exploited in prostitution routinely reported that poverty was the principal reason. Article 634 of the Ethiopian Penal Code (revised May 2005) stipulates “whoever, for gain makes a profession of or lives by procuring on the prostitution or immorality of another, or maintains, as a landlord or keeper, a brothel, is punishable with simple imprisonment and fine.”

Sexual harassment was widespread. The penal code prescribes 18 to 24 months’ imprisonment; however, harassment-related laws were not enforced.

The law sets the legal marriage age for girls and boys at 18; however, this law is not enforced. For example, a 2006 Pathfinder International study found that in the Amhara Region, 48 percent of women are married before the age of 15–the highest early marriage rate in the country.

Discrimination against women was most acute in rural areas, where 85 percent of the population was located. The law contains discriminatory regulations, such as the recognition of the husband as the legal head of the family and the sole guardian of children over five years old. Authorities did not consider domestic violence a serious justification for granting a divorce. There was limited legal recognition of common law marriage. Irrespective of the number of years the marriage existed, the number of children raised, and joint property, the law entitled women to only three months’ financial support if a common law relationship ended. A husband had no obligation to provide financial assistance to his family and, as a result, women and children sometimes faced abandonment. Even with recent stronger formal laws, most rural residents continued to apply customary law in economic and social relationships.

All land belongs to the government. Although women could obtain government leases to land, and the government had an explicit policy to provide equal access for women to land, rural communities rarely enforced this policy. In nearly all regions women did not have access to land, except through marriage. The law states that any property owned before marriage belongs to the spouse that previously owned it, while any property gained during marriage belongs to the husband upon divorce. In practice, when a husband died, other family members often took the land from his widow. In pastoralist areas where poverty is higher, women do not own property without a male guardian, which increases their marginalization and vulnerability. A widow must marry her brother-in-law or have an adult son in order to keep her deceased husband’s land.

In urban areas, women had fewer employment opportunities than men, and the jobs available did not provide equal pay for equal work. Women’s access to gainful employment, credit, and owning and/or managing a business was limited by their low level of education and training, traditional attitudes, and limited access to information.

Children

The constitution (Article 36) provides a comprehensive list of rights for children. The government supported efforts by domestic and international NGOs that focused on children’s social, health, and legal issues, despite its limited ability to provide improved health care, basic education, or child protection.

As a policy, primary education was universal and tuition-free, but not compulsory; however, there were not enough schools to accommodate the country’s youth, particularly in rural areas, and the cost of school supplies was prohibitive for many families. In 2005, primary school attendance rates were 81.7 percent for male children and 73.2 percent for female children; in Addis Ababa, girls’ attendance was significantly higher. Government reports indicated that 20.6 percent of the children who attended school left the system before they reached the second grade, and only 41.7 percent who began first grade completed eighth grade.

Child abuse was widespread. Members of an NGO staffed 10 child protection units in Addis Ababa’s police stations to protect the rights of juvenile delinquents and juvenile victims of crime. Some police officers received training during the year on procedures for handling cases of child abuse.

Societal abuse of young girls continued to be a problem. HTPs included FGM, early marriage, marriage by abduction, and food and work prohibitions.

In the Afar Region older men continued to marry young girls, but this traditional practice continued to face greater scrutiny and criticism. Local NGOs, such as the Kembatta Women’s Self‑Help Center and the Tigray Women’s Association, also influenced societal attitudes toward harmful traditional practices and early marriage in their areas. Regional governments in Amhara and Tigray ran programs to educate young women on the issues of early marriage.

The majority of girls and women in the country had undergone some form of FGM. Girls typically experienced clitorectomies seven days after birth (consisting of an excision of the clitoris, often with partial labial excision) and faced infibulations (the most extreme and dangerous form of FGM) at the onset of puberty. The 2005 Health Survey reported that the practice of FGM among all women had decreased from 80 to 74 percent, while support for the practice among women had dropped from 60 to 29 percent. Additionally, a February study funded by Save the Children Norway reported a 24 percent national reduction in FGM cases over the past 10 years due in part to a strong anti-FGM campaign. The penal code criminalizes practioners of clitorectomy by imprisonment of at least three months or a fine of at least 500 birr ($49). Likewise, infibulation of the genitals is punishable with imprisonment of five to 10 years. No criminal prosecutions have ever been brought for FGM. The government discouraged the practice of FGM through education in public schools and broader mass media campaigns.

Although illegal, the abduction of women and girls as a form of marriage continued to be widespread in several regions, including the Amhara, Oromiya, and SNNP regions, despite the government’s attempts to combat the practice. Forced sexual relationships accompanied most marriages by abduction, and women often experienced physical abuse during the abduction. Abductions led to conflicts among families, communities, and ethnic groups. In cases of marriage by abduction, the perpetrator did not face punishment if the victim agreed to marry the perpetrator. Authorities often commuted the sentence of the convicted perpetor if the victim married the perpetrator.

Child marriage was also a problem, particularly in the Amhara and Tigray regions, where girls were routinely married as early as age seven, despite the legal minimum age of 18 for marriage. There were some signs of growing public awareness in communities of the problem of abuse of women and girls, including early marriage.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated there were between 150,000 and 200,000 street children nationally, with a further one million vulnerable or at risk of ending up on the streets. UNICEF stated the problem was exacerbated because of families’ inability to support children due to parental illness and decreased household income. These children begged, sometimes as part of a gang, or worked in the informal sector. Government- and privately run orphanages were unable to handle the number of street children, and older children often abused younger ones. Due to severe resource constraints, hospitals and orphanages often overlooked or neglected abandoned infants. “Handlers” sometimes maimed or blinded children to raise their earnings from begging. [Continued on next page]