Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Forty-seventh session

Geneva, 14 November – 2 December 2011

Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of the combined initial to third periodic reports of Ethiopia concerning articles 1 to 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/C.12/ETH/1-3)

I.General information

Please clarify whether the State party has formulated a national policy addressing the situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and designated a State organ for assistance to and protection of IDPs. Please inform the Committee on the number of IDPs, both conflict and natural disaster-induced, and specify how their right to food, health, housing, and water and sanitation is guaranteed.

Article 2, paragraph 2 - Non-discrimination

Please provide information on steps taken to combat and prevent societal stigma and discrimination against persons living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, as well as persons with disabilities, and to ensure their enjoyment of the rights enshrined in the Covenant, in particular access to employment, social services, health care, and education.

Please inform the Committee whether the Penal Code will be amended to decriminalize homosexuality.

Please indicate what steps are taken by the State party to ensure that traditional Islamic law and customary law do not negatively impact on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights enshrined in the Covenant.

Article 3 - Equal rights of men and women

Please provide information on measures taken by the State party to eliminate gender stereotypes, provide land rights for women living in rural areas and improve access for women to education and health.

II.Issues relating to the specific provisions of the Covenant (arts. 6-15)

Article 6 - The right to work

Please specify which measures have been taken by the State party to reduce unemployment for women, which is much higher than for men (paras.61 to 64 of the State party’s report) and youth unemployment.

Article 7 - The right to just and favourable conditions of work

Please provide information on measures taken to ensure safe and healthy conditions of work in the informal sector, and their enforcement in practice.

Please indicate what measures, legislative or otherwise, have been taken to set a national minimum wage, so as to enable workers and their families to earn a decent living.

Please provide up-to-date information on the wage differences between men and women by sector, and indicate what measures have been taken to ensure equal pay for work of equal value.

Article 8 - Trade union rights

Please specify whether there is any limitation, in law or fact, on the right to form and/or join trade unions. Please clarify which legal safeguards exist to ensure non-interference of employers in union activities.

Article 9 - The right to social security

Please indicate whether there are plans to progressively implement a universal social security system, in addition to the coverage extended to public servants as mentioned in the State party’s report. Please also indicate whether there are legally established and periodically reviewed minimum amounts of benefits, and whether they are sufficient to ensure an adequate standard of living for recipients and their families.

Please provide information on social security programmes to protect workers in the informal economy, in particular in relation to health care, maternity and old age.

Article 10 - Protection of the family, mothers and children

Please provide information on the measures taken, legislative or otherwise, to combat the problems of domestic violence against women, female genital mutilation, marital rape, sexual harassment, child abduction, trafficking in persons (including internal trafficking of women and children) and the results achieved. Please also provide information on the number of prosecutions carried out since 2005 against perpetrators of those offences as well as the sentences passed.

Please indicate what measures have been taken to ensure that all children, including refugee children, are registered at birth and receive a birth certificate, in particular in rural areas.

Please elaborate upon measures to combat, prevent and eliminate the prevalence of child labour, as indicated in paragraph 199 of the State party’s report. Please specify whether the State party has adopted targeted measures to ensure that orphaned children and children from disadvantaged and marginalized families are not engaged in child labour.

Please indicate which steps have been taken to address the root causes of the phenomenon of street children and to ensure that they have access to education, shelter and health care.

Article 11 - The right to an adequate standard of living

Please indicate measures taken to address poverty and extreme poverty, especially in rural areas. Please also provide information on steps taken, and in particular the impact measured, to address chronic food insecurity, chronic malnutrition and the critical nutritional needs of children. Please also comment on reports of exclusion of the Ogadeni population from State-run food aid and rural development plans.

Please provide information on steps taken to improve the accessibility to safe drinking water, in particular in rural areas, as well as sanitation.

Please provide information on measures taken and the results achieved for the provision of accessible and affordable housing for all sections of the population, especially for persons with disabilities and other disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups. Please provide information on the occurrence of forced evictions in the State party, especially in view of the fact that a large number of people live in informal settlements. Please also provide information on the extent of homelessness in the State party.

Article 12 - The right to physical and mental health

Please provide information on the percentage of the population that benefit from health-care coverage, disaggregated by economic sector and geographic region. Please also provide information on the number of qualified health-care professionals per capita and per region.

Please provide information on measures taken to reduce infant mortality rates, in particular children below the age of 5, including under the Health Service Extension Program, and the results achieved.

Please provide information on measures taken to reduce the high rate of maternal and infant mortality and to guarantee a greater number of births assisted by specialized personnel. Please provide information on measures taken to ensure access to basic sexual and reproductive health services, and also provide information regarding educational programmes in this area.

Articles 13 and 14 - The right to education

Please indicate the measures taken by the State party to ensure that primary education is free and compulsory for all children, in line with article 14 of the Covenant. Please provide information on steps taken to increase primary school enrolment and attendance rates, decrease the high dropout rate, address the gender gap in enrolment rates, and the overcrowding in primary schools.

Please provide information on steps taken to increase the literacy rate, especially among women and girls in rural areas.

Please provide information on steps taken to ensure that children with disabilities, in particular those living in rural areas, have access to an inclusive education.

Article 15 - Cultural rights

Please provide information on legislative and other measures taken to protect, preserve and promote the cultural heritage and traditional way of life of minorities and indigenous peoples in the State party, including the Oromo and Anuak, and to facilitate the access to cultural goods and services, particularly for disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups.