COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION

OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

Seventy-fifth session

3 - 28 August 2009

LIST OF ISSUES IN CONNECTION WITH

THE CONSIDERATION OF THE SEVENTH TO SIXTEENTH PERIODIC

REPORTS OF ETHIOPIA

Article 1

Please indicate the difference between nationalities and peoples on the one hand and ethnic groups on the other hand in the context of the Ethiopian setting.

Article 2

In addition to the constitutional prohibition on discrimination, has the State party enacted any specific anti-discrimination legislation, including in the areas of social security and social services, healthcare, education and housing? Please provide information on such legislation.

In the light of reports that teachers and other civil servants have, on occasion, been dismissed from their employment on the basis of their ethnic origin, has the State party taken measures to investigate these occurrences and to enforce the applicable law?

Has the State party taken steps to amend Labour Proclamation No. 377/2003 in order to specifically prohibit discrimination on the basis of social origin and national extraction, as recommended by the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations in 2006 through its Individual Direct Request concerning Discrimination?

What legislative or other guarantees exist to ensure that the application of certain customary and religious laws does not result in de facto discrimination against individuals and groups that are subject to the customary and religious legal systems, including where differences are frequently made between men and women?

Please indicate whether the government of Ethiopia intends to prepare a permanent policy on internally displaced persons rather than acting on an ad hoc basis.

Article 5

Please provide information on specific policies and measures taken to ensure equal access to social security and social services, healthcare, education and housing by the different regions and ethnic groups. In light of the State party’s poverty reduction strategy, what special measures have been taken to specifically address poverty in less developed regions?

Please provide information, indicating specific measures and policies, on the extent to which equal rights are assured to asylum-seekers, stateless persons and refugees in the State party, particularly those from Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea. In particular, please provide information on the extent to which persons belonging to these groups have access to adequate education, health and other social services.

Please provide information on the grounds for the reported arrest and indictment of ethnic Oromo, including Oromo opposition leaders, in connection with their alleged link with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). What measures have been taken to protect them against arbitrary detention and to ensure their right to a fair trial?

The State party has indicated that, following the violence in the Gambella region in December 2003, rebuilding projects have been undertaken in collaboration with donors and NGOs, among others. Please provide information on the scope of these initiatives.

Please provide information on the measures taken to counter harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation/cutting, early marriage and abduction of girls for marriage in regions such as the Somali Region, the Amhara and Gambella Regions and the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region.

Please indicate whether the State party is considering the ratification of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

What measures have been taken by the State party to promote the full integration of persons of Eritrean origin, to ensure their effective access to documents supporting their chosen nationality, and to create conditions which are conducive to reuniting families?

Please indicate whether the State party is considering revoking its reservations to articles 17-19 and 22 (2) of the 1951 Refugee Convention in order to allow refugees to seek employment and to facilitate access to public schools by refugee children, with a view to promoting their self-sufficiency and integration into local communities.

In light of the chronic food insecurity in the Somali Region,please provide information on measures taken to increase the accessibility of food, including in outlying rural areas. Please explain why, apart from pilot projects, the Productive Safety Net Programme designed to address chronic food insecurity and enhance the self-sufficiency of pastoralists does not cover the Somali Region.

Please provide additional information on special measures taken pursuant to the Civil Servants Proclamation with a view to promoting the representation of less developed regions in the civil service.Please provide information on the representation of the different ethnic groups in the civil service.

Please indicate how minorities are determined under the Ethiopian constitutional order and how the seats set aside for minorities in the House of People’s Representatives are distributed among these minorities.

Please explain how Ethiopia can develop into a cohesive state while its people are divided into ethnic groups and governed on the basis of their belonging to different nations, nationalities and peoples.

Please explain why the Ethiopian state has allowed political parties in the country to take ethnic lines and how this corresponds with efforts to achieve a genuine national reconciliation.

Article 6

Please provide information on measures taken to investigate reports on the killings of a large number of Annuak in Gambella in December 2003, allegedly by members of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and civilian militia groups.

Article 7

What measures have been taken to promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among the different ethnic groups, including in the Somali Region and the Gambella Region, so as to combat prejudices which may lead to discrimination?

General information

Please indicate whether the State party intends to make the declaration under article 14 of the Convention, thus accepting the Committee’s competence to receive and consider individual communications.

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