HUMR 4501 Ethnic Challenges to the Nation State:
Studying State Responses from a Human Rights perspective
case study: Ethiopia
Ethnicity, state and human rights in Ethiopia
Historical background: from unitary state to ethnic federalism
Ethiopia is proud to be one of few African states that were never colonised by European
states. The first efforts to unify the state were made in the middle of the 19th century. At the
time the emperor was of Tigray origin. Towards the end of the century, emperor Menelik
wrested the throne from the Tigrayan line of successors and sought to expand Ethiopian
territory. His Abyssinian army met some resistance from among others local and regional
Oromo chiefs, but succeeded in including large areas in the state, especially what are now
eastern and southern parts of the country. Kjetil Tronvoll notes the similarities between this
Abysinnian conquest and European colonisations in its” ’civilizing’ objective”. The
centralized Ethiopian State imposed an Amhara domination. On the background of this
history, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), among others, explains its resistance war against
the State as a war of decolonization and liberation.
During the reign of Haile Selassie (1930-74), the centralization of power continued, and
Amhara dominated State culture was entrenched. This centralization of power can be
understood as a reaction to centrifugal forces that threatened Ethiopia’s unity, but the implied
development of coercive means of the State came at the expense of a democratic process.
In 1974 Selassie was overthrown and Mengistu Haile-Mariam and the Derg (military ruling
council) entered the stage. They gradually built an Ethiopian Marxist state. Mengistu’s regime
engaged in a cruel and bloody civil war on two fronts against opponents of the government –
against an ideological pan-Ethiopian movement on the one hand, and against ethnically-based
resistance movements on the other (including the EPLF / Eritrean People’s Liberation Front,
the OLF, and the TPLF / Tigray People’s Liberation Front).
Towards the end of the 1980s, the TPLF built a coalition of movements representing ethnic
groups aiming to overthrow the Derg regime, called the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF). Most of the coalition parties were movements initiated by the
TPLF, and therefore did not necessarily have the support of the groups they claimed to
represent..
1
HUMR 4501 Ethnic Challenges to the Nation State:
Studying State Responses from a Human Rights perspective
case study: Ethiopia
Mengistu was thrown out in 1991 and a transitional period followed, from 1991 to 1995. The
EPRDF expressed an intention to reconfigure the Ethiopian State to reflect the composite
sovereignties of each ethnic group. At a national ‘Peace and Democracy’ conference, a
Transitional Period Charter for Ethiopia was drafted, with reference to the UDHR, including a
provision for power-sharing through a broad coalition government. At the conference,
Eritrea’s right to self-determination and independence was recognized. Eritrea officially
seceded after a referendum on independence in 1993.
A transitional government was established, but disagreement arose between the TPLF/EPRDF
and the OLF over who should control south-eastern parts of the country. As a result, OLF
withdrew from local and regional elections held in February 1992, and from the transitional
government, provoking a brief civil war. Attempts at reconciling differences failed. The TPLF
continued to dominate the government and the constitution-making process. Most major
opposition movements boycotted the election of a Constitutional Assembly in 1994, and the
1995 regional and federal elections.
Throughout the 1990s there were three main groups competing for control in Ethiopia. One
was the TPLF, a major military and political force, but representing only specific groups in
society. The second group were the Oromo political movements, especially the OLF. The
third group were the pan-Ethiopian movements, predominantly Amhara based.
Ethnic landscape of Ethiopia
Ethnic groups in Ethiopia have been influenced by centuries of migration and interaction
between people, which has created a complex pattern of ethnic, linguistic and religious
groups. Nobody knows how many ethnic groups and minorities they are in Ethiopia; however,
it is assumed that over 80 groups have distinct traditions and languages. Ethiopia has for
centuries been equated with the ancient Abyssinian cultures of Amhara and Tigray.
Abyssinian domination has oppressed the wide range of minority peoples in the country until
1991 when the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), founded by the
vanguard movement the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), came to power with a
promise to change this historical injustice. Under the TPLF/EPRDF government, Ethiopia was
reconfigured into an ethnic federation composed of nine member states following ethnic
criteria. Moreover, in its endeavour to find a sustainable governance solution to secure the
2
HUMR 4501 Ethnic Challenges to the Nation State:
Studying State Responses from a Human Rights perspective
case study: Ethiopia
peaceful coexistance of majority and minority groups, a new radical Constitution was created
in 1994 guaranteeing every ethnic group in the country the right to self-determination up to
and including secession from the new federal Ethiopian State. By guaranteeing them a
constitutional right of independence, TPLF/EPRDF is of the opinion that all ethnic groups
will prefer to stay within the federation rather than opting to be an independent state. Despite
the possible good intentions of the TPLF/EPRDF, a hierarchy of ethnic groups is emerging
which may lead to the exploitation of minority ethnic groups. If such processes are left
unchecked, and are fuelled by the political system itself, conflicting situations may occur
which fragment ethnic groups on a clan or lineage.
Political institutions / constitutional arrangements
EPRDF within the objective of establishing political legitimacy among the Ethiopian People
reconfigured the unitary Ethiopian state in to an ethnic federation and adopted the federal
democratic republic of Ethiopian constitution in 1974. Its form of government is republican.
Contrary to Derg it allowed a democratic multi-party system. In order to create confidence
and legitimacy among other groups, EPRDF gave for every Ethnic group in Ethiopia the right
to self-determination up to secession under the constitution (art. 39.1). The constitution
guaranteed a wide range of individual and collective human rights which Ethiopia ratified.
The constitution establishes that the “nations, nationalities and peoples” of Ethiopia are the
minimum component parts, of the country as opposed to individuals.
The current federal structure constitutes nine member states in the Ethiopian Federation of
which six states are geographically designed in such a way that dominating ethnic group can
control the state. These are Afar, Amhara, Harari, Oromo, Somali and Tigrayan. The states of
Benishangul-Gumuz and Southern Nations, nationalities and Peoples here after called
“SNNP” and Gambella peoples region are multi-ethnic without any controlling Ethnic group.
Whether these groups were consulted before introduction of the new system and the drawing
of administrative and state borders is another issue. As a check on potentially hegemonic
groups within a state, each ethnic group has the right to establish its own state, if so wished
and join the Ethiopian federation on an equal level with the other nine member states (Article
47.2 and 42.3)
Each of the nine member states has its own legislative, executive and judicial powers. They
are also empowered by the constitution, the right to draft and implement particular state
constitutions, to design social and economic development policies and to levy taxes.
3
HUMR 4501 Ethnic Challenges to the Nation State:
Studying State Responses from a Human Rights perspective
case study: Ethiopia
The administration of land and natural resources is under federal law and the selfadministration must be conducted under “general national standards”
The federal government is controlled by two representative bodies. The house of People’s
Representatives has 548 members elected from majority based; single-member constituencies
for a 5 year term and 20 seats are reserved for “minority nationalities and peoples” It has full
legislative authority and oversight function. In the House of Federation all members of ethnic
groups are to be represented with one member and the bigger ethnic groups to have one
additional member for each 1 million of its population (article 61.2). But so far only 61 ethnic
groups are represented. It functions as a constitutional court in case of disputes; decide on
issues relating to the rights of Nations, Nationalities and Peoples to self determination,
including secession. (Article 62.3)
The nine member states within the Ethiopian federation operate on a unitary principle. They
do not have an internal federal structure. The two main administrative levels with the state
(woreda and zone) do not have any separate legislative authority. Within the multi-ethnic
states usually one ethnic group is given a Woreda or Zone. If it is not possible all ethnic
groups will be grouped within the Woreda and be represented in an elected woreda council. In
certain cases Woreda/Zone is designed to protect minorities who live within the territory of
the dominating group.
CHALLENGES OF CONSTITUTIONAL IMPLEMENTATION
By granting the right to self-determination and including secession to minorities, the
Ethiopian constitution has been characterized as a minority-friendly constitution. Where as
the EPDRF government has been criticised for not respecting and upholding its own
constitution. As a result whether EPDRF is sincere in its objective to democratize the
Ethiopian state and to devolve power to the “nations, nationalities and peoples, or whether
this system is purposely designed to place ethnic groups against each other in order for the
Tigrayan minority to control the centre has becomes a concern of many people in Ethiopia
today. Though EPRDF’s legitimacy rests on the claim of devolved political power to the
regional states and peoples, reality shows that Ethiopia is still very much controlled by central
government, and that the constitutional devolution of power is not adequately implemented.
This is shown as identified by John Young, by the EPRDF’s influence and control over
internal politics of other 8 states. EPARDF has been criticized for staffing its cadres in some
regional bureaucracies.
4
HUMR 4501 Ethnic Challenges to the Nation State:
Studying State Responses from a Human Rights perspective
case study: Ethiopia
The constitutional endorsement of collective rights for minorities in Ethiopia has also led to
controversy, where collective rights have endangered citizen’s individual rights. The case of
Harar situation is one example. Here EPRDF designated Harar as a separate regional state due
to the particular culture of the Harari people of Harar City. This political decision of EPRDF
did not take into account the city’s ethnically mixed population which includes Amhara,
Gurage, Oromo and Somali peoples along side the Harere. This caused division over the
Hareri on how to organize the city politically. One group supported the exclusivity of Hareri
rights over the region on the basis of their historical dominance and the other group claims the
ruling to reflect the diverse and ethnic origins of the city’s population.
It is also argued by EPRDF opponents that the ethnical federal constitution which makes
ethnic identity the most relevant identity in any social, political or economic interaction in the
country is most likely to cause ethnic conflict since ethnic groups are competing with each
other for scarce resources, namely political power and material and natural wealth.
Human rights issues / challenges related to ethnicity
The citizenship of the deportees at the time of their deportation according to the Ethiopian
government declaration are alien, where as according to international law most of the Eritrean
deportees are considered to be Ethiopian nationals. This action of the Ethiopian government
was criticized by international communities.
EPRDF claims state ownership of land right under article 40.3 of the constitution. In the
constitution the balance between the state’s ownership and rights and peoples usufruct rights
was not fully elaborated and a decision on national redistribution of land was not formally
sanctioned. There is also a growing tension due to agriculturists’ encroachment on nomadic
land.
Women in Ethiopia are still a disadvantaged group in terms of social, cultural and structural
discrimination. The new ethnic federal system introduced by EPDRF has also brought a
negative effect on women in particular ethnic groups, by leading to the revival of certain
traditional practices like abduction/kidnapping of brides, FGM.
The government has recognized the rights of ethnic groups to learn in their own language and
to develop a cultural sensitive curriculum. Due to the wide range of language spoken in
SNNP, Amharic is still the language of the state administration. This shows that it will take
years for the smaller groups to practice their constitutional right of receiving education in
their first language.
5
HUMR 4501 Ethnic Challenges to the Nation State:
Studying State Responses from a Human Rights perspective
case study: Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s ratification of int’l HR instruments:
CERD (1976), ICCPR (1993), ICECSR (1993), CEDAW (1981), CAT (1994), CRC (1991)
ACPHR (1998), African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (2002),
(but not the African Court on People’s and Human Rights)
(and not ILO Convention 169)
6