Refoulement/Physical Protection
In 2005, there were no reports of refoulement from Ethiopia. During the year, 5,000 Eritreans and 2,200 Sudanese sought asylum in Ethiopia; additionally, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo-Kinshasa) and Burundi.
The Government Eligibility Committee conducted individual refugee status determinations for new arrivals with assistance from UNHCR. At the border, local authorities identified most arrivals and referred them to the Security, Immigration, and Refugee Affairs Authority (SIRAA). Failed asylum seekers could appeal to the Appeals Hearing Council, made up of representatives of SIRAA and the Ministries of Justice, Foreign Affairs, and Federal Affairs. UNHCR acted as an observer at both stages.
A 2004 Refugee Proclamation established the right to asylum and incorporated the provisions of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention) and the 1969 Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. The Proclamation prohibited the Government from refusing entry to, expelling, or returning refugees or asylum seekers to any other country where they would be at risk of persecution or harm.
Three refugees died in a conflict between Nuer clans in Fugnido camp.
UNHCR assisted the repatriation of 5,600 Somali refugees and closed Aisha refugee camp in July. More than 16,000 Sudanese returned during the year. During the year, 600 refugees resettled to third countries.
Detention/Access to Courts
Ethiopia did not detain asylum seekers for illegal entry or presence, but it did detain several refugees for criminal offenses during the year—including some involved in the clan conflict at Fugnido camp. At no time were there more than 60 refugees in detention. UNHCR was able to visit the detainees.
By law, detentions were subject to an independent judicial determination; however, as the refugee camps were mostly located in remote areas where the judicial system barely functioned, the judiciary failed to review most cases. UNHCR was still finalizing data from the countrywide registration of 2004 and 2005; as a result, UNHCR issued identity cards to the roughly 400 refugees in urban areas, but not to camp-based refugees.
In April, the Government news agency reported that the federal court sentenced three persons to up to 14 years in prison for the 2002 ethnically motivated murder in the Gambella region of 28 Sudanese Nuer refugees.
Freedom of Movement and Residence
Pursuant to the Refugee Proclamation, Ethiopia required some 110,000 refugees—including nearly all Eritrean, Sudanese, and Somali refugees—to live in camps; it also required them to obtain travel permits to leave. Ethiopia allowed about 400 refugees, mostly of other nationalities, to live in urban areas. Police and soldiers arrested and returned refugees found outside of the camps without permission, but did not prosecute or deport them.
Right to Earn a Livelihood
The Refugee Proclamation retained Ethiopia’s reservations to the Refugee Convention provision on the right to work, placing the same labor restrictions on refugees as on other foreign nationals. The Government only granted work permits to foreigners when there was no qualified national available and, as a result, almost never issued permits to refugees. A report on malnutrition in the camps (see below) found that the caloric intake of refugees was low in part because the lack of employment opportunities forced them to sell portions of their food rations to purchase other needed items.
The Government, however, generally did not prosecute employers for hiring foreigners without work permits. It also tolerated refugees working in the informal sector, including trading in markets, farming, or doing other piecemeal jobs. The state owned all land and only nationals could lease it.
Public Relief and Education
Refugees in camps received food, water, and other services. A UNHCR/World Food Programme review of the refugee camps found serious malnutrition problems: in five of the seven camps the malnutrition rate was 12 percent or more, and anemia and malaria were also prevalent.
UNHCR provided vocational training and assisted with income-generating projects for refugees legally residing outside of camps.
Ethiopia maintained a reservation to the Refugee Convention’s provision on refugees’ right to education. Nonetheless, the Government provided free primary education to refugee children in camps and urban areas. Refugees in urban areas could also attend secondary schools if they paid nominal fees.
