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Women, Peace and Security Initiatives: Ethiopia
In-country | International

In-Country

Ethiopia: Abduction and Rape--Law Reform and the Case of Woineshet Zebene Negash
Equality Now
June 2005
On 9 May 2005 the new Ethiopian Penal Code finally came into effect, which removed the marital exemption for abduction and rape. Both abduction and rape are criminal offences under Ethiopian law, but Articles 558 and 599 of the 1957 Ethiopian Penal Code had provided that in the event of subsequent marriage to his victim, the perpetrator was exempt from criminal responsibility for these crimes. Equality Now launched its campaign in March 2002, calling on the Ethiopian Government to comply with the sex equality provisions of its own Constitution and international law by abolishing this legal exemption. For more information on the case of Woineshet Zebene Negash please Click Here.

The Hunger Project
2004
In 2004, The Hunger Project intends to begin its strategic methodology in Ethiopia. The Hunger Project has very definite criteria for expanding into a new country. The country must have a sufficiently stable commitment to democracy for our methodology to take hold. We must have access to leaders at the highest levels. And we must have the sustainable level of funding so that, once we begin, we know we can stay the course. Click Here for more information on the Ethiopian Hunger project.

March Against Violence
February, 2001
The Ethiopian Women’s Lawyers Association organized a series of candlelit vigils to protest against rising domestic violence. More than 1,000 women marched to the office of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and to parliament and delivered petitions demanding more police protection and harsher sentences or offenders. The women's petition demanded that the penalty for rape be increased to a mandatory 20 years, and in exceptional cases, life in prison as opposed to the current seven to 10 years in prison. To read an article regarding Ethiopian Women’s March Against Violence click here. For more information contact the Ethiopian Women’s Lawyers Association.

International

African Women Welcome the NEPAD Engendering Process
October 28, 2004
African women attending the 7th African Regional Meeting on the Review of the Dakar and Beijing Conferences (Beijing + 10) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 6-14 October, 2004, expressed satisfaction with the efforts of the African Union (AU) and NEPAD to ensure that all their policies, programmes and practices are inclusive and engendered.

International Ethiopian/Eritrean Dialogue Group
June 13, 2001
The Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy hold its first Ethiopian-Eritrean Dialogue Group meeting in its Washington, DC office on June 13, 2001. The meeting brought Eritrean expatriates together with Ethiopian expatriates to exchange perspectives an experiences regarding the conflict and discuss ideas for a peaceful coexistence both in the United States and the Horn of Africa. For more information visit the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy.