User:Sago1031/sandbox

Human rights in Ethiopia are codified in the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

History
During Emperor Haile Selassie's reign, laws began to be systematically codified, allowing for the enactment of Ethiopia's first two constitutions: the Constitution of 1931 and the Revised Constitution of the Empire of Ethiopia of 1955, as well as six Codes that remain fundamental to Ethiopia's laws today. However, both the 1931 Constitution and the 1955 Constitution systematized the power of the Emperor, leaving out what rights and freedoms his subjects should possess.

After overthrowing Selassie in 1974, Major Mengistu Haile Marium established a military dictatorship that subjected its political opponents to "arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, enforced disappearances and extra-judicial execution." Five years later, Mengistu began the Derg's planned transition to a civil government, forming a Commission for the Establishment of the Worker's Party in 1979 and declaring a socialist republic, led by the Worker's Party of Ethiopia, in 1984. In 1987, the Constitution of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE Constitution) formally dissolved the Derg and inaugurated the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE), a Marxist-Leninist one-party state that was dominated by the military and former Derg members. The PDRE Constitution outlined basic rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech, press, and assembly; freedom of conscience and religion; and the rights of the accused and arrested. Due to the PDRE's socialist ideology, the PDRE Constitution emphasized socioeconomic and cultural rights, such as the right to free education; the right to healthcare; and the freedom to participate in science, technology, and the arts. However, the same rights established in the PDRE Constitution were violated by Mengistu's military state.

Mengistu's authoritarian military regime faced organized opposition for all of its fourteen years of rule. Opposition groups including the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP), a rival Marxist-Leninist group, and the Tigray-based Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, a coalition of ethnic democratic forces, led armed resistance to the Derg in a conflict known as the Ethiopian Civil War. The Derg used violence, commonly enacted through military campaigns, to suppress dissidents. In 1976, the Derg instigated the Qey Shibir (Ethiopian Red Terror), a violent political repression campaign targeting the EPRP. Under Mengistu's leadership, the Derg did not only rely on state personnel to carry out the Qey Shibir; it also armed militias and civilian supporters and granted "genuine revolutionaries and patriots" impunity, further localizing state violence. The Qey Shibir resulted in 50,000 fatalities. In addition, many victims of the Qey Shibir were subjected to torture, exile, and sexual assault. The Qey Shibir and the 1983-1985 famine, an event partly created and exacerbated by the government's military policies, increased popular support for the EPRDF, which successfully overthrew Mengistu's regime in 1991.

The EPRDF took power in 1991 with the promise of a transitional program that would rehabilitate those negatively impacted by the previous regime, promote democracy, and recognize and protect human and minority group rights. The Transitional Period Charter, which was adopted during the post-war conference in 1991, officially established a transitional government. Drawing from the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1 of the Charter guaranteed basic rights and civil liberties, specifically freedom of expression, association, and assembly; freedom of conscience; and the right to "unrestricted" political participation and party organization, "provided the exercise of such right does not infringe upon the rights of others." The Charter also addressed the state of interethnic relations in Ethiopia. Article 17 of the Charter stated that the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) would work to deescalate ethnic conflict as it led the country toward a full democracy. Article 2 proclaimed the rights of ethnic groups in Ethiopia, which are officially referred to as nations or nationalities. Among the rights granted to all Ethiopian "nations, nationalities, and peoples" was the right to self-determination, including the right to secede.

In 1994, the EPDRF adopted the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, which came into effect following the 1995 general election. Following the blueprint laid out by the Transitional Period Charter, the 1995 Constitution established an ethnic federal system. Like the Charter, the 1995 Constitution draws from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights while also establishing protections of group rights. Articles 14 through 44 of the 1995 Constitution codify "fundamental rights and freedoms," with Articles 14 through 28 pertaining to "human rights" and articles 29 through 44 establishing "democratic rights."