The Government of Ethiopia was examined by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in August 2009. On 27 August 2009, the Committee issued its Concluding Observations (CERD/C/ETH/CO/7-16)

D. Concerns and Recommendation

15. The Committee is concerned that, notwithstanding the long history of State party’s commitment to fight racial segregation, there are reports that caste-like forms of racial discrimination persist on its territory, mainly affecting marginalized racial and ethnic minorities. (art. 3)

The Committee recommends that the State party undertake a study of the spread and causes of the problem of castes and implement a strategy to eliminate it. The State party is further requested to provide information in its next periodic report on the results of its efforts to this effect. The Committee urges the State party to take into account general recommendation No. 29 (2002) on descent-based discrimination.

The Committee recommends that the State party submit its seventeenth to nineteenth periodic reports in a single document, due on 23 July 2013, taking into account the guidelines for the CERD-specific document adopted by the Committee during its seventy-first session (CERD/C/2007/1), and that it address all points raised in the present concluding observations.