ETHIOPIA

Wondwosen Tamrat  23 August 2019Share

Owing to its geographical location, and the political instability and humanitarian crises in neighbouring countries, Ethiopia has become one of the largest refugee-hosting countries in the world and the second largest in Africa, providing refuge to close to 1 million refugees from some 24 countries. While the South Sudanese are the largest group with a total of 422,240 refugees, Somalis number 253,889; Eritreans 173,879; and Sudanese 44,620.

The urban-registered refugee population is also considerable, numbering close to 23,000 individuals, and includes those transferred from the refugee camps to cities on medical and protection grounds – refugees like the Yemeni with no designated camps, university students on sponsorship programmes and beneficiaries of the out-of-camp living scheme.

According to available data 80% of the urban refugee population are represented by Eritreans, followed by Yemenis at 8.3%, Somalis at 4.7%, South Sudanese at 2.3% and the remaining 5.4% from the Great Lakes region.

A new legislative regime

The country’s commitment to the protection of refugee rights has been exhibited through the various agreements and conventions as well as its hospitality to refugee populations. Until recently, refugee affairs in Ethiopia were administered through Refugee Proclamation No 409 of 2004 which put restrictions on moving out of camps, access to employment and education outside camps.

A new refugee law that incorporates significant policy and legal reforms was ratified by parliament in January 2019. The new law gives refugees the right to engage in wage-earning employment; acquire and transfer property and assets under the same circumstance as “the most favourable treatment” accorded to foreign nationals; and waive them from any duty, charge or tax higher than that imposed on Ethiopian nationals.

In addition to allowing refugees access to national health and education services on the same basis as Ethiopian nationals, the law gives them access to telecommunication, banking, financial and judicial services, identity and travel documentation and driver’s license certification.

Similar to other foreign nationals, the new law further grants refugees or asylum seekers liberty of movement and freedom to choose their residence, which is expected to encourage a move away from the existing camp-based approach to “an integrated model of refugee assistance”.

The right to integrate locally into Ethiopian society is, however, only restricted to refugees who have lived in Ethiopia for a very long period of time. The law also makes reference to the existing Nationality Law of Ethiopia which allows foreign nationals, including refugees, to acquire Ethiopian nationality by fulfilling the necessary requirements.

Implications for higher education

The Ethiopian government was known for providing educational access to refugees, though most of these provisions have been offered mainly in refugee camps. However, opportunities at the higher education level have also been extended through the out-of-camp and UNHCR scholarships that offered the best opportunity for those wishing to attend universities.

The support from the UNHCR, which has set higher education in its Education Strategy 2012-16 as one of its priorities, comes mainly through the worldwide Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative (DAFI) scholarship. The data for 2017 indicate that the majority of DAFI scholarships (41%) were given to 30 Sub-Saharan countries including Ethiopia which ranks top among the three largest country programmes.

A total of 28 higher education institutions in Ethiopia host DAFI scholarship students with an annual budget of US$499,096, the average scholarship cost standing at $685 (UNHCR 2019). Among the 729 students enrolled in 2017 DAFI scholarships, 388 came from Somalia, 169 from Sudan, 88 from South Sudan, 63 from Eritrea, 13 from Yemen, seven from Congo Brazzaville, and one from Burundi (UNHCR 2018).

The provision of free university scholarships at Ethiopian public higher institutions of learning, especially for refugees of Eritrean origin, has so far enabled 1,500 Eritrean refugees to pursue their studies across the country (UNHCR 2018).

With its new commitments the Ethiopian government has pledged to increase enrolment in primary, secondary and tertiary education, including adult literacy and technical and vocational education and training to refugees without discrimination and within available resources.

The targets set by government are planned to increase with the targeted enrolment of pre-school-aged refugee children from 46,276 (44%) to 63,040 (60%); primary school-aged children from 96,700 (54%) to 137,000 (75%); secondary school-aged refugees from 3,785 (9%) to 10,300 (25%); and higher education enrolment from 1,600 to 2,500 students.

Opportunities or false promises?

The new legislation can be regarded as a significant step in the protection of refugee rights including widening opportunities for higher education. The UNHCR, which participated in the drafting of the law, called the move “historic”, and Filippo Grandi, UNHCR, said: “By allowing refugees the opportunity to be better integrated into society, Ethiopia is not only upholding its international refugee law obligations, but is serving as a model for other refugee hosting nations around the world.”

However, despite being proclaimed the most progressive law, the political, demographic and economic implications of the plan cannot be underestimated as these factors can affect the social, economic and educational opportunities available to refugees.

For instance, immediately after its ratification, the Anuak people in Gambella Regional State protested that the law was ratified without their consent and that the equal rights given to refugees threaten their existence since they are outnumbered by refugees in the region.

Moreover, the mechanisms for realising the commitments enshrined in the law remain fussy and, given Ethiopia’s limited capacity, the goals cannot be attained without significant strain and meaningful external assistance.

Among new initiatives in this regard is a plan to infuse foreign assistance in the expansion of industrial parks across the country to create 100,000 jobs that will provide 70% of new job opportunities to Ethiopians, with the remaining 30% reserved for refugees. However, the size and sustainability of such assistance must be examined in light of the increasing needs of refugees and what the country can do in light of these needs.

The same is true about government efforts in hosting refugees in public universities. So far, UNHCR provides only 25% of the total cost of education for refugees pursuing higher education in Ethiopian universities while the government covers the remaining 75% through its subsidies to public universities (UNHCR 2015).

Giving more opportunities to refugees in a country that provides access to higher education to only 12% of its own eligible student population is not an easy task in the absence of additional resources – about which no clear strategy seems to exist.

While the current move towards the protection of refugee rights is commendable, the realisation of this intention will most likely depend on addressing issues of political sensitivity and strengthened economic capacity which call for wider participation and substantial assistance from the local and international community. Where this is lacking it would be difficult to see how the promises made through the new legislation can be realised in a meaningful way.

Wondwosen Tamrat is an associate professor and founding president of St Mary’s University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a collaborating scholar of the Programme for Research on Private Higher Education at the State University of New York at Albany, United States, and coordinator of the priva source https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190819132407160