Creating Economic opportunities for refugees: Why refugees in Ethiopia are refusing their right to work and integration?

 

1. The right to work of refugees

 The right to work is one of the fundamental human rights recognized by different human rights instruments. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) under its Article 23 declared the right to work as a fundamental human right.

For refugees, the right to work is vital for reducing vulnerability, enhancing resilience, securing dignity, and integration. The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees recognize the right to work of refugees including their Right to housing, education, welfare assistance and social security, Freedom of movement, ID documents and travel documents.

To implement the right to work of refugees there are Legal conditions required by refugee law and other national laws. The variety of legal conditions related to the right to work and other legal restrictions on the right to work such as work permits, restricted business sectors, an encampment of refugees, and restrictions on freedom of movement.

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The legality of sport betting in Ethiopia

The practice of gaming and gambling in most of Ethiopian society is labeled as unlawful, immoral, and unethical. Regardless of this perception gaming and gambling business specifically sport betting business is recently started and developing rapidly in various cities of Ethiopia. Currently, licensed sport betting companies in the country are 46 in number.

In relation to the law governing gaming and gambling, the first national lottery proclamation was enacted in 1953, which makes lottery a legitimate activity with government monopoly. As of July 2007, the Ethiopian lawmakers wanted to involve the private sector in the area of Lottery on the basis of the market-oriented economic policy of the government. Accordingly, National Lottery Administration Re-establishment Proclamation No.535/2007 has been granted the National Lottery Administration (NLA) to carry out lottery activities alongside issuing license and regulating the conduct of lottery activities practiced by the private sector.

As per Article 5 of the proclamation NLA has two main objectives. The first one is through undertaking lottery activities to generate revenue and the second objective is, to supervise lottery activities. Generating revenue could contribute in financing the country's economic and social development programs.

In its definition of lottery under Article 2(1) the proclamation incorporates ‘sport betting lottery’ as one gaming activity.

"lottery" means any game or activity in which the prize winner is determined by chance, drawing of lots or by any other means and includes tombola or raffle, lotto, toto, instant lottery, number lottery, multiple prize lottery, promotional lottery, bingo, sport betting lottery and other similar activities.

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Refugee proclamation No. 1110/2019: The right to work of refugees, is it possible to implement?

 

Introduction

 

Ethiopia is host to the Second Largest refugee population in Africa. With over 905,000 refugees, the majority originating from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea,  Yemen, Sudan, and others. Most of the refugees in Ethiopia are located in Gambella Regional State, Tigray Regional State, Somali Regional State,  Addis Ababa, Afar Regional State, and Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State. Most of the host regions are the least developed regions in the country, characterized by harsh weather conditions, poor infrastructure, extremely low capacity, high levels of poverty and poor development indicators.

In 2017 the government of Ethiopia (GoE) accepted to implement Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF). The core objectives of the Framework are to ease pressure on the host countries, enhance refugee self-reliance, expand access to third-country resettlement solutions, and support conditions in countries of origin for safe return. Following the decision of GoE to implement CRRF, in 2019 the GoE revised the 2004 refugee proclamation. The main focus of the revised proclamation is on durable solutions through local integration of refugees.

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