Ethiopia Passes Progressive New Law On Refugees

On January 17, 2019 Ethiopia's parliament passed a new law that grants refugees in the country right to: work, schooling, and access banking and other financial services.

With the new law, refugees in the country, currently confined to about 20 refugee camps, will be able to move out of the camps and travel within the country to search for jobs and/or attend schools. Refugees will also be able to officially register births, marriages, and deaths.

Ethiopia hosts about 900 000 refugees mostly from South Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea.

The new law has been applauded by the United Nations as historic, and progressive by some other sources.

Indeed, a historic and progressive decision by Ethiopia, that should be emulated by all other African countries. Why should Africans be treated like aliens and confined to camps, in their own continent?

_______________________

© 2015 - 2019 Africa Up To Date. All Rights Reserved