The Palatability of the Concept Indigenous People in Ethiopian Constitutional System

Mulu Bzayene Lemma

doi:10.7176/jlpg/95-01

Abstract

Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-lingual country. There are more than eighty nations, nationalities and people and more than 200 dialects in the country. Because of this the FRDE Constitution recognizes that every nations, nationalities and people of the country has the right to speak, to write and to develop its own language; to express, to develop and to promote its culture; and to preserve its history as well as the right to free land for grazing and cultivation as well as the right not to be displaced from their own lands but not the right of the indigenous people to own traditional lands, territories and resources their economic and social development and to their very survival as distinct cultural communities. The main objective of this paper is to examine the palatability of the concept indigenous people in Ethiopia Constitutional System. In doing so, legal and scholarly books were reviewed. So, as far as constitution is the supreme law of the country, the palatability of the concept indigenous people in the constitution is essentially important for the observance of the right of the indigenous people in Ethiopia. This paper analyzes that there is no constitutional provision in favor of the recognition of the rights of the indigenous people to own and use land for their survival in Ethiopia. Besides, the government argues that there is not any official statistics that identifies who are indigenous and who are not in the Ethiopia. This paper recommends that if the right of the indigenous people should be observed the concept of indigenous people should be explicitly justified in FDRE Ethiopian constitutional system. Keywords: Indigenous people, Human Rights, Constitutional system, FDRE DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/95-01 Publication date: March 31 st 2020

Highlights

Human rights have become the most common and leading international standards to measure all over the activities of human life
When we look at the major human rights pertained to indigenous people, as I have mentioned earlier indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination, the right to land and resources, to maintain their cultures, and to be asked for their free, prior and informed consent in decisions
Why we are arguing about is to make indigenous people recognized in Ethiopia constitutional system to have the right to Self- determination which includes the right to practice their culture, speak and develop their language; promote their history, selfadministration within specific territory up to secession and representation at both levels of governments that have already afforded to the ‘nation, nationality and people’

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Human rights have become the most common and leading international standards to measure all over the activities of human life. Let us start from the definition that cited in (Solomon, 2010, Niezen, 2009) of UN Special Rapporteur José Martinez Cobo “Indigenous communities, Peoples and nations are those which having historical continuity with pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sections of societies prevailing in those territories or parts of them They form at present non dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve , develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories and their ethnic identity , as the basis of their continued existence as peoples in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems”.2. This means, unlike José Martinez Cobo’s, what the African working group has done is setting of criteria to identify indigenous people These very few arguments shows us that the concept of indigenous people has faced by conceptual contentions related with the historical, social, political and cultural difference of societies from the world and has failed to have a single universally accepted definition.

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Conclusion