Objective Seven: Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women I. Summary of the CSAR 222 Ethiopia is a party to the International Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and has submitted its initial report and three periodic reports to the CEDAW Committee. However, Ethiopia has not ratified the additional Protocol to CEDAW that gives the right to direct individual communication by victims, or concerned organisations, to the CEDAW Committee when provisions of the Convention are found to be violated by the state party. It also has not ratified the Additional protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. At the national level, Ethiopia has incorporated women’s rights into its Constitution, providing for equal rights between women and men. The Constitution also prohibits harmful practices affecting women’s physical or psychological well-being. Apart from the Constitutional provisions, all human rights conventions ratified by Ethiopia are domesticated automatically. 223 However, two issues were raised in relation to the Constitution. The first concern is the adjudication rights given to religious and customary law in matters of personal relations such as divorce and inheritance, under article 34 of the Constitution. Article 34 provides that submission to customary and religious courts is permitted if both disputing parties agree. But experience shows that women are not in a position to refuse the jurisdiction of religious or customary courts due to societal pressure and stigmatisation. Another challenge is that Regional Governments are allowed to enact family laws accommodating polygamous marriages or other practices that violate women’s rights guaranteed under the national Constitution. Although these regional laws do protect women rights in some regions, these regional laws should conform to fundamental human rights principles enshrined in the Constitution. 224 Since the adoption of the 1994 Constitution, various laws have been amended for harmonisation purposes. The Family Law that used to be part of the 1960 Civil Code of Ethiopia (currently known as the Revised Family Law of Ethiopia) as well as the Pension Law, the National Law, and the Criminal law have been amended. The Civil Service Law as well as the Labour laws have provided for the equal rights of Women in employment and protection of maternity rights, and the right to be free from workplace violence. The Penal Code of 1957 (currently now titled the Criminal Code after its revision in 2004), also strengthened existing provisions and added new ones to protect women from Harmful Traditional practices (HTP) including Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), as well as from sexual offences committed on minors and adult persons. The revised Criminal Law explicitly prohibits domestic violence against women. - 106 -