by providing food, shelter and medicine. It usually implements resettlement measures to contain the challenges. In addition, the House of the Federation has been empowered to handle inter-clan and inter-tribal squabbles that lead to clashes and eventual displacements. It was not possible for the CRM to ascertain effectiveness. Rights of the Elderly 257 Ethiopia has elderly people whom the state is obliged to care for. Article 41(5) of the Constitution states that “the state shall, within available means, allocate resources to provide rehabilitation and assistance to the physically and mentally disabled, the aged, and to the children who are left without parents or guardian”. Though the elderly are provided for under the law, limited resources prevent government from providing for them. Instead, elderly people are looked after by their grand-children whose parents have often been wiped out by the HIV/AIDS scourge. They are being deprived of their role as grand-parents and pushed into performing parents’ roles. In addition, despite their age and lack of care, elderly people are traumatised by the loss of their children and these grandchildren who have no means of survival, medicare or education. During interactions with the stakeholders, the CRM was told that the government was organising the elderly into associations through which it could provide them with loans and grants. The CRM was however unable to ascertain how the Government was assisting these elderly people. Rights of Persons with Disabilities 258 Quoting the Ethiopian Federation of Persons with Disabilities, the 2008 US Department of State report notes that there are approximately seven million persons with disabilities in Ethiopia. There was one mental hospital and an estimated 10 psychiatrists in the country. There is one school for the blind in Addis Ababa. The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MOLSA), responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities, funded prosthetic and orthopaedic centres in five of the nine regional states over the past three years as part of its “National Programme of Action for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities.”22 259 Ethiopia, despite being a party to the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, has no specific law for the protection of their rights. However, its constitution provides for the right to equality of all persons (Article 25). The CRM was unable to find out how this is translated into programmes for people with disabilities. Although CRM was unable to ascertain whether 22 Ibid. - 117 -