5. National Youth Policy
The national youth policy aims to fill the institutional policy gaps that existed in the past in attempts
to enable citizens to acquire a democratic outlook, professional competence, skills and ethics to
become active and efficient, and participate widely in and benefit from the country‟s ongoing
activities as part of the aim to provide a democratic system and accelerated development. The
Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs at the Federal level and Regional Youth Affairs
Bureaus at Regional level follow up the implementation of the policy.
6. Criminal Justice Policy
The Government of Ethiopia issued an improved criminal justice policy in 2010 to ensure the peace
and security of its citizens, and advance and strengthen one of the basic foundations of democracy
and good governance.17 The policy maps out a national strategy of crime prevention, and provides
for improvement of the crime investigation and prosecution services and for the efficiency and
fairness of the criminal justice process. This, in turn, is expected to improve the administration of
criminal punishment and its efficacy. The Policy aims to foster a criminal justice sector that not only
addresses issues related to the prosecution of crimes, but also to ensure exemplary due process for
those accused of crimes, especially vulnerable groups and juvenile offenders. One of the policy
objectives is building a criminal justice system that strengthens respect for individual rights and
freedoms. The policy also gives due attention to the issues of a speedy and fair judicial process and
of access to an independent judiciary.18
7. Other Policy Measures
In addition to the above, the government has also adopted the National Women‟s Affairs Policy, the
Urban Development Policy, the National Population Policy, the HIV/AIDS Policy, the Cultural
Policy, the Social Development and Welfare Policy, the Water Sector Policy and other similar
policies. The central objective of all these, many of which are specifically pro-poor and green energy
policies, is the continuous and sustainable development of the country and the building of a
17
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Criminal Justice policy page 11
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