FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BELIEF (Article 8) Ethiopia is a multi-religious country where a culture of respect and acceptance developed over centuries of mutual coexistence. Judaism, Christianity and Islam were accommodated in the nation. In accordance with the recent statistical data, about 43.5% of the country„s population is Orthodox Christian, 33.9% Muslim, 18.6% Protestant, and 4.6% traditional religions, 0.7% Catholic and 0.6% others. 25 Constitutional Guarantee The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia provides that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. These rights include the freedom to hold or to adopt a religion or belief of his/her own choice, either individually or with others and to manifest his religion or belief in public or private. The Constitution further provides for the right to establish institutions of religious education and administration in order to propagate and organize a religion, and that parents and legal guardians have the right to raise their children in conformity with their religious and /or moral convictions. In addition to this, the Constitution under Article 11 guarantees the separation of State and religion (i.e. there shall be no state religion and the state shall not interfere in religious matters and religion shall not interfere in state affairs). In other words, citizens‟ rights to adopt a religion or belief of his/her own choice and the separation of state and religion are constitutionally guaranteed. Policy Measures The government adopted a Policy on Democratic System Building in Ethiopia (2002) which constitutes the key statement to promote citizens‟ rights of freedom of religion and belief. Legislative Measures The Legislative measures taken to protect citizens‟ right of freedom of religion and belief include: Proclamation to Provide for the Registration and Regulation of Charities and Societies (Proclamation No.621/2009), Civil Code (Proclamation No. 1/1960), Proclamation to Provide for the Definition of Powers and Duties of the Executive Organs of FDRE (Proclamation No. 691/2010), Criminal Law (Proclamation No. 414/2004). 25 Data from the Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency available at http://www.csa.gov.et/ 57