Date of publication:
03/10/2026
Ethiopia
Do domestic laws and policies provide complementary international protection statuses?
Assessment by population
Analysis
In addition to the refugee definition provided by the 1951 Refugee Convention, the Refugee Proclamation, under article 5(1) (c), has included the expanded definition of the 1969 OAU Convention. It states that any person shall be considered as a refugee if he is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality.
Also, article 6 of the Refugees Proclamation recognizes refugee status sur place and states that a person that left the country after the incidents stated under article 5 have taken place after he has left the country of his nationality or habitual residence. This provision is in line with the UNHCR Handbook and Guidelines on procedures and criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees.
Related provisions of domestic law or policy
Refugees Proclamation No.1110/2019
- Year: 2019
- Type: Domestic law
- Rights Category: Asylum, Freedom of movement, Liberty & security of person, Nationality & facilitated naturalization, Social protection, Family life, Documentation
- Link to external source: https://www.refworld.org/legal/decreees/natlegbod/2019/en/30352
Legal provision
Article 5 - Refugee Criteria
1/ Any person shall be considered as a refugee where: a) owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion he is outside his country of nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling, to avail himself of the protection of that country; b) not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence, he is unable, or owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, he is unwilling to return to it; or c) owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality, he is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality. 2/ In the case of a person who has more than one nationality, a person shall not be deemed to be lacking the protection of the country of which he is a national if, without any valid reason based on well-founded fear, he has not availed himself of the protection of one of the countries of which he is a national.
Article 6 - Recognizing Refugee Status Sur Place
A person shall be considered as a refugee where the conditions stipulated under Sub Article (1)(a), (b) or (c) of Article 5 of this Proclamation have taken place after he has left the country of his nationality or habitual residence.