Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
The Government of Ethiopia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.The government continued to facilitate the reintegration of thousands of Ethiopians deported from Saudi Arabia and coordinated with NGOs and international organizations to provide employment. Considering the long-term impact of deportation and the desire of many Ethiopians to seek employment overseas, the government increased its efforts to prevent and raise awareness on trafficking and trafficking-related crimes at a grassroots level through its community conversations project. It also began an analysis of the socio-economic needs of Ethiopian deportees and development of income generation plans to support reintegration. During the reporting period, the government publicly pledged to lift the ban on overseas employment and continued to revise the relevant employment proclamation to ensure improved oversight of recruitment agencies and better protection of its citizens working abroad; however, these protections have yet to be applied and the temporary ban remained in place. The government relied solely on NGOs to provide direct assistance to both internal and transnational trafficking victims and did not provide financial or in-kind support to such organizations.There was a slight decrease in law enforcement efforts; the government did not report the number of victims it identified in 2014 and lacked a formal system to collect and share data on cases and victims.The government also did not effectively address child prostitution and other forms of internal trafficking through law enforcement, protection, or prevention efforts.

RECOMMENDATIONS   FOR ETHIOPIA:
Complete amendments to the employment exchange proclamation to ensure penalization of illegal recruitment and improved oversight of overseas recruitment agencies; institute regular trafficking awareness training for labor officials who validate employment contracts or regulate employment agencies; strengthen criminal code penalties for sex trafficking and amend criminal code Articles 597 and 635 to include a clear definition of human trafficking that includes the trafficking of male victims and enhanced penalties commensurate with other serious crimes; improve the investigative capacity of police throughout the country to allow for more prosecutions of internal child trafficking offenses; increase the use of Articles 596, 597, and 635 to prosecute cases of labor and sex trafficking, including of complicit officials; partner with local NGOs to increase the level of services available to trafficking victims, including allocating funding to enable the continuous operation of either a government or NGO-run shelter; improve screening procedures in the distribution of national identification cards and passports to ensure children are not fraudulently acquiring these; allocate appropriate funding for the deployment of labor attachés to overseas diplomatic missions and institute regular trafficking awareness training for labor officials who validate employment contracts or regulate employment agencies to ensure the protection of Ethiopians seeking work or employed overseas;

and incorporate information on human trafficking and labor rights in Middle Eastern and other countries into pre-departure training provided to migrant workers.

PROSECUTION
The government maintained its anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, but continued to focus wholly on transnational labor trafficking, with little evidence of investigation or prosecution of sex trafficking or internal labor trafficking cases. Ethiopia prohibits sex and labor trafficking through criminal code Articles 596 (Enslavement), 597 (Trafficking in Women and Children), 635 (Traffic in Women and Minors), and 636 (Aggravation to the Crime). Article 635, which prohibits sex trafficking, prescribes punishments not exceeding five years’ imprisonment, which are sufficiently stringent, though not commensurate with, penalties prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape.Articles 596 and 597 outlaw slavery and labor trafficking and prescribe punishments of five to 20 years’ imprisonment, which are sufficiently stringent. Articles 597 and 635 lack a clear definition of human trafficking and do not criminalize trafficking against adult male victims.The government does not provide detailed case information on the articles used to prosecute suspected traffickers; however, a local NGO reported the conviction of nine individuals under Article 597 within the reporting period. In general, Articles 598 (Unlawful Sending of Ethiopians to Work Abroad) and 571 (Endangering the Life of Another) are regularly used to prosecute cases of transnational labor trafficking.The absence of a clear legal definition of human trafficking impeded the government’s ability to investigate and prosecute trafficking cases effectively. Officials continued drafting amendments to the Employment Exchange Services Proclamation No. 632/2009, which governs the work of licensed labor recruitment agencies.
During the reporting period, the Ethiopian Federal Police’s (EFP) Human Trafficking and Narcotics Section investigated 99 suspected trafficking cases, compared with 135 cases in 2013. The federal government reported prosecuting 93 cases involving 118 defendants; of these, the Federal High Court convicted 46 individuals, compared with 106 traffickers convicted in the previous reporting period. Officials indicated 58 cases remained ongoing in court. The government did not provide consistent details regarding average sentencing; sporadic NGO reports indicated some sentences ranged from two to 11 years’ imprisonment. Courts in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR) reportedly investigated 468 alleged child trafficking cases at the district level; however, no information was reported on the number of prosecutions or convictions or the details of these cases. In March 2015, the government began an investigation of two Ethiopian smugglers suspected of moving 38,000 Ethiopians to South Africa and the Middle East for unknown purposes, potentially including trafficking victims.
In 2014, the government did not initiate any sex trafficking prosecutions, including for children subjected to prostitution. It also did not demonstrate adequate efforts to investigate and prosecute internal trafficking crimes or support and empower regional authorities to effectively do so. Regional law enforcement entities were trained to identify trafficking victims; however, they continued to lack capacity to properly investigate and document cases, as well as to collect and organize relevant data. During the year, government officials partnered with international organizations to train police and other officials; including 456 police officers, 115 labor inspectors, and 139 judges who received training on child

labor issues, identification, investigation, and reporting of human trafficking. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of public officials allegedly complicit in human trafficking offenses; however, corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained a significant concern, inhibiting law enforcement action during the year. Reports suggest district-level officials accepted bribes to change the ages on district-issued identification cards, enabling children to receive passports without parental consent; passport issuance authorities did not question the validity of such identification documents or the ages of applicants.