ISSN 2307-6097 Ethiopian Journal of Human Rights (Peer-reviewed) December 2020 Published Once A Year Vol. V Articles Development and Human (In)Dignity: The Impact of Gibe III, Sugar Industrialization and Sedenterization on Minority Agro-Pastoral Groups in South Omo Fana Gebresenbet The Issue of Indigenousness in Ethiopia: A Jurisprudential Dearth Tefera Degu Addis Ethnicity, Women and Governance at Local Level: The Case of the Kebena Community in Ethiopian Federalism Sisay Kinfe The Impact of Large-Scale Development Projects on the Kumpal Agaw Minority Desalegn Amsalu Social Exclusion of Marginalized Minorities in Kaffa, Ethiopia Taddesse Berisso The Qemant Ethnicity: Identity Contestations, Negotiations, and Conflicts Dawit Yosef and Fekadu Adugna A Historical Analysis of Minority Rights in Ethiopia: the Case of Negede Woyto Community Binayew Tamrat Constitutional and Institutional Protection of Minorities in Ethiopia Marew Abebe Salemot Published by the Center for Human Rights School of Law and Governance Studies, Addis Ababa University P. O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia … http://www.aau.edu.et/humanrights/ ISSN 2307-6097 Ethiopian Journal of Human Rights (Peer-reviewed) December 2020 Published Once A Year Vol. V Articles Development and Human (In)Dignity: The Impact of Gibe III, Sugar Industrialization and Sedenterization on Minority Agro-Pastoral Groups in South Omo Fana Gebresenbet The Issue of Indigenousness in Ethiopia: A Jurisprudential Dearth Tefera Degu Addis Ethnicity, Women and Governance at Local Level: The Case of the Kebena Community in Ethiopian Federalism Sisay Kinfe The Impact of Large-Scale Development Projects on the Kumpal Agaw Minority Desalegn Amsalu Social Exclusion of Marginalized Minorities in Kaffa, Ethiopia Taddesse Berisso The Qemant Ethnicity: Identity Contestations, Negotiations, and Conflicts Dawit Yosef and Fekadu Adugna A Historical Analysis of Minority Rights in Ethiopia: the Case of Negede Woyto Community Binayew Tamrat Constitutional and Institutional Protection of Minorities in Ethiopia Marew Abebe Salemot Published by the Center for Human Rights School of Law and Governance Studies, Addis Ababa University P. O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia … http://www.aau.edu.et/humanrights/ Ethiopian Journal of Human Rights December 2020 Vol. V Editor-in-Chief Meron Zeleke (PhD) Managing Editor Tadesse Kassa (PhD) Editorial Board Adem Kassa (PhD) Teshome Emana (PhD) Emezat Hailu (PhD) Wondemagegn Tadesse (PhD) Sehin Teferra (PhD) Zemelak Ayele (PhD) Reviewers for the Volume Abereham Lakew Dereje Feyissa (PhD) Adem Kassie (PhD) Firehiwot Sentayehu (PhD) Anchinesh Shiferaw Mohammed Dejen (PhD) Beza Desalegn (PhD) Mohammed Hamid Christophe Van der Beken (PhD) Sussane Epple (PhD) Demelash Shiferaw (PhD) Yonatan Fisseha (PhD) Copy Editing Kiya Gezahegne Formatting Bethlehm Wondimu , Kiya Gezahegne and Elsa G/Hana Table of Content Articles Development and Human (In)Dignity: The Impact of Gibe III, Sugar Industrialization and Sedenterization on Minority Agro-Pastoral Groups in South Omo Fana Gebresenbet ………………………………....……………………… 1 The Issue of Indigenousness in Ethiopia: A Jurisprudential Dearth Tefera Degu Addis ……………………………………....……………… 30 Ethnicity, Women and Governance at Local Level: The Case of the Kebena Community in Ethiopian Federalism Sisay Kinfe …………………………………………….......…………….. 57 The Impact of Large-Scale Development Projects on the Kumpal Agaw Minority Desalegn Amsalu………………………………....……………………... 76 Social Exclusion of Marginalized Minorities in Kaffa, Ethiopia Taddesse Berisso…………………………………....…………..…..….... 97 The Qemant Ethnicity: Identity Contestations, Negotiations, and Conflicts Dawit Yosef and Fekadu Adugna ………………..……….…………. 124 A Historical Analysis of Minority Rights in Ethiopia: the Case of Negede Woyto Community Binayew Tamrat.……………….…………………....………………..... 147 Constitutional and Institutional Protection of Minorities in Ethiopia Marew Abebe Salemot………………………………….……………... 165 IV Editorial and Advisory Board Members of EJHR Editor in Chief Dr Meron Zeleke (Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow, Center for Human Rights, AAU) Managing Editor Dr Tadesse Kassa (Associate Professor, Center for Human Rights) Advisory Board Members Dr. Addisu G/Egziabher (Former Chief Commissioner of Ethiopian Human Rights Commission) Dr. Biniyam Mezmur (Associate professor, the head of the Children’s Rights Project at the Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape) Mr. Dagnachew B. Wakene, (Regional Director, Africa Disability Alliance (ADA) PhD Candidate at University of Pretoria) M/rs. Meron Argaw (Former Executive Director of Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association) Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Benedek (Institute for International Law and International Relations University of Graz) Editorial Board Members Dr. Adem K Abebe (Editor – Constitution Net International IDEA Constitution Building Programme, The Hague) Dr. Emezat Hailu (Center for Gender Studies, College of Development Studies, AAU) Dr. Sehin Teferra (Co-founder and Managing Partner of Setaweet) Dr. Teshome Emana (Assistant professor of the Department of Social Anthropology, AAU) Dr. Womdemagen Tadesse (Assistant professor, Center for Human Rights, Addis Ababa University). Dr. Zemelak Ayele, Associate Professor (Director, Center for Federalism and Governance Studies, AAU) V Editor’s Note Meron Zeleke (PhD) The fifth issue of EJHR critically examines whether Ethiopia’s minority rights regime, the core basis of the political legitimacy for the ruling party of the country, has delivered on its promises, i.e. protection of the rights of minority groups in Ethiopia. Who minorities are and what rights they are entitled to remains a contentious issue. According to the 1992 United Nations Minorities Declaration any reasonable definition needs to include both objective factors (such as the existence of a shared ethnicity, language or religion) and subjective factors (that individuals must identify themselves as members of a minority). What constitutes minority rights and situating them within the broader human rights framework has also been equally problematic. By and large, minority rights are understood as individual and collective rights through which people belonging to minority groups are entitled to enjoy their own culture, to use their own language, to profess and practice their own religion, to have the right to freedom of expression and assembly, to have equal opportunities to education and employment, and to enjoy full participation in public life.1 As such, minority rights are relational and protective; based, as they were, on the recognition that minorities are in a vulnerable situation in comparison to the majority population and in so long as they aim to protect members of a minority group from discrimination, assimilation, prosecution, hostility or violence because of their status. This implies that minority rights do not constitute privileges, and they are not immune from human rights compliance including respect of the rights of the majority.2 What is progressive about Ethiopia’s federal political order is not only the constitutionally sanctioned ethno-cultural justice and self- determination rights of all ethnic groups but also its recognition of the need to redress historically shaped imbalances that have created inequality among groups. Inequality among ethnic groups is recognized 1 Kymlicka, Will. 2008. “The Internationalization of Minority Rights.” International Journal of Constitutional Law 6(1): 1-32. 2 Staub, Hans and Harry Zohn. 1980. “The Tyranny of Minorities.” Daedalus - The End of Consensus? 109(3). VI as a legacy of historical discrimination by the previous governments. The 1995 Constitution identifies different categories of marginalized groups, which it calls the “historically least-advantaged” people. An exemplary group is the four “developing” regional states of Gambela, Benishangul-Gumuz, Afar and Somali; pastoralists, and national minorities. The federal government not only identifies peoples of these regions as among the ‘least advantaged’ but also makes it a constitutional obligation to provide them with special assistance. National minorities also belong to the category of the least advantaged. There is also the issue of politically disenfranchised and insecure minorities in the newly constituted regional states. Occupational minorities within an ethnic group such as potters, blacksmith and tanners are not only discriminated by the dominant farming communities but also they are stigmatized and de-humanized in many ethnic groups despite or because of their crucial socio-economic and technological contributions to the dominant group (Pankhurst and Freeman, 2003).3 This fifth volume of the EJHR explores the praxis of the constitutionally enshrined minority rights. Although the federal political order has gone a long way in redressing the historical grievances of the country’s ethnic and non-ethnic minorities, how far this has been translated into a reality has been very much debated in post-1991 Ethiopia. As the focus of Ethiopia’s minority rights regime is on ethnic rights, this volume also seeks to generate knowledge on the fate and status of other types of minorities who have been rendered invisible such as occupational minorities. As a way of addressing the different minority groups the contributions included in this volume tackled a wide range of categories. Three of the articles authored by Fana, Dessalegn, Dawit and Fekadu discuss the intricate and contested political nature of translating and implementing