Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Ethiopia (Ratification: 1963)

The Committee notes the observations of the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions (CETU), received on 1 September 2025, concerning matters examined in this comment.

Articles 2 and 5 of the Convention. Right of workers and employers, without distinction whatsoever, to establish and join organizations. The right to establish and join federations and confederations. In its previous observations, the Committee noted that section 3(2) of the Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019 (LP) excludes the following categories of public and private sector workers and employment relations from its scope, and therefore from the right to establish and join labour law organizations: (a) contracts for the purpose of upbringing, care or rehabilitation; (b) contracts for the purpose of educating or training other than apprentices; (c) managerial employees; (d) contracts of personal (domestic) service, and (e) employees of state administration, judges, prosecutors and others whose employment is governed by special laws. It further noted that the organizations established under the Organizations of Civil Society Proclamation No. 1113/2019 (CSOP), such as Ethiopian Teachers’ Association (ETA), did not enjoy the right to represent their members in labour relations and to establish or join federations and confederations. The Committee urged the Government to either amend section 3 of the LP or adopt adequate legal provisions to recognize and guarantee the rights enshrined in the Convention for the excluded categories of workers and employers. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it will carry out studies and engage in dialogue with social partners on the requested amendment of section 3 of the LP and provide information to the Committee in its next report. The Government expresses interest in ILO assistance in this respect. The Government further indicates that the Ministry of Labour and Skills in collaboration with social partners had initiated some steps to undertake research on regulation of domestic work to come up with a comprehensive legal framework. It also indicates that it is intensively working on comprehensive and in-depth public service reforms and is applying diligence towards harmonizing domestic legislation with the Convention. According to the Government, teachers in private sector have the right to establish trade unions as per labour law. While public service teachers as civil servants are not covered by labour law, the Government is undertaking a reform process where one of the issues under consideration is to give all civil servants the right to form trade unions of their choice. The Committee notes the observations of the CETU, indicating that: (i) efforts were made to organize domestic workers into associations, resulting in the establishment of 86 associations representing 25,000 domestic workers in six regions of the country, and that a regulation governing employment for personal service, which includes domestic work, is being drafted and will be finalized by 2026; (ii) the civil service reform was completed, and a new civil service law was adopted by the Parliament, however this new law does not recognize the right of public servants to organize, and (iii) private school teachers have the right to freely organize and are member of the CETU. The Committee notes the CETU allegation of failure to take the opportunity of the civil service law reform to recognize and guarantee the right of civil servants to organize and requests the Government to provide its comments in this respect. The Committee further notes that the Government does not report tangible progress on the extension of the right to establish and join organizations to any of the other excluded categories of workers. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take concrete measures to: (i) advance and conclude the planned comprehensive regulation of domestic work, which shall include the recognition and protection of domestic workers’ right to establish and join trade unions and the right for those trade unions to establish and join federations and confederations; (ii) recognize and guarantee all public servants’ - including teachers’ – right to establish and join trade unions, and the right for those trade unions to establish and join federations and confederations, the only admissible exception being the police and the armed forces; and (iii) introduce the amendment of section 3 of the LP with a view to recognizing and guaranteeing the right to organize and the right for their organizations to establish and join federations and confederations for all other categories of workers excluded from the scope of the LP. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in this respect and recalls that the Government can avail itself of the technical assistance of the ILO.

Articles 2 and 7. Right to establish organizations without previous authorization, conditions of recognition of legal personality. The Committee recalls that it requested the Government to revise section 59.1(b) of the CSOP, which provides that registration of organizations may be refused when the competent authority finds the aim or activities described in the rules are contrary to law or public morals, to ensure that the grounds for refusal of trade union registration are not excessively broad. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that this provision aims to prevent wrongdoing by civil society organizations and NGOs, and to enable the taking of necessary measures against organizations engaging in activities contrary to their beneficiaries’ rights and interests and social norms, moral values and beliefs of the society at large. The Government adds that no complaint or grievance was received from any organization in relation to registration issues, but that it is ready to engage with social partners on the matter. The Committee recalls that, when applied to the workers’ and employers’ organizations, a law that allows rejection of registration on the ground that the aims or activities described in the organization’s rules are contrary to “public morals”, would be incompatible with Article 2 of the Convention, which guarantees the right to establish organizations “without previous authorization”. Where acquisition of legal personality depends on such provisions, they also go against Article 7 of the Convention. The Committee notes that the CSOP is a law primarily conceived to apply to civil society organizations and NGOs, and the constitution of certain workers’ organizations under it, such as the ETA, is the result of the exclusion of those categories of workers from the scope of labour legislation and their lack of access to a full-fledged right to organize. The Committee recalls that the scope of the Convention does not extend to civil society organizations or NGOs. However, since the CSOP remains the only legal framework under which large groups of Ethiopian workers, such as public sector teachers and health workers, can establish organizations, its provisions must be brought into conformity with the Convention, to the extent that they apply to workers’ and employers’ organizations. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take the necessary measures to revise section 59.1(b) of the CSOP, to remove “contrary to public morals” as a ground for refusal of registration of workers’ or employers’ organizations, and to provide information in this respect. The Committee further requests the Government to provide information on any cases in which registration of workers’ or employers’ organizations was rejected with reference to section 59.1(b).

Article 3. Right of organizations to organize their administration and activities and to formulate their programmes. Essential services. The Committee notes that in reply to its previous observation requesting the exclusion of air and urban light rail transport services from the list of essential services, the Government affirms that it is exerting its maximum effort to progressively integrate the Convention into the national laws and practice and will engage in dialogue with social partners in this respect. The Government further indicates that support from the ILO is sought in sharing other countries’ experiences in dealing with such matters. The Committee notes with concern that no steps were taken regarding its long-standing recommendation on this matter. It therefore urges the Government to take concrete measures to amend the list of essential services in section 137.2(a) and (d) of the LP by deleting air and urban light rail transport services and recalls that to address concerns regarding needs of the population, the Government may consider the establishment of a system of minimum service in these sectors. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in this respect and recalls that it can avail itself of the technical assistance of the Office.

Quorum required for a strike ballot. In its previous observations the Committee had requested the Government to amend section 159.3 of the LP which requires that a decision to take strike action must be supported by a simple majority of the workers concerned in a meeting attended by at least two thirds of the trade union members. The Committee recalls that the observance of a quorum of two thirds of the members may be difficult to reach, in particular where trade unions have large numbers of members covering a large area. Noting that no steps were taken by the Government to address this issue, the Committee again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to amend section 159.3, with a view to reducing the two thirds quorum requirement, and to provide information in this respect.

Compulsory arbitration. The Committee previously noted that pursuant to section 143.3 of the LP, which applies to collective labour disputes in all categories of services, in case of failure of conciliation process within 30 days, any one of the parties may submit the matter to a Labour Relations Board, and that pursuant to section 161.2 of the LP, it shall be unlawful to resist or unduly delay the execution of an order or decision of a Board or Court disposing, in whole or in part, a labour dispute or to take or continue to strike or to lock out in protest to such order or decision. The Committee notes that as the LP allows collective labour disputes to be submitted to the Labour Relations Board at the request of one of the parties, and the decision of the board is binding on all parties concerned, the law clearly imposes compulsory arbitration in collective labour disputes, including in non-essential services. It recalls that compulsory arbitration is a means of denying the right to strike or seriously restricting its exercise, which makes it possible to prohibit virtually all strikes or to end them quickly. The Committee therefore again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to amend section 143.3 of the LP to ensure that in case of failure of the conciliation process, submission of the dispute to the Labour Relations Board will be possible only at the request of both parties. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in this respect.

Article 4. Suspension and dissolution of organizations by administrative authority. In its previous observation, the Committee noted that sections 77.4 and 78.4 of the CSOP give the Director-General of the Civil Society Organization Agency the power to order the suspension of the activities of an organization. If issued under section 78.4, a suspension order can entail the dissolution of the organization. A right to appeal to the High Court is provided under sections 77.5 and 78.5, but the law does not expressly provide that such appeal will have suspensive effect. The Committee requested the Government to amend the CSOP to provide for the suspensive effect. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it will assess the situation by involving the apex of the civil society organizations and other relevant stakeholders. Noting the lack of progress on this matter, the Committee requests the Government to: (i) take concrete measures to amend the CSOP, to ensure that the appeal against administrative decisions of suspension and dissolution of workers’ and employers’ organizations has suspensive effect and to provide information in this respect, and (ii) provide information on all cases of professional associations established under the CSOP, against which suspension orders were issued, and the status of the administrative and/or judicial proceedings concerning the suspension or dissolution of those organizations.