Rural Land Rights in Ethiopia: Law and Policy Analysis.

This thesis explores the critical shortcomings of Ethiopia’s laws and policies relating to rural land rights which, if addressed, will contribute to the empowerment of the poor. Following the adoption of the 1995 Federal Constitution that decentralised, among other things, land administration, the country has been carrying out extensive reform measures affecting rural land rights together with the articulation of rights associated with land holdings. Even though the debate regarding private versus state ownership has long dominated the land rights discourse in the country, an investigation of the present land rights system reveals a number of shortcomings which have a direct bearing on rural poverty conditions and the poor’s empowerment. Through an in-depth examination of the formalisation process that involves adjudication and certification of existing individual holding rights, the thesis identifies its adverse impacts on vulnerable sections of the society such as women and pastoralist communities. Moreover, within the existing legal framework that guarantees land use rights to individuals and communities, the thesis proposes a nation-wide recognition of the distinction, in law and practice, between ‘land holding right’ and ‘land use right. ’ Drawing on the examples of two Regional laws that already recognised albeit nominally this distinction (Amhara and Benishangul Gumuz) the thesis explores the positive implications this robust approach of unbundling rights in land might have within the existing constitutional arrangement of state ownership. Apart from the shortcomings in the substantive rights that significantly undermine the poor’s empowerment, the thesis also explores rural collective action institutions by examining the various challenges they face such as lack of autonomy, independence and access to finance. The comprehensive analysis of the laws, policies and strategies on rural land rights with a view to highlighting their shortcomings will inform future land reform exercises in the country