Migration in Ethiopia: History, Current Trends and Future Prospects

Introduction

It is estimated that in 2010, 10.2 percent of global migrants will hail from Africa (UNDP, 2009). Only three

percent of the world migrates, and around 1.9 percent of Africa‟s population engages in international

migration (UNDP, 2009). This is not surprising, however, as it is well documented in migration studies that

the “poorest of the poor” do not migrate, and Sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest region in the world.

Migration flows from Sub-Saharan Africa are thus occurring within a context of extreme poverty, conflict,

and the HIV/AIDs pandemic, all of which impact migration dynamics (Adepoju, 2008).

Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world and in 2005 had an emigration rate of 0.6

percent, which is low in comparison to Africa as a whole. Ethiopia faces complex challenges of food

insecurity, overpopulation, drought, political instability, and ethnic conflict. In addition to these issues,

Ethiopia faces large challenges with respect to migration flows.

From the 1980s onward, the Horn of Africa, which consists of Eritrea, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia,

and Ethiopia, became the largest refugee-producing area in the world, with Ethiopia being the largest

contributor to the refugee flows (Bariagaber, 1999). As a consequence, Ethiopia became internationally

known for its refugee crisis, including problems of managing refugee flows and the issue of repatriation.

Today the number of Ethiopians seeking refuge in other countries has drastically decreased.

Political instability in the 1970s and the large refugee flows of the 1980s led to the development

of the Ethiopian Diaspora, which today is actively engaged in political and development processes in

Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Diaspora is one of the largest of all African countries and is concentrated

primarily in the United States and United Kingdom. Remittances to Ethiopia from the Diaspora provide

an integral source of income for families to sustain themselves through external shocks and meet their

basic needs.

Internal migration flows in Ethiopia are currently larger than external flows, but the exact number

of people who migrate internally is not known. Internal migration occurs in the form of rural-urban

migration, rural-rural migration, and resettlement policies, which are all substantial in Ethiopia. Internal

migration in Ethiopia has traditionally occurred at marriage when the wife moves to live in the husband‟s

community. In addition to this traditional internal mobility, urbanization in Ethiopia is a growing trend that

puts pressure on urban infrastructure and resources (De Waal, 1991: Ezra & Kiros, 2001).

The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of migration and development in Ethiopia.

This will be achieved through a discussion of historical and contemporary migration patters (Section 3 and

4), the Ethiopian Diaspora (Section 5), the development impacts of migration in Ethiopia (Section 6),

migration policies in Ethiopia (Section 7), an exploration of the migration relationship between the

Netherlands and Ethiopia (Section 8), and a conclusion that examines potential future migration flows in

Ethiopia (Section 9) read more

IN MEMORY OF PRISONERS EXECUTED BY THE EPLF ( 1970s & 1980s)

In the late 1960s Eritrea was among the main sources of students for the university in Ethiopia. This was the case despite the fact that the Ethiopian government introduced a calibration of the university entrance examination scores according to the province of origin, in order to restrict the entry of Eritrean students. Erlich (1983) who was lecturer at the University of Addis Ababa also observed that the proportion of Eritreans at University was higher than for Ethiopians in the early 1970s. 
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THE GREATER HORN OF AFRICA CONFLICT SYSTEM: CONFLICT PATTERNS, STRATEGIES AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

THE GREATER HORN OF AFRICA CONFLICT SYSTEM: CONFLICT PATTERNS, STRATEGIES AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Ethiopia Muslims protest, accuse government of religious meddling

Causes of Civil War: Micro Level Evidence from Côte d’Ivoire

A multiethnic country like Côte d’Ivoire, which was relatively stable until the late 1980s, has been mired in crisis in the last two decades and experienced large-scale violence. This paper undertakes a disaggregated analysis of the civil war at sub-national levels in Cote d’Ivoire for the period from 1998 to 2006 using: (1) nationally representative household survey data, and (2) the ACLED conflict database that contains information on the date and geographical location of conflicts. We use both the department and the sub-prefecture levels as units of analysis, and find robust evidence that ethnic diversity is significantly associated with conflicts. We also find strong empirical evidence that the share of Ivoirites population and the share of Muslim population is a significant determinant of civil war at the sub-prefecture level. Furthermore, more populous areas are at high risk of civil war, but the outcome is statistically significant only at the department level. However, we do not find significant evidence that income inequality and land inequality have determined the level of civil conflict. Overall the findings suggest ethnicity and religious identities are the significant determinants of civil war in Cote d’Ivoire. Read more

Armed Conflict and Children’s Health: Exploring New Directions: The Case of Kashmir

The exposure to violence in utero and early in life has adverse impacts on children's age-adjusted height (z-scores). Using the experience of the Kashmir insurgency, I find that children more affected by the insurgency are 0.9 to 1.4 standard deviations smaller compared with children less affected by the insurgency. The effect is stronger for children who were born during peaks in violence. A robust finding in the health literature is that shorter children perform worse in schools, in jobs, and are sicker throughout their life. Here, children already negatively affected by the insurgency in their height, are also more likely to be sick in the two weeks prior to the survey. SOURCE: Households in Conflict Network // Institute of Development Studies // University of Sussex Read more

Services, Return, and Security in Four Counties in Southern Sudan

BICC was commissioned to undertake a study on issues relating to Return and Reintegration (RR) of actors displaced by the fighting in Sudan and to provide action-oriented data on issues relating to RR as a basis for suggestions to improve the RR program in Southern Sudan.

Data from the study was collected by a mix of desk surveys and two weeks of intensive fieldwork in four counties in Southern Sudan: Yei River, West Juba, Maridi and Mundri. The field study was preceded by a four-day training course for enumerators, twenty four of whom participated in the survey in four teams. A preparatory day was also dedicated to presenting the study of nongovernmental organization (NGO) partners in Equatoria, and to incorporating their suggestions into the study questionnaires.Read more