Published in June 2025
International and regional conventions:
- United Nations Convention Against Corruption (2003) (ratified in 2007)
- African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (2003) (ratified in 2007)
Legislation:
- Constitution
- Art 29 : Right of thought, opinion and expression
- Art 29 (2): Everyone has the right to freedom of expression without any interference. This right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any media of his choice.
- Labor Proclamation
- States that an employment contract cannot legally be terminated if a person submits a “grievance” or participates in judicial or other proceedings against an employer.
Financial crimes
- Revised Anti-Corruption Special Procedure and Rules of Evidence on Anti-Corruption Proclamation
- Includes a section on the “Protection of Whistleblowers” that gives “appropriate consideration to the rights and interests of the person who made the disclosure.”
- Proclamation No. 780/2013, Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism
- Regulation No. 490/2022 establishing the Financial Intelligence Service Disclosure and Registration of Assets Proclamation No. 668/2010
- Proclamation No 881/2015, Corruption Crimes Proclamation
- Revised Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission
Media and freedom of information
Measures related to whistleblowers:
- Proclamation No. 699/2010, A Proclamation To Provide For The Protection Of Witnesses And Whistleblowers Of Criminal Offences
- However, Ethiopia’s “whistleblower” law is inaccurately titled; it confuses “whistleblower” with “witness and does not provide protections for whistleblowers in the workplace, or for people whose reports do not lead to investigations or prosecutions of serious crimes.
Institutions:
- Whistleblowers and Witness Protection Directorate at the Ministry of Justice
- Mandated to protect whistleblowers and witnesses
- Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (FEACC)
- Institution of the Ombudsman of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia
Programs and policies:
Law proposals:
In 2021, the Government of Ethiopia and UNODC convened a drafting workshop on Revising Proclamation 699/2010 on Witness Protection and Whistleblowers (revision of the Proclamation in 2022).
The UNODC held a workshop to strengthen whistleblower protection in Ethiopia as part of a broader legal reform process. This led to an in-depth drafting workshop later in the year to revise the existing Proclamation, moving toward a more progressive and protective legal framework for whistleblowers.
To read the full country report, please click here.
