Villagization in Contemporary Ethiopia: The Experience of Gambella Region, Anywaa Zone, From Human Rights Perspective
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Date
2014-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
In Ethiopia history dates back to the imperial regime relocating people from
drought prone and over-crowded areas to less populous and moisture sufficient
areas has been adopted as one of the policy ideals that have introduced to
alleviate various socio-economic problems. However, such schemes of people’s
relocation undertaken in Ethiopia had been bitterly criticized within the
international community given that the scheme had been driven by merely
political imperatives and characterized by coercive, unplanned and disregards
humanitarian considerations.
It is against this background that in 2003 E.C the GoE embarked up on the
villagization program in emerging regions of the country, Gambella as a case in
point and “socio-economic and cultural transformation” of communities who are
settled in a dispersed way, with its declared purpose. Taking this as a
background, this study was concerned on examining the villagization experience
from a human rights perspective in two case study villages in Anywaa zone of
Gambella region. To achieve this objective, the study employed qualitative
approach. And, data for the study were collected from target communities, key
informants, field observation, and from secondary source as international and
regional human rights instruments, national legislations, reports, and documents
of different institutions.
After conducting serious analysis as per the interview responses of the target
communities in the study villages and key informants represented from federal to
Kebele level, and field study, the researcher, presents empirical evidences and
eventually addressed the following concerns to the study villages: procedural
issue of consultation and the villagization program, distributive issue of
compensation and the villagization program, cultural practices at the new
settlement areas, access to basic social services in new villagization site, and the
villagization program implications for the right to development of villagers.
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In Ethiopia history dates back to the imperial regime relocating people from