International Mechanism Submissions

This report provides an overview of human rights developments related to sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE) since Ethiopia’s last Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2019.

The criminalization of consensual same-sex sexual activity by adults leaves them at serious risk of harm and systematic exclusion. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other gender or sexual minority (LGBTQ+) people in Ethiopia report discrimination, violence, lack of protection by law enforcement and government officials, and stigma while accessing services. Lesbian, bisexual, queer, and transgender women and other marginalized identities are particularly at risk for such human rights violations. Ethiopia lacks laws that permit transgender people to legally change their gender, which means that transgender men are legally considered to be women and transgender women are legally considered to be men. Transgender individuals who engage in sexual activity with cisgender people of a different gender (e.g. transgender men who have sex with cisgender women and transgender women who have sex with cisgender men) may fall victim to the law criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual activity between adults.