EUAA COI Report. Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Ethiopia

English

The report Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Ethiopia (FGM/C) provides background information and mapping of FGM/C practices and trends at national and regional level in Ethiopia for the then-9 regions and two chartered cities covered by the last Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted in 2016. While relying on the last DHS as a starting point, the report complements, contrasts and/or corroborates it with more recent studies and research carried out and published mostly in the period 2015 - 2022. The report provides details on the legal and policy framework, national statistics and under-reporting issues, societal attitudes, information on FGM performers, and cross-border practices. Finally, the report engages with regional variations and current trends/attitudes.

The reference period is from 2016 to March 2022. The information gathered is a result of desk research and expert interviews and input until 31 March 2022. Some limited additional information was added during the finalisation of this report in response to feedback received during the quality control process, until 29 April 2022.

This report was written by the COI Sector of the EUAA. The following departments and organisations have reviewed the report, together with EUAA:

- The Netherlands, Immigration and Naturalisation Service, Office for Country Information and Language Analysis (OCILA)

- Belgium, Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, Cedoca – Documentation and Research Centre

- Norway, Landinfo, The Norwegian Country of Origin Information Centre

This report was written according to the EUAA COI Report Methodology (2019).

Policy

The policy implemented by the Commissioner General is based on a thorough analysis of accurate and up-to-date information on the general situation in the country of origin. This information is collated in a professional manner from various, objective sources, including the EASO, the UNHCR, relevant international human rights organisations, non-governmental organisations, professional literature and coverage in the media. When determining policy, the Commissioner General does not only examine the COI Focuses written by Cedoca and published on this website, as these deal with just one aspect of the general situation in the country of origin. The fact that a COI Focus could be out-of-date does not mean that the policy that is being implemented by the Commissioner General is no longer up-to-date.

When assessing an application for asylum, the Commissioner General not only considers the actual situation in the country of origin at the moment of decision-making, he also takes into account the individual situation and personal circumstances of the applicant for international protection. Every asylum application is examined individually. An applicant must comprehensively demonstrate that he has a well-founded fear of persecution or that there is a clear personal risk of serious harm. He cannot, therefore, simply refer back to the general conditions in his country, but must also present concrete, credible and personal facts.

There is no policy paper for this country available on the website.

Land: 
Ethiopia

Information about the asylum procedure, tailored to the asylum seeker, can be found at : asyluminbelgium.be.