Development Policy Committee visits Ethiopia to learn about Tigray’s humanitarian situation and Finland's development cooperation results

A delegation of Members of Parliament from the Development Policy Committee visited Ethiopia on 24–30 November to learn more about the humanitarian situation in Tigrey and about the results of Finland’s Country Programme for development cooperation. The delegation was led by Member of Parliament Jani Kokko (Social Democratic Party), who is the Vice-Chair of the Development Policy Committee. Members of Parliament Inka Hopsu (Green League), Tuomas Kettunen (Centre Party), Ari Koponen (Finns Party) and Sari Tanus (Christian Democrats) were also part of the delegation.

The delegation visited Mekelle in the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia, where the peace established two years ago is fragile. The Tigray conflict has been described as the bloodiest in this century, and it led to an extensive humanitarian crisis that is still ongoing.

The delegation also visited a women’s shelter for survivors of sexual violence. The shelter provides medical care, psychosocial support and vocational courses. Sexual violence has been a systematic instrument of warfare in the Tigray region, and approximately 126,000 women have fallen victim to it, according to the Tigrey women’s organisation. The women’s shelter is supported by organisations such as the Finnish Red Cross, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The delegation toured a camp for internally displaced people in Mekelle, where UNICEF and Save the Children are implementing a project that Finland supports.

“These children have already lost everything once. We saw how having access to school gives them hope for the future in the midst of the humanitarian crisis. I’m pleased that Finland takes particular account of children with disabilities and in need of special support,” says Jani Kokko, the Vice-Chair of the Development Policy Committee.

The overall humanitarian situation in Ethiopia is very complicated and has deteriorated significantly over the past ten years. More than 21 million Ethiopians need humanitarian assistance. Twelve million of them are children and 4.7 million are women. In Ethiopia, more than 4.4 million internally displaced persons live in temporary shelters or in local communities across the country. The reasons for their displacement are a combination of conflicts, violence, climate change and epidemics. Ethiopia receives the third most refugees in the world, from South Sudan, Sudan and Somalia, among other countries.

International assistance is wholly inadequate for the needs. Only one quarter of the funding planned for OCHA’s (the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) Humanitarian Response Plan for Ethiopia has been covered this year. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), only 40 per cent of the estimated need for food aid in Tigray can be met next year.

Delegation praises projects supported by Finland

The delegation visited three development projects that Finland supports in Ethiopia. They were the REILA land administration project, the bilateral water and sanitation project COWASH, and the resource centre for inclusive education in the city of Hawassa.

The delegation considered that one of the projects’ most important achievements has been the land registration system, which promotes gender equality as it now enables women the right to manage land. The system has the potential to become a standard across the country. The COWASH cooperation in water and sanitation has made clean drinking water accessible to around 5.5 million people. Eighty per cent of all health problems stem from water. Fetching drinking water has burdened women and girls and increased the risk of violence especially in rural areas. In the area of inclusive teaching, Finland has supported the development of sign language and its instruction and learning materials.

In Addis Abeba, the country’s capital, the MPs visited the Ethiopian Parliament and Ministry for Foreign Affairs and met representatives of the EU, the National Dialogue Commission (NDC) and Finnish civil society organisations.