Classification and Monitoring of Land Disputes in Ethiopia Daniel W Ambaye Bahir Dar University World Bank Land and Poverty Conference March 14, 2016 Washington DC

Introduction Land dispute is rife in Ethiopia in that it is estimated to represent one half to two third of all civil cases The scope of land dispute is not accurately known for lack of proper case classification and reporting The WB has conducted the LGAF study in Ethiopia and one such gap of the study related to the land dispute was lack of reliable data from courts This study is therefore made partly to generate necessary data for such purpose and thereby to develop a monitoring system for land dispute in Ethiopia

Objective The objectives of this pilot study is to: investigate and document the type of land dispute classification and reporting system followed in courts today in Ethiopia and design and test an expanded classification system to enable identification of land related cases, and time required for key steps, which can be integrated in the current court monitoring system identifying requirements for strengthening court monitoring and reporting systems.

Methodology Survey data has been taken from four pilot woredas from the four main regions of Tigray, Amhara, Oromia and South – Tigray: Enderta Woreda – Amhara: Fogera Woreda – Oromia: Illu Woreda – South: Yirgachefe Woreda Interview with judges and registrars underway Review of court reports and other publications

Methodology… Cases opened between 2012/ /2015 were considered during the study While all cases were seen for Tigray and the South, only part of them seen in Amhara and Oromia due to large size of cases Cases have been seen based on date of opening and continued until end of year Cases have been collected using tablets by law school students One supervisor (senior instructor) and three students who haves taken land law course were participated Senior students (4 th and 5 th year) for Amhara and Addis Ababa Universities and Masters students for Mekele and Hawassa universities participated First we follow the courts’ classification in identifying land related cases and we re-catagorized some which are not properly classified

Regional Woreda Court Village Level Land Dispute Arbitration Committees Regional High Court Regional High Court Regional High Court Regional Supreme Court Regional Supreme Court Regional Supreme Court FEDERAL CASSATION COURT Federal First Instance Court Federal High Court Federal Supreme Court Municipal Court

Number of cases by year

Number of cases by Region

Gender Sex of the Plaintiff Frequency Valid Percent Defendant percent Male Female Legal person (Government, NGO, Religious organizations, Private Company, etc.) Not applicable Total

Plaintiffs and Defendant by gender Sex of Plaintiff/Defendant Plaintiffs FrequencyPercentage Defendant Frequency Percentage Male Female Legal person (government, NGO, religious organizations, private company, etc Not applicable Total

Sex of Plaintiff and defendant by Region RegionTotal TigrayAmharaOromiaSNNP Sex of the plaintiff and defendant Male Plaintiff Defendant Female Plaintiff Defendant Legal person (government, NGO, religous organizations, private company, etc.) Plaintiff Defendant Not applicable Plaintiff Defendant Total Plaintiff Defendant

Official Classification Courts simply classify land cases as those which are very specific such as: Boundary conflict, land rental, encroachment… On the other, the court system does not generate other hidden land related disputes such as those arise out of: contract, inheritance, donation, marital dispute etc This makes the report incomplete

Official Classification of the Case FrequencyValid Percent Boundary conflict Land rental Sharecropping Illegal land sale Land exchange Double certification Encroachment to communal land Encroachment of state land Low compensation for expropriation of land 20 Denial of compensation for expropriated land 60.1 Official Classification of the Case FrequencyValid Percent Cum Land division/partit ion Total % Unlawful possession of land Other land related Contract Total 5919 (77.7%) Inheritance Donation 60.1 Divorce 3034 Marital dispute Possessory action Other non- land related Total

Whether related to land or not A question was put to indicate whether these non land cases (77.3) may be related to land or not Case is Land Related FrequencyPercent Valid Percent Cumul Percent Valid Yes No Total Land Related Total

Case typeNumberPercentage Pure land as classified by court Other land cases found Unreported by court Total Land cases Other Non Land Cases Total Civil Cases

Top ten OfficiallyAdditionTotal 1 Unlawful possession of land Other land related (which is not given specific category) Land division during divorce Boundary dispute Trespass Marital dispute in relation to administration of land Issue of entitlement during divorce Invalidation of inheritance S harecropping Land exchange237194

Rearranging the Rank Rank 1 Unlawful possession/trespass/boundary conflict 2 Marital dispute/ divorce 3 Inheritance 4 Sharecropping 5 Land exchange

Time needed for decision most cases (›80%) are decided within same year and few transfer to next year Date case was opened Date decision was made 2012/132013/142014/15Total 2005Count (%) 1721 (87.9) 0 (0.0) 17219(22.6 ) 2006Count (%) 208 (10.6)2870 (81.0) 0 (0.0) 3078 (40.5) 2007Count (% ) 25(1.3)655 (18.5)1935 (92.1)2615 (34.4) 2008Count (% ) 5(0.3)19 (0.5)166 (7.9)190 (2.5) TotalCount (% ) 1959(100.0)3544 (100.0)2101 (100.0)7604 (100.0)

Days for court decision Region NoMinimumMaximumMean Tigray Amhara Oromia SNNP Total

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Conclusion According to the preliminary results land related cases constitute 50% of all civil cases. More than half of the land cases are not officially reported/known Much of the land related cases are related to boundary Cases related to sharecropping and land exchange come next to marital/divorce related cases Courts require 2-5 months to reach decisions although it cannot be known the rest of the time required by higher courts in case of appeal Costs during initial stage is affordable In order to have more reliable conclusion and thereby to make it representative the study should be exercised by taking more sample woredas