1. 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

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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

5. Methodology… Cases opened between 2012/13-2014/2015 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

6. 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

7. Number of cases by year

8. Number of cases by Region

9. Gender Sex of the Plaintiff Frequency Valid Percent Defendant percent Male 369348.5 71 Female 326942.9 16.9 Legal person (Government, NGO, Religious organizations, Private Company, etc.) 5887.7 3.3 Not applicable 64.8 8.8 Total 7614100.0

10. Plaintiffs and Defendant by gender Sex of Plaintiff/Defendant Plaintiffs FrequencyPercentage Defendant Frequency Percentage Male 369348.5540671.0 Female 326942.9128416.9 Legal person (government, NGO, religious organizations, private company, etc 5887.72553.3 Not applicable 64.86698.8 Total 7614100.07614100.0

11. Sex of Plaintiff and defendant by Region RegionTotal TigrayAmharaOromiaSNNP Sex of the plaintiff and defendant Male Plaintiff 20.738.728.811.8100.0 Defendant 14.539.527.318.6100.0 Female Plaintiff 12.344.128.714.9100.0 Defendant 25.241.423.89.6100.0 Legal person (government, NGO, religous organizations, private company, etc.) Plaintiff 15.113.68.362.9100.0 Defendant 52.518.17.611.4100.0 Not applicable Plaintiff6.31.662.529.7100.0 Defendant 2.235.439.323.0100.0 Total Plaintiff 16.538.827.417.2100.0 Defendant 16.538.827.417.2100.0

13. 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

14. Official Classification of the Case FrequencyValid Percent Boundary conflict 1652.2 Land rental 210.3 Sharecropping 280.4 Illegal land sale 150.2 Land exchange 230.3 Double certification 150.2 Encroachment to communal land 110.1 Encroachment of state land 120.2 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 500.7 Total 1695 22.3% Unlawful possession of land 2633.5 Other land related 108414.2 Contract 79910.5 Total 5919 (77.7%) Inheritance 4996.6 Donation 60.1 Divorce 3034 Marital dispute 156820.6 Possessory action 2593.4 Other non- land related 248532.6 Total 7614100

15. 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 218428.736.9 No 373549.163.1100.0 Total 591977.7100.0 Land Related 169522.3 Total 7614100.0

16. Case typeNumberPercentage Pure land as classified by court 169522.3 Other land cases found 218428.7Unreported by court Total Land cases387950.95 Other Non Land Cases 373549.05 Total Civil Cases7614100

17. Top ten OfficiallyAdditionTotal 1 Unlawful possession of land2637891052 2 Other land related (which is not given specific category) 629 3 Land division during divorce 548 4 Boundary dispute165179344 5 Trespass 264 6 Marital dispute in relation to administration of land 252 7 Issue of entitlement during divorce 229 8 Invalidation of inheritance 153 9 S harecropping 2881109 10 Land exchange237194

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

19. 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)

20. Days for court decision Region NoMinimumMaximumMean Tigray 12591.00761.0045.6 Amhara 29501.00939.0068.5 Oromia 20881.00944.0060.8 SNNP 13061.001147.00127.9 Total 76031.001147.0072.8

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22. 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