† Determined by national law or regulation as hazardous and, as such, relevant to Article 3(d) of ILO C. 182.
‡ Child labor understood as the worst forms of child labor per se under Article 3(a)–(c) of ILO C. 182.

Children at Higher Risk

Children living on the street are at significant risk of exploitation and abuse and are sometimes recruited by private businesses for child labor and by criminal groups to commit illegal activities. Since the outbreak of the 2020 Northern Conflict, illicit artisanal gold mining has surged across Ethiopia, particularly in northern Tigray. This practice disproportionately involves and affects children, who are informally hired to perform dangerous work and are exposed to toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide. Additionally, children face unsafe, unsanitary, and unregulated mining sites, creating extremely hazardous living and working conditions. Further, it is estimated that ongoing internal armed conflict, drought, and flooding has created between 3.5 to 4.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). Since March 2024, there have been currently over 1 million refugees and asylum seekers in Ethiopia, including children. Internally displaced children are at higher risk of engaging in child labor due to a lack of educational and economic opportunities. There are cases that indicate that the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and regional military officials forcibly recruited and detained children for the purpose of undergoing military training throughout the Oromia Regional State. There were at least 14 reported cases of children having been arbitrarily detained by armed forces to undergo military training in the Oromia region, with one child reportedly as young as 11 years old. In some cases, families have been forced to pay large sums of money to secure the release of their children from detention centers. In one case, regional military officers detained a 15-year-old boy and told his family that if they did not pay $145 (20,000 birr) for his release, he would have to undergo military training.

Barriers to Education Access

Internal armed conflict, natural disasters, and displacement prevent over 9 million children from obtaining an education in Ethiopia. Research indicates that approximately 10,000 schools have been partially or entirely damaged, and 6,000 schools have been forced to close due to these crises. It is estimated that over 4.5 million children remain out of school in the Amhara region alone due to militarized conflict. Children in the Amhara, Afar, Tigray, and Oromia regions face abduction, kidnapping, sexual violence, unexploded military munitions, and recruitment by armed groups on their way to and from school. The UN verified 12 armed attacks on schools, as well as military appropriation of educational facilities by the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and the Tigrayan forces. In addition, children throughout the country face other barriers to education, including a lack of teachers, lack of sanitary facilities for menstruation, long distances to schools, and corporal punishment in schools. While students with disabilities are not denied access to education, they face additional barriers, including insufficient infrastructure and a lack of trained teachers and professionals to support them. Finally, language barriers present obstacles for many children, especially IDP children, who may not speak the local languages.

* Country has no conscription 
‡ Age calculated based on available information

During the reporting period, the Refugees and Returnees Service issued the Directive to Implement Recognized Refugees’ and Asylum Seekers’ Right to Work No. 1019/2024, which executes the legal protection to work that is granted under Article 26 of the Refugee Proclamation No. 1110/2019. Article 38(2) of the Refugee Proclamation ensures that recognized refugee and asylum-seeker children have rights and protections under relevant laws, including protection from abuse, neglect, exploitation, and trafficking. While Ethiopia has a hazardous work list, the types of hazardous work prohibited for children does not include traditional weaving, a line of work in which there is evidence that children use dangerous machinery, equipment, and tools. Moreover, Article 89.5 of the Labor Proclamation allows children aged 15 and up to engage in certain forms of hazardous work while enrolled in a government-approved and inspected vocational training course. The proclamation’s hazardous work provisions contradicts ILO Convention 138, which prohibits hazardous work for all children under the age of 16. Ethiopia’s laws also do not meet international standards because the use of a child in commercial sexual exploitation is not criminalized. Lastly, while the Ministry of Education has a policy encouraging public funding of education, Ethiopian laws do not guarantee free public education or set a compulsory age for education.

In 2024, an unknown number of labor inspectors conducted 48,188 worksite inspections, finding an unknown number of child labor violations. The government conducted 26 investigations into suspected cases of the worst forms of child labor, initiated 28 prosecutions, and convicted 6 perpetrators.

‡ The government had other policies that may have addressed child labor issues or had an impact on child labor.

‡ Program is co-funded by the Government of Ethiopia.
† The government had other social programs that may have included the goal of eliminating or preventing child labor.

Download the 2024 Bibliography