Guidelines on Family Justice in Ethiopia

The Ethiopian Family Justice Guidelines provide practical, evidence-based recommendations for resolving family disputes and supporting people on their journey to justice.

HiiL’s Justice Needs Surveys show that family disputes are among the most common justice problems in Ethiopia, accounting for 11% of all legal problems. These disputes can have significant consequences for spouses, children and families, particularly when issues remain unresolved or when people face barriers to accessing formal justice. At the same time, many Ethiopians rely on customary and community-based mechanisms to resolve family disputes, especially in rural areas.

The guidelines address five key areas of family justice: maintenance; child custody and visitation; administration of property; divorce; and partition of property after divorce. They aim to provide clear and practical approaches that can help practitioners and justice providers respond to these issues in a fair, effective and people-centred way.

Developed across three regions

The guidelines were developed through expert consultations throughout three regions, bringing together evidence and practical experience from Amhara, Sidama and Addis Ababa. Developing the guidelines across these three regions allowed the process to reflect Ethiopia’s diverse legal, cultural and justice contexts, while also identifying practices with broader relevance.

The process combined evidence-based practice, drawing on research and evidence about what works, with practice-based evidence gathered from local justice providers. Judges, lawyers, village elders, civil society leaders and other practitioners contributed their experiences and insights. The recommendations were then reviewed and validated by a Committee of Experts to ensure that they were appropriate to the Ethiopian context.

Supporting people-centred family justice

The guidelines are intended for practitioners working across both formal and customary justice systems. They promote approaches including effective communication, de-escalation and mediation, while emphasising fairness, the best interests of children, and the protection of women and other vulnerable groups.

The guidelines provide evidence-informed methods and practical concepts to help justice providers achieve fair and equitable outcomes in family disputes. They are intended to evolve through new evidence and feedback from practitioners and users.

HiiL has been working in Ethiopia since 2019. You can see more of our work here.