Digital-ID in Ethiopia: Country Report

Ethiopia is the second largest country in Africa and has an ethnically diverse population of over 134 million people. However, over the past decade there has been ethnic conflict, political instability, digital repression, and, most recently, civil war. Leading up to peace talks, in 2022 Ethiopia introduced the first National Identification Program (NIDP). However, the programme has raised some concerns, since the government has engaged in digital surveillance (Zelalem 2023).

It is therefore pertinent to critically review the national digital-ID programme to ensure that it does not lead to ‘dataveillance’ – ‘a systematic monitoring of people’s actions or communication through the application of information technology’ (Clarke 1991: 1). To address this concern, the report is guided by the following questions: what is the current state of digital-ID in Ethiopia? What legislative framework(s) are in place? And, if any, do they protect against all forms of dataveillance? To answer these questions, the report will use the Centre for Internet and Society framework for assessing digital-ID systems (Bhandari, Trikanad and Sindha 2020).