Source: Ethiopian Radio & Television Agency
The Governments of Ethiopia and Finland, together with UN Women, organized a High-Level Ministerial Meeting on "Women's Right to Land - the Development Impact" in New York on Tuesday.

The meeting aimed to analyze and discuss the benefits of more equal land access and tenure and what further steps should be taken to ensure women's equal rights in law and in practice.

Ethiopia's Foreign Minister, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, emphasized that the role of women in fully realizing the Millennium Development Goals was important and that their expected active participation in the implementation of the future development goals in the context of the post 2015 agenda was critical. Women's right to land, he stressed, was a fundamental human right.

He noted that Article 16 of the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) called upon state parties to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations, including ownership and disposition of property.

Ethiopia, he said, as one of the state parties to the Convention, had taken legislative measures to this end, including by incorporating the provisions in its Federal Constitution.

This (Article 35(6)) stipulates that women have the right to inherit, acquire, administer, control, use, and transfer property, and they have also equal right with men with respect to use, transfer, administration and control of land.

He also noted that all of the country's regional states have included similar provisions in their specific laws.

Dr. Tedros noted that since the Ethiopian Rural land Certification Program started seven years ago, a wide public awareness campaign had been carried out; nearly a fifth of the first level certificates that had been issued had gone to women heads of household, and women had received nearly a quarter of second level certificates that had been issued.

Women, he said, were much more aware of their rights than they had been five years ago.

Nevertheless, Ethiopia believed much more should be done to further promote respect and protection of women's rights of land use.

Dr. Tedros said this required government commitment and implementation of policies as well as enhanced global support.

He acknowledged development partners' support and called for their continued cooperation to promote women's rights, a critical factor in efforts to achieve sustainable development.

In conclusion, he underlined that Ethiopia's experience demonstrated that education was the most important tool to create awareness, change the mindset of society, and provide for implementation of policies addressing the challenges that are linked to traditional practices that negatively affect women's rights.

• Ethiopia