This past June, members of the Ethiopian government traveled to New Orleans to participate in a legislative drafting training at the International Legislative Drafting Institute of Tulane University. The training was organized by Millennium under its Feteh Activity, a USAID-funded project in Ethiopia. Participants included members of the Ministry of Justice, the House of Peoples’ Representatives, and officials from regional attorney general offices.
The courses were tailored to the specific needs of these technical experts. A broad range of topics was covered, including plain language drafting, regulatory drafting, drafting agricultural legislation, drafting election laws, legislative policy development, agency rulemaking under the administrative procedure act, governmental accountability mechanisms, drafting environmental laws, and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms.
This training reflects a major objective of the project to assist the Ethiopian government draft sound laws that reflect international best practices, human rights principles, and the reform demands of the people. To date, our project has assisted the various ministries to draft a host of laws that guarantee human rights, freedom of the press, and freedom of association – especially for the once fettered civil society organizations. New banking and insurance laws have also been passed moving Ethiopia closer to a well-regulated market-based economy that supports broad-based economic growth.