November 12, 2021

Misleading: The current resident's ID card does not indicate ethnic origin

HAQCHECK

Addis Ababa city administration introduced a new kind of identity card in Oct 2018.

Avatar: Rehobot Ayalew
By Rehobot Ayalew

Rehobot is a lead fact-checker at HaqCheck. She is a trainer and a professional who works in fact-checking and media literacy.

Misleading: The current resident's ID card does not indicate ethnic origin

An article by Reuters, titled, “Ethiopia rounds up high-profile Tigrayans, U.N. staff” was published on Nov 10, 2021. 

In the third paragraph, describing the state of Emergency in Ethiopia, the article reads a phrase,“...requires citizens to carry ID cards that can indicate ethnic origin.” 

However, HaqCheck looked into the claim and rated it as MISLEADING.

After over a year since the conflict in the northern part of the country broke out, the Ethiopian government declared a state of emergency (SoE) which will be valid for a six months period throughout the country. The SoE is declared as the war is intensifying and spreading to neighboring Afar and Amhara regions. As stated in the obligation and prohibited actions of the SoE “Moving around cities without holding an identity card, driving license, employee identity card, passport, or any other similar identity card is prohibited…”

However,  Residents' ID cards issued and used currently do not indicate either the ethnic origin or birthplace of a person, as asserted by  Reuters' report.

Addis Ababa city administration introduced a new kind of identity card in Oct 2018. The new identity card only incorporates information of ID number, Full name, Date of birth, Blood type, Date of Issue & Expiry date of the ID, Resident Address, Phone number, House number, Emergency contact name, and phone number. Other information like Ethnic origin, Place of birth, Mother’s name and Occupation are only filled out in the ID issuance registration form and are secured in a barcode. 

Due to the above reasons, HaqCheck rated the article as MISLEADING.