The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) convened a consultative forum focusing on best practices and gaps in media regulatory systems regarding the protection of women’s and children’s rights on February 20, 2026, in Addis Ababa. The forum aimed to enhance stakeholders’ awareness on the subject.
The consultation brought together representatives from the House of Peoples’ Representatives’ Standing Committee on Democracy Affairs, the Ethiopian Media Authority, the Ethiopian Media Council, broadcast media houses, the Children’s Parliament and relevant civil society organizations.
The forum featured a detailed presentation on the nature of media regulation, examining media regulatory and content systems through the lens of women’s and children’s rights protection, and highlighting both encouraging developments and areas requiring improvement.
The discussion points identified critical gaps, including the failure of media policies and laws to sufficiently address the rights of women and children, the lack of adequate and consistent capacity-building training, and the inadequacy of evaluation and monitoring activities by bodies mandated to oversee broadcast service providers. It was also noted that, with the exception of a single media institution, most lack a gender policy as of the time of the discussion. Furthermore, the forum highlighted persistent challenges in prioritizing and allocating sufficient airtime for women’s and children’s issues, the prevalence of gender-based violence against female journalists, and the fact that children’s content fails to ensure the best interests, dignity, meaningful participation and consent of children.
Participants emphasized that regulatory bodies must conduct regular and systematic monitoring to ensure media compliance with the rights of women and children. They recommended the formulation and implementation of standalone institutional gender policies and increasing the representation and participation of women in media leadership, professional roles, and editorial teams. Furthermore, participants noted the need for collaborative awareness-raising initiatives, the establishment of reporting mechanisms for gender-based violence, and the promotion of inclusive and child-sensitive media coverage.
Honorable Abune Alem, representing the Democracy Affairs Standing Committee of the House of Peoples’ Representatives, emphasized the need for collaboration among media outlets to conduct a thorough study and submit findings to the concerned bodies to resolve legal and implementation gaps. She further noted that the Standing Committee has gained valuable input from the consultative forum for future initiatives. To ensure the implementation of agreed-upon points, she affirmed that the Committee will conduct the necessary oversight and follow-up, urging all stakeholders to fulfill their respective responsibilities.
EHRC Women’s and Children’s Rights director Selamawit Girmay called upon media houses, regulatory bodies, and relevant governmental and non-governmental organizations to address the legal and implementation gaps identified during the discussion and stakeholders to fulfill their respective mandates and work in coordination. Furthermore, she reaffirmed EHRC’s commitment to discharge its responsibilities by strengthening ongoing monitoring and consultative efforts.