National

Under the Criminal Code of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Proclamation No. 414/2004 consensual sex between same-sex couples is unlawful [R1.1].

Article 629.- Homosexual and other Indecent Acts

"Whoever performs with another person of the same sex a homosexual act, or any other indecent act, is punishable with simple imprisonment.

Article 630.- General Aggravation to the Crime

(1) The punishment shall be simple imprisonment for not less than one year, or, in grave cases, rigorous imprisonment not exceeding ten years, where the criminal:
a) takes unfair advantage of the material or mental distress of another or of the authority he exercises over another by virtue of his position, office or capacity as guardian, tutor, protector, teacher, master or employer, or by virtue of any other like relationship, to cause such other person to perform or to submit to such an act; or
b) makes a profession of such activities within the meaning of the law (Art. 92).

(2) The punishment shall be rigorous imprisonment from three years to fifteen years, where:
a) the criminal uses violence, intimidation or coercion, trickery or fraud, or takes unfair advantage of the victim's inability to offer resistance or to defend himself or of his feeblemindedness or unconsciousness; or
b) the criminal subjects his victim to acts of cruelty or sadism, or transmits to him a venereal disease with which he knows himself to be infected; or
c) the victim is driven to suicide by distress, shame or despair."