The Rastafari community has been residing in Ethiopia mainly in Shashemene, for over 80 years. It was in recognition of the substantial financial and Spiritual contributions of Black People of the world which was channeled through the Ethiopian World Federation Inc. during the Italian invasion, that His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie 1 of Ethiopia and the Imperial Government granted Five Gashas of land for all those who were willing to come and settle.

With brotherly love, in 2017 the Federal Democratic Republic Government of Ethiopia, granted us a Foreign National of Ethiopian Origin ID, within Proclamation No: 270/2002 and Directive No: 21/2009. Now a number of these rights have been removed.
The following violations have occurred:
1. Passports have been confiscated by the Immigration Office.
2. The exemptions afforded to our community have now been rescinded by the Immigration Office.
3. The Ethiopian Government has started a national I.D system. within this new system. Anyone in the country without the new national I.D cannot access their bank accounts. it will affect our housing, education, work and all areas of life. We cannot obtain this new national I.D card without having the Foreign National of Ethiopian Origin I.D which is not fully available from the Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Office the way it used to be. We are now been penalized and charged backdated payments of 2,000 USD and 30 USD per day.
4. Lists of the names of our community members residing in Ethiopia for over 10 years were submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who sent the lists to the Immigration Office. The Immigration Office has misplaced some lists and have also removed 26 names from a list without consulting our community.
5. Verbal and physical abuse has been experienced by members of our community from the Immigration staff.