Ethiopia

Information uploaded as at July 2026

AT A GLANCE

AI use in Ethiopia's criminal justice system is emerging and driven largely by the Digital Ethiopia 2030 strategy and the Ethiopian AIInstitute. Law enforcement and courts lead deployment —including a new Smart Police Station System with AI-driven kiosks and the Federal Supreme Court's Smart Court System, which supports voice-to-text transcription, virtual hearings, and a chatbot across 24 federal branches. Prosecutors have no reported AI use, though an integrated criminal intelligence system is reportedly under development with the Ministry of Justice. Defence lawyers and citizens increasingly rely on a growing private-sector market of AI legal research and navigation tools (e.g. Chllot, Behigamlak, HegAwaqi). Training remains non-mandatory, though the National AI Policy flags capacity-building as a priority.

There is no dedicated framework governing AI in criminal proceedings in Ethiopia; regulation is currently policy-level via the 2024 National AI Policy —which designates the Ethiopian AI Institute as coordinating body and envisages sector-specific follow-up instruments— supplemented by binding legislation on data protection (Personal Data Protection Proclamation 2024), cybercrime and electronic evidence (Computer Crime Proclamation 2016), and electronic transactions (Electronic Transactions Proclamation 2020). No AI-specific guidelines exist for judges, prosecutors, or lawyers, and constitutional fair trial and privacy protections remain the primary safeguards against opaque or unchallengeable AI tools.

USE

As at July 2026, AI adoption in Ethiopia’s criminal justice system is emerging, driven largely by the Digital Ethiopia 2030 strategy and the Ethiopian AI Institute. Deployment is most advanced in law enforcement and courts, alongside a growing private-sector market offering AI legal research tools for lawyers and citizens.

Law enforcement

Operational support

In February 2026, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister launched Ethiopia’s first-ever unmanned Smart Police Station System, described as a technology-driven service enabling the public to access police services more quickly via digital platforms and intended to strengthen crime prevention and operational efficiency under the Digital Ethiopia 2030 reforms. The Smart Police Station System will allow citizens to report crimes, submit documents, pay fines, and access routine services around the clock, with remote audio-video support from officers working at a central station. While the initial launch reporting did not specify AI functionality, subsequent public reporting in March 2026 described the system as including AI-driven self-service kiosks.

Prosecutors

As at July 2026, there are no reported cases of prosecutors in Ethiopia using AI.

Courts

AI use by courts in Ethiopia is cautious but gradually developing, and is viewed against a background of broader digitisation efforts undertaken by the Federal Supreme Court. For example, said Court maintains a Digital Law Library and publishes cassation decision series volumes online, supporting legal research and consistency in interpretation. The Library does not, as at July 2026, involve AI.

Case management

The Smart Court System was deployed by the Federal Supreme Court in cooperation with the Ethiopian AI Institute in January 2024. Built on the federal electronic filing and litigation system, it supports automatic voice-to-text transcription during hearings, helping to create accurate records of proceedings, and also enables virtual hearings. The system also includes a smart chatbot and digital information desk, designed to answer users’ questions about court services, track cases, check court appointments, and submit complaints. By the end of 2025, the system covered 24 federal branches, with plans for regional expansion. The Ethiopian government’s Digital Ethiopia 2030 Strategy explicitly calls for scaling the AI-powered Smart Court System and for using AI in legal research, translation, and transcription within judicial workflows.

There are also local examples of AI initiatives for case management. For instance, the Afaan Oromo court transcription system is a collaborative initiative announced in 2024 between the Ethiopian AI System and the Supreme Court of Oromia, aimed at improving judicial efficiency and accessibility in Ethiopia’s Oromia region.

Defence

As at July 2026, there are no reports of a specialised AI-powered tool provided by public authorities or lawyer associations to Ethiopian defence lawyers. There is, however, a small but growing private legal AI market developing in the country, aimed at helping lawyers to provide efficient legal research.

Legal research, analysis and drafting support

Chllot describes itself as the first AI-powered platform for Ethiopian law, and offers an AI-based search—through a natural large language chatbot—across legislation and caselaw.

HegAwaqi, discussed below, was also developed to assist lawyers in navigating Ethiopian law.

Victims

Under Ethiopia’s Criminal Procedure Code 1961, victims do not generally have independent legal standing as parties to criminal proceedings. Criminal prosecutions are ordinarily conducted by the public prosecutor on behalf of the State, although victims may pursue civil compensation, including through civil claims associated with criminal proceedings where permitted by law.

Notwithstanding this procedural framework, as at July 2026 there is a growing expansion of AI tools in Ethiopia designed to assist victims and citizens in reporting crimes, filing claims and navigating Ethiopian law.

Administrative support

The EFP App is the Ethiopian Federal Police’s citizen engagement and crime reporting mobile application. Launched in May 2024 and jointly developed by the Ethiopian Federal Police and the Ethiopian AI Institute, the app’s main feature is enabling citizens to report crimes easily. It also allows users to upload photos, videos, and documents, share location data, request assistance, and track the status of their reports. As at July 2026, the EFP App is operating in Addis Ababa.

Behigamlak, discussed below, includes AI features for document generation and case management, enabling users to track cases and deadlines, and organise legal documents.

Legal research, analysis and drafting support

In addition to offering a legal research chatbot, Chllot, described above, helps users connect with the right lawyer through a lawyer directory, and provides a library of lawyer-written blogs and winning court cases.

Behigamlak is an AI-powered platform offering a natural language chatbot that works in both Amharic and English languages, designed to answer general questions about Ethiopian law. It also includes a built-in lawyer directory, allowing citizens to identify and contact verified lawyers specialised in a particular area of law.

HegAwaqi is an AI-powered legal assistant developed to support citizens and victims in navigating Ethiopian law. It operates in English and Amharic, and its primary goal is to deliver instant answers to legal questions across areas such as civil, criminal, family, and commercial law, by using AI and machine learning techniques to process user queries in natural language, and generate relevant, structured responses based on legal information.

TRAINING

As at July 2026, there is no mandatory or systemic AI-specific training, workshops, or curriculum delivered in Ethiopia for judges, prosecutors, practising lawyers, or law-enforcement officers. However, the National AI Policy, discussed below, expressly identifies an awareness gap and sets out the direction for capacity building, including objectives around providing citizens with AI understanding and broader implementation measures.

REGULATION

As at July 2026, Ethiopia’s regulatory landscape is characterised by: (i) a policy-level national AI framework approved by the Council of Ministers; and (ii) binding statutes that govern personal-data processing, cybercrime investigations and electronic evidence, and the legal status of electronic communications and signatures.

AI regulations

National AI Policy, 2024

On 27 June 2024, the Council of Ministers approved Ethiopia’s first National AI Policy, to take effect immediately. The policy document sets out a vision of Ethiopia becoming an African centre of AI development excellence by 2035 and articulates principles including inclusiveness and implementation consistent with the Constitution and other laws.

The Policy positions the Ethiopian AI Institute as the national coordinating body responsible for implementation, standards development, capacity building and coordination. The Ministry of Innovation and Technology provides policy oversight and cross-ministerial coordination. The Policy also prescribes inter-agency coordination mechanisms, a national AI steering committee, and regional/state engagement to ensure subnational buy-in.

The Policy concentrates activity across multiple areas, and foresees regulatory follow-up instruments in sectors requiring stricter controls:

Guidelines for practitioners

As at July 2026, there are no publicly available guidelines that specifically instruct prosecutors, judges, or lawyers on the use of AI tools or on handling AI outputs as evidence.

Criminal procedure rules

Computer Crime Proclamation 958/2016, 2016

The Proclamation provides that electronic records seized in accordance with its procedures may be produced as evidence and ‘shall be admissible’, and it addresses admissibility of digital/electronic evidence produced under the Proclamation or obtained by appropriate foreign law enforcement bodies consistently with Ethiopian law (in relation to computer crimes). It also places an authentication burden and introduces concepts of original electronic documents.

Data protection legislation

Personal Data Protection Proclamation No. 1321/2024, 2024

Ethiopia’s Personal Data Protection Proclamation 2024 establishes significant safeguards for data privacy and security flowing from the right to privacy. The law delineates the rights of data subjects, imposes obligations on data processors and controllers, and sets requirements for the protection of these rights during cross-border data transfers. Key features relevant to the use of AI in criminal justice include:

• A supervisory and governance structure: the Proclamation defines ‘Ministry/Minister’ as the Ministry/Minister of Innovation and Technology and defines the ‘Authority’ as the Ethiopian Communications Authority.
• Data sovereignty/localisation: controllers/processors must store personal data collected/obtained locally on servers or data centres located in Ethiopia, with additional constraints for ‘critical personal data’ categories and prior approval for cross-border transfer of sensitive personal data.
• Automated decision-making guardrails: data subjects have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) producing legal or similarly significant effects, and to obtain human intervention (among other related rights). This provision is directly relevant to any prospective use of algorithmic risk scoring in bail, sentencing, prioritisation of investigations, or other determinations affecting liberty and legal status.
• Breach notification: controllers must notify the Authority of personal data breaches within 72 hours of becoming aware, and must communicate breaches to data subjects within 72 hours (subject to exceptions such as effective encryption).

Cybersecurity laws

Computer Crime Proclamation No. 958/2016, 2016

The Computer Crime Proclamation 2016 established a framework criminalising unauthorised access, illegal interception, data interference, computer-related fraud and forgery, and offences against critical infrastructure. Article 2 defines interception as ‘the real-time surveillance, recording, listening, acquisition, viewing, controlling or any other similar act of data processing service or computer data’, punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of Birr 10,000-50,000 for the base offence. For critical infrastructure matters, the Attorney General may authorise warrantless interception in urgent cases where an attack is believed imminent, with courts required to rule on related orders within 48 hours. Service providers must retain traffic data for at least one year and cooperate with lawful interception requests. The Proclamation also establishes a National Executing Task Force, comprising representatives of the Federal Attorney General, the Federal Police, and the Information Network Security Agency (INSA), to coordinate the implementation and enforcement of the Proclamation.

Electronic Transactions Proclamation No. 1205/2020 (2020)

Ethiopia’s Electronic Transactions Proclamation 2020 makes electronic messages admissible as evidence and sets criteria for assessing their evidential weight and retention, alongside standards for electronic signatures and when an electronic copy will be treated as equivalent to an ‘original’. However, the Proclamation expressly excludes certain judicial acts from its scope—including court procedures, judicial summonses, search orders, arrest orders, and judicial decrees—where other laws require these to be in writing or signed. This suggests that further sector-specific legislation may be needed before core judicial acts can be fully digitised.

Human rights

Ethiopia’s Constitution protects several rights relevant to the use of AI and other algorithmic tools in criminal proceedings. Article 25 guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the law without discrimination. Article 26 protects privacy, including the privacy of personal communications made by post, telephone, telecommunications and electronic devices. Article 20 sets out the principal procedural guarantees afforded to accused persons, including the right to a public trial within a reasonable time, the right to be informed of the charge, the presumption of innocence, full access to evidence presented against them, and the right to examine prosecution witnesses and adduce evidence in their defence. In addition, Article 13(2) requires the constitutional provisions concerning fundamental rights and freedoms to be interpreted consistently with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (‘ICCPR’) and other international instruments adopted by Ethiopia. These provisions constitute the primary constitutional constraints on the use of opaque, discriminatory or unchallengeable algorithmic tools in criminal proceedings.

Relevant protections are also contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In particular, Article 14 guarantees equality before courts and tribunals and the right to a fair and public hearing, together with minimum guarantees in criminal proceedings, including access to the case against the accused and the ability to examine witnesses and present a defence. Article 17 protects individuals against arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence. Articles 2 and 26 prohibit discrimination and guarantee equal protection of the law. These provisions are particularly relevant where an AI system affects investigative decisions, access to evidence, risk assessments, or judicial outcomes.

Where children are involved, the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides additional safeguards. Article 2 prohibits discrimination; Article 3 requires the best interests of the child to be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children, including those undertaken by courts and administrative authorities; Article 12 guarantees children capable of forming their own views the right to be heard in judicial and administrative proceedings affecting them; and Article 16 protects children against arbitrary or unlawful interference with their privacy and correspondence. Article 40 also establishes specific guarantees for children alleged or accused of infringing criminal law, including treatment consistent with their dignity, the presumption of innocence, prompt information about the charges, legal or other appropriate assistance, and the right to examine witnesses and present a defence. These protections are relevant to any AI-enabled system used in juvenile justice, victim support, policing or court administration.

Outlook

Digital transformation in the justice sector is politically prioritised within the Digital Ethiopia 2030 strategy, and public statements foresee expansion of smart-court features beyond federal branches to regional courts. If this expansion proceeds, Ethiopia is likely to face a need for: (i) judicial practice directions on digital and AI-assisted records (transcription, summarisation), (ii) stronger disclosure protocols for AI-enabled tools used by police and courts, and (iii) operational guidance aligning Smart Court/Smart Police deployments with personal data protections and automated decision restrictions.

CASES

As at July 2026, there are no publicly reported cases involving the use of AI in Ethiopian criminal proceedings.