A/HRC/4/9/Add.3 page 18 60. The Criminal Code of Ethiopia (Proclamation No. 414/2004) establishes equality before the law under article 4, noting that: “Criminal law applies to all alike without discrimination as regards persons, social conditions, race, nation, nationality, social origin, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, property, birth or other status.” 61. The consultations she undertook led the independent expert to believe that discrimination is a serious problem within wider Ethiopian society. Discrimination along ethnic lines may have been further exacerbated under the ethnically-based federal system, which has created a new awareness of ethnic identity and increasingly politicized ethnicity. Ethnically-based federalism has also created new contexts, arenas and dimensions of racism and discrimination, as ethnic groups and ethnically-based regions have been forced to cope with new dynamics of minority/majority relations at the regional and even local administrative levels. A university student in Addis Ababa said: “The problem is that we are dividing more than ever before rather than uniting as Ethiopians. We are working against ourselves.” 62. The causes and dynamics of discrimination are complex in Ethiopia. Historical factors and unequal power relations between different groups have further complicated the picture of discrimination. Ethnicity has emerged as the most salient aspect of individual and group identification. By allocating territories to the political control of particular ethnic groups, many people observed to the independent expert that ethnic divisions have become more deeply entrenched and discrimination has manifested itself amongst previously harmonious communities, as particular groups have emerged as numerically or politically dominant within new regional administrations. 63. Numerous consultations established that certain ethnic groups are more commonly subjected to discrimination and exclusion, both on the interpersonal and institutional levels, based on skin colour and other physical features. Reportedly, derogatory terms such as “slave”, are commonly used in reference to certain ethnic groups, alluding to their historic dominance by other groups, and patterns of exploitation during the slave trade. Such overt discrimination may be the case, even in regions where those targeted for abuse are numerically in the majority and have the constitutional right to political power in regional government, such as is the case in Gambella. 64. Anti-discrimination provisions in specific laws relating, for example, to labour and the family are considered to be poorly implemented and not enforced nationally. In theory, international human rights instruments can be invoked directly before national courts, however they have not been published in the official Gazette, leaving lawyers and judges with the impression that they have no independent judicial force. Ethiopia currently lacks separate, comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation, which would greatly assist in elaborating upon standards and their application, requirements for compliance, and penalties for violation. 65. The Constitution guarantees the right to equality in employment (art. 35, para. 8). Equally the Labour Proclamation (No. 377/2003) which revised the Labour Law in 2004, in article 14, paragraph 1 (f) makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate on the basis of nationality, sex, religion, political outlook “or any other conditions”. Civil service employment