In 2026, Ethiopia continues to face multiple, compounding crises of armed violence, localized insecurity, and the increasing impacts of climate variability and environmental shocks, as well as localized pressures on land, resources, and governance structures. Over the past year, armed violence and insecurity have persisted in Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella, Oromia, and the contested areas, with continued implications for civilian protection and population movement. In Tigray, postconflict recovery remains incomplete, characterized by ongoing protection needs and service gaps, coupled with renewed threats of hostilities. In Afar, Somali and Southern Ethiopia, climate shocks include recurrent droughts, flooding, landslides, and disease outbreaks. Crossborder dynamics, including instability in neighbouring Sudan and South Sudan and continued insecurity in Somalia, further shape Ethiopia’s protection environment, with implications for border areas.
Ethiopia remains a highly displacement-affected context and continues to host internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees across the different regions. In many areas, displacement has become protracted and cyclical, as communities face multiple waves of shocks with limited access to basic services or prospects for solutions. The loss of traditional coping mechanisms, combined with strained host community resources, has increased reliance on negative survival strategies and deepened existing vulnerabilities. Increasing fuel shortages, liquidity constraints, and inflation are also emerging as significant drivers of protection risks, affecting civilian access to essential services, livelihoods, and humanitarian assistance. Humanitarian access has also been constrained by insecurity, damaged infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising operational costs.
While each region of Ethiopia faces unique political, environmental, and social dynamics, the convergence of conflict and climate shocks create an increasingly fragile protection environment. In 2026, ongoing and significant funding shortfalls have and still severely impact protection programming, undermining the scale, continuity, and reach of principled life-saving services. At the same time, government institutions, community structures and existing protection mechanisms continue to provide important foundations for prevention, response and recovery. The analysis therefore considers both gaps in protection coverage and opportunities to strengthen existing national and local capacities through complementary government and humanitarian action.
Against this backdrop, the Protection Cluster has identified priority protection risks that require urgent attention:
1. Gender-based Violence, including Child, Early or Forced Marriage
2. Trafficking in Persons and Forced Family Separation
3. Restrictions to Freedom of Movement and Humanitarian Access
4. Attacks on Civilians & Civilian Objects, including Presence of Mines and Explosive Remnants of War
5. Impediments or Restrictions to Access to Legal Identity, Remedies and Justice
Psychological and emotional abuse, including inflicted distress, remains a cross-cutting concern across all risk areas, reflecting the sustained psychosocial impact of violence, displacement, and protracted insecurity.