A free market economic system has been taken as a paradigm exposition for organizing and streamlining the relationship between state, private property owners and the community. Taking markets as a panacea to some of the gigantic problems that have bound the communities, such as production and distribution problems of goods and services to the community and consumers, the system got its apogee and acclamation after World War II. Before that, the theoretical base related with free market economic system was laid, in 18th century America.

It is generally agreed amongst the international community, at least in principle, that liberalization of trade and allowing the free movement of goods, services and people, among countries that share common geographic boundaries and states situated at different poles of the earth, is a must.

“The great American word is freedom, and in particular freedom of thought, speech and assembly.” Robert M. Hutchins

All freedoms are a single freedom- one and indivisible, although people consider one freedom as more important than the others. The above quote from Robert Hutchins is the sole spirit of the First Amendment to the American constitution. This First Amendment lumps together the freedom of religion, of speech and the press, of assembly, and of petition.

Ethiopia, embracing Federal system of governmental structure to create a country of equal Nations, Nationalities and peoples and to put an end to authoritarian rule by democratizing the Ethiopian state and society as a whole, this being a precondition for durable peace and development. The constitution of Ethiopia explicitly acknowledges that the federal government and the states shall have the three governmental organ of legislative, executive and judiciary (Article 50(2)).

Human rights are to be respected and protected by States through all appropriate measures, so goes the rhetoric.  States must also make solutions available at the domestic level to any citizen who claims his/her rights were violated. Individual victims of human rights violations also have the right to seek justice from regional or international institutions. In some countries, such violations are committed so grossly & systematically that the normal procedures through domestic justice appear insufficient to address them.

Abreha Z. Mesele has written (ICC and African Union: Selective Justice?) an informative piece on the recently inflamed ICC-African Union altercation, or rather African Union’s ringing condemnations of the practice of ICC, calling it big powers instrument of ‘pummelling the weak ones’.  In this piece I would like to offer some of my views on the issue by responding to Abreha’s paper. Abreha has accomplished laying out the essential introductory ground-work, so I will refrain from any redundancy and delve straight into discussing the issues that I think are overlooked or misrepresented in the general discussion on the topic and in Abreha’s piece specifically.

The best interest principle is one of the umbrella principles embodied under the CRC which assures the overall development of children to their fullest potential in order to maximize their capacity and become adulthood. Though this principle is a paramount important for the rights of the child, its vagueness impeded its implementation stage due to different wavering concept it has. And the principle of the best interests of the child has been the subject of extensive consideration in academic, operational and other circles.

The issue of trafficking in persons from and within Ethiopia has become a critical issue of concern for the country. The level of concern is clearly reflected in the increased media coverage of the situation of victims of trafficking as well as the measures taken by the government to address the problem through legislative, policy and programmatic mechanisms. While the current attention to the issue is to be commended, there also appears to be some level of confusion as to what trafficking in persons is. The current brief article is an attempt to help clarify the problem.

Before I embarked upon the merit of the issue, some preliminary issues should be discussed to see whether the International Criminal Court (hereinafter called ICC) is targeting Africans. To arrive at a fair and balanced conclusion, there is a need to discuss how the ICC exercises jurisdiction over the most heinous crimes by taking the ICC Statute (Rome Statute). Here, membership, complementarity, referral, and treaty obligations should first be addressed to ascertain the claim that the ICC is selective and targeting Africans. Most, if not all, cases filed in the ICC in the year 2008 were cases from African soil; the issues, whether it was deliberate and targetfull, is going to be determined case by case and issue by issue bases later on.

የሰው ልጅ ሐሳቡን ለሌላው መግለጽ መጀመሩ ሰዎች የጋራ ባሕርያትን ይዘው ወደ አዲስ ስልጣኔ፤ ወደ አዲስ ሕይወት እንዲወጣ አድርጎታል፡፡ ነገር ግን የዚህ ትስስር ድንበር የለሽ መሆን ጉዳት አለው በማለት፤ በተለያዩ ወቅቶች በተለያዩ ምክንያቶች መረጃን የመለዋወጡ ሂደት ገደብ እንዲኖረው ይደረጋል፡፡ ገደብ እንዲደረግ የሚያስገድዱት ዋነኛ ምክንያቶች ሦስቱን ዋነኛ ተቋማት መጠበቅ በሚል ሐሳብ ስር ይጠቃለል፡፡ እነዚህም ተቋማት ቤተሰብ፣ ቤተ እምነት እና ቤተ መንግሥት ናቸው፡፡ ቤተሰብን መጠበቅ ስንል ቤተሰብ የኅብረተሰብ መሠረት በመሆኑ ቤተሰብን እና ስርዓቱን የሚጎዱ ነገሮች (Obscene) በአደባባይ እንዳይኖሩ ማድረግ ማለታችን ነው፡፡ ቤተ እምነትን የሚያጎድፉ ነገሮችም (Blasphemous) እንዲሁ:: እንዲሁም በሦስተኝነት በሕግ የተዘረጋውን ስርዓት ለመጠበቅ ሲባል ሲሆን  ይሄም የግደባ ሂደት ሳንሱር (Censorship) ይባላል፡፡