This material was initially prepared in 2010 as part of a background document for the development of a national human rights report for Ethiopia. Its publication here is intended to serve as an input for individuals and groups interested in preparing a human rights monitoring report as well as informing discussion on the assessment of existing or future human rights monitoring reports. God willing, I hope to follow it up with a brief assessment on the implementation of access to justice in Ethiopia as per this framework.

Introduction

The conceptual and methodological framework for human rights monitoring should be informed by:

– best experience among international, regional and national human rights organizations with particular attention to treaty monitoring bodies, and National Human Rights Institutions;

– the international and regional human rights normative framework;

The development of this concept paper/article has been informed by a facebook posting on the meaning of access to justice in the Ethiopian context. In commenting on that post, I have mentioned the various meanings that can be attributed to ‘access to justice’. Here is what I meant. Access to justice could be understood in various ways among which the three major conceptions are: as a right recognized under the international human rights framework, as an approach to public sector institutional reform, and a comprehensive rights-based development framework.

2 Access to Justice as a Right

Access to justice and fair trial are rights recognized under the major international and regional human rights instruments including: the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC). The core instruments on the issue, the UDHR and the ICCPR, state that everyone is equal before the law and has the right to effective remedy against violations of fundamental rights. Thus, access to justice is a fundamental right that generally guarantees every person access to an independent and impartial process and the opportunity to receive a fair and just trial when that individual’s liberty or property is at stake. However, access to justice does not always involve judicial recourse but the availability of accessible, affordable, timely and effective means of redress or remedies.

3 Access to Justice Approach

The ‘access-to-justice approach’ has brought important implications on the conceptual understanding of access to justice. The approach has a broader scope covering “the full panoply of institutions and devices, personnel and procedures, used to process, and even prevent, disputes in modern societies” rather than the focus on access to legal institutions and their services. In the access to justice approach, access to legal services has become part of wider strategies aimed at legal and institutional reform, and achieving equal and equally effective access to law.

Beginning in the early 1990s, Africa in general and the Greater Horn in particular, have been experiencing a major ground swell of social, economic, cultural and political changes. While the movement towards fundamental political change is remarkable, there are certain formidable challenges that will make the transition to a stable, democratic and pluralist system of governance very difficult. The cultural, historical, political and socioeconomic conditions of this troubled region are not simply too conducive to the emergence of strong democratic polity. This is indeed the context within which the legal empowerment of the poor has to be recognized. It is difficult to anticipate and legal protection of rights when from Darfur to Northern Uganda, from the Red Sea to the banks of the Zaire; genocidal marauders go left unchecked by the international community.

An array of declarations, communiqués and action programmers’, notwithstanding, the human development crisis and progress towards pluralism and the rule of law continues unabated. Massive militarization and persistent armed conflicts, economic crisis manifested by absolute poverty and a vicious socio-political environment, has rendered societies and polities one of the tragic scenes of present day human crisis, rendering whole populations chronically dependent on international food aid charity.

The High Level Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor (HLCLEP) has been set-up as yet another attempt in the evolution of centers of excellence that seek to augur on new policy and strategic trajectories to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in a more radical way. Its core mission to “secure, enforceable property and labour rights, within an enabling environment that expands legal business opportunity and access to justice” is yet a novel attempt at bringing in marked changes in the fulfillment of sustainable livelihoods: a set of normative goals and an integrative concept which aims simultaneously to maintain or enhance resource productivity, secure their ownership of and access to assets, resources and income earning activities, and ensure adequate stocks and flows of goods and services. 

Download the concept Note here for further reading.

የኢትዮጵያ የህግ ስርዓት በተለያዩ የመንግስት የአስተዳደር ስርዓት ውስጥ በልዩ ልዩ ጉዳዮች ላይ ልዩነቶች ሲታዩበት የነበረ ቢሆንም አደረጃጀቱም የዚያኑ ያክል ተለዋዋጭነት የነበረው መሆኑ ግልፅ ነው፡፡ በተለይም ከያዝነው ርዕስ ጋር በተያያዘ የፍርድ ቤቶች አደረጃጀትና በጉዳዮች ላይ የመጨረሻ ውሰኔ የመስጠት ሂደት በተለያዩ ስርዓቶች የተለያየ ሂደት ሲኖረው ተስተውሏል፡፡ ከ1980ዎቹ አጋማሽ በፊት የነበሩት ስርዓቶች የአህዳዊ ስርዓትን የሚከተሉ ከመሆናቸው አንፃር የፍርድ ቤቶች አደረጃጀት በዚሁ አይነት አተያይ የተቀረፀ ነበር፡፡

በዘውዳዊው ስርዓት የነበረውን የፍርድ ቤቶች አደረጃጀት ስናይ በተሻሻለው ህገ መንግስት አዋጅ ቁጥር 149/1948 ምዕራፍ  6 ስለ ዳኝነት በሚዘረዝረው ስር  አንቀፅ 108 እና አንቀፅ 109 ስር የዳኝነት ስልጣን በህግ ለተቋቋሙ ፍርድ ቤቶች የተሰጠ እንደሆነ እና የጠቅላይ የንጉሰ ነገስት ፍርድ ቤትና እንዲሁም በህግ እንደሚወሰን ወይም እንደሚፈቀደው ሌሎች ፍርድ ቤት እንደሚኖሩ ይደነግጋል፡፡ ከዚህ ድንጋጌ አንፃር በሐገሪቱ አንድ ማዕከላዊ ጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት እንደሚኖርና ይህም በሐገሪቱ ለሚነሱ ጉዳዮች የመጨረሻ ውሳኔ እንደሚሰጥ እንዲሁም በ1966 ዓ.ም የተዘጋጀው የኢትዮጵያ ህገ መንግስት ረቂቅ አንቀፅ 120 መሰረት ጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት የሐገሪቷ የመጨረሻ ፍርድ ቤት እንደሆነና ይህም ህገ መንግስትን ጭምር የመተርጎም ስልጣን እንዳለው ይደነግጋል፡፡ ከዚህም በተጨማሪ የይግባኝ ፍርድ ቤቶችና የመጀመሪያ ደረጃ ፍርድ ቤቶች እንደሚኖሩ አስቀምፀጧል፡፡

በሌላ በኩል የኢትዬጵያ ጊዜያዊ ወታደራዊ መንግስትን ለማቋቋም በወጣው አዋጅ ቁጥር 1/1967 ምዕራፍ 14 አንቀፅ 102 (1፣2) በህዝባዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊኩ የበላይ የዳኝነት አካል ጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት እንደሆነና ይህም በሐገሪቱ ፍርድ ቤቶች ሁሉ የሚከናወኑ የዳኝነት ተግባሮች የመቆጣጠር ስልጣን ያለው መሆኑን ያስቀምጣል፡፡

ከእነዚህ  የሁለት ህገ መንግስት ድጋጌዎችና ጊዜያዊ ወታደራዊ መንግስትን ለማቋቋም ከወጣው አዋጅ ለመረዳት እንደሚቻለው በአህዳዊ ስርዓት ውስጥ አንድ የጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት እንደሚኖር እና ፍርድ ቤቱም የመጨረሻ ውሳኔ እንደሚሰጥ ያስረዳናል፡፡

Housing forms an indispensable part of ensuring human dignity since it is essential for health, privacy and personal space, security and protection from inclement weather, and social space.  In this context, “adequate housing” en­compasses more than just the four walls of a room and a roof over one’s head.  However, population growth, migration to urban areas, conflicting needs for existing land, and insufficient financial and natural resources have resulted in widespread homelessness and habitation in inadequate housing. In every country children, men and women sleep on sidewalks, under bridges, in cars, subway stations, and public parks, live in ghettos and slums, or "squat" in buildings other people have abandoned. The United Nations estimates that there are over 100 million homeless people and over 1 billion people worldwide inadequately housed.

In Ethiopia, these problems are felt broadly and in depth throughout urban centers across the country due to various reasons. One major cause is the irregular pattern of urban growth leading to the emergence of slums’ and homelessness. This is especially true for the situation in Addis Ababa where housing is a serious problem in terms of availability and quality. According to one study,

-        75% of the total population of the city is living in overcrowded houses or dilapidated structures, under unhygienic conditions, lacking basic urban services like safe drinking water and sewage, and in sprawling informal settlements with growing number of shacks.

-        85% of the housing structures in Addis Ababa are dilapidated and would have to be demolished or rehabilitated in a costly manner. They are in their major without the minimum basic infrastructure such as flushing toilets and connection to the sewer system.

-        An estimated 80% of the 150,000 kebele houses have serious problems of maintenance and are in a very bad shape. Up to 50% of the population is without fixed employment.

This post, which was originally part three of a larger report, seeks to assess the national response to child labour in Ethiopia in light of the international standards identified in the previous part of the report. The assessment principally focuses on the ratification of international instruments relevant to child labour and harmonization of legislation with their stipulations. Since Ethiopia does not yet have a comprehensive policy on child labour, the assessment does not directly cover issues that have to be addressed though the policy framework.

1.    Ratification of International Instruments

Ethiopia is a signatory to the UDHR and has ratified the major international human rights instruments including the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) as well as the ACHR and the ACRWC. The ILO Convention Minimum Age Convention 138 (1973) and ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour 182 (1999) have also been ratified.

Table 1: Status of Ratification of Major Child Labor Instruments