CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2010
| Author | Moges Tayechalem Girma |
|---|---|
| Title | LEGAL RESPONSE TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN ETHIOPIA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS |
| Summary | Domestic violence threatens the lives and livelihood of the majority of Ethiopian women. This work presents the legal response to domestic violence in Ethiopia in a comparative analysis with South Africa. For this reason, Legal documents at the international, regional and domestic level and practical situations are studied. The study employs review of literatures, legal documents and interviews with some stakeholders. The study found out that the state legal intervention on domestic violence issues is gravely lacking in Ethiopia. The study pointes out major factors as insufficient legal coverage in the criminal and civil laws of the country; lack of policy framework on provision of services for victims; lack of judicial activism to employ international and regional instruments to fill the legal gap at the domestic level and the trivialization of domestic violence as a ‘private matter’ by both the community and law enforcement agencies. Additionally, the problem is attributed to the patriarchal culture in the society which condones domestic violence against women; the suppression of activist organizations by the government and lack of political will to assume state accountability for failure to protect the rights of women. Conversely, South Africa offers a good model for Ethiopia as it provides a holistic legal redress for victims of domestic violence in the form of criminal remedies and a separate Act on civil remedies ; policy framework on provision of services; and accountability mechanisms for law enforcement agencies. Consequently, Ethiopia is in need of a comprehensive legal as well as institutional reform to cope with domestic violence. |
| Supervisor | Kollonay Csilla Lehoczky |
| Department | Legal Studies LLM |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2010/moges_tayechalem.pdf |
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