Human Right

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Upholding International Human Rights Obligations During a State of Emergency: An Appraisal of the Ethiopian Experience
(Addis Ababa University, 2019-02) Assefa, Yibeltal; Abate, Mizanie
State of emergency is a sudden and extraordinary situation that threatens the life of a nation and which requires taking extraordinary measures to averting such dangers. Some of the major international human treaties recognize the power of states to derogate human rights during state of emergencies. However, states have to fulfil a set of internationally established substantive and procedural requirements in order to legitimately suspend human rights by declaring state of emergency. The requirements of necessity, proportionality, notification, publicity, nondiscrimination, and protection of certain non-derogable rights are the major ones. Between 2016 and 2018, Ethiopia declared states of emergencies twice and suspended a bunch of human rights and freedoms. This paper has analyzed Ethiopia‟s experience in declaring, implementing, and monitoring state of emergency in the light of the above mentioned international requirements and argues that the country has failed to uphold some of the fundamental requirements while exercising its emergency powers.