The Implication of the Hate Speech Law on Freedom of Expression in Ethiopia
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Date
2021-10
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Addis Ababa Unversity
Abstract
Freedom of expression is an important right protected under international and regional human
right laws. Ethiopia also recognized the right to freedom of expression by ratifying the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1993. It also recognizes the
right to freedom of expression under its constitution of 1995. However, these international
human rights instruments do not only recognize the right to freedom of expression, but also
actually require state parties to restrict certain speech on the ground that it undermines the right
of others to equality and non-discrimination. Hate speech is top of these exceptional restrictions
and it is become a problem of democratic values, peace, social-stability, displacement, crime
against humanity and even Genocide. In order to tackle this problem the government of Ethiopia
has adopted a hate speech law. However, this hate speech law, contain provisions that may
adversely affect the enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression, including vague definition of
‘hate speech’, disproportionate criminal punishments and problematic censorship delegation of
social-media service providers. This thesis is seek to assess the implication of this hate speech
law on freedom of expression in Ethiopia, in light of international and regional human right
laws.