The Right to Privacy in the Age of Surveillance: Personal Data Protection in Ethiopia
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2024
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This thesis examines the evolving legal landscape governing personal data protection in the age of growing surveillance in Ethiopia. It identifies that due to the lack of sufficient procedural privacy safeguards, abuse of laws to achieve political purposes, and the existence of poor oversight mechanisms that fail to regulate the extensive surveillance powers granted to police and security service agencies, human rights including, the privacy rights of citizens are impacted. However, the personal data protection farmwork introduced by the new Personal Data Protection Proclamation addresses some of these gaps.
Despite the new law, however, significant gaps including lack of independent regulatory farmwork remain. The study offers recommendations to enhance the personal data protection framework including, advocating for rigorous implementation of the Personal Data Protection Proclamation, establishment of independent oversight mechanisms, and establishment of regular reporting mechanism on surveillance activities to ensure the use of surveillance powers in transparent, accountable, and proportionate manner.