Upholding International Human Rights Obligations During a State of Emergency: an Appraisal of the Ethiopian Experience
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Date
2019-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
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.