Abreha Z. Mesele has written (ICC and African Union: Selective Justice?) an informative piece on the recently inflamed ICC-African Union altercation, or rather African Union’s ringing condemnations of the practice of ICC, calling it big powers instrument of ‘pummelling the weak ones’.  In this piece I would like to offer some of my views on the issue by responding to Abreha’s paper. Abreha has accomplished laying out the essential introductory ground-work, so I will refrain from any redundancy and delve straight into discussing the issues that I think are overlooked or misrepresented in the general discussion on the topic and in Abreha’s piece specifically.

The best interest principle is one of the umbrella principles embodied under the CRC which assures the overall development of children to their fullest potential in order to maximize their capacity and become adulthood. Though this principle is a paramount important for the rights of the child, its vagueness impeded its implementation stage due to different wavering concept it has. And the principle of the best interests of the child has been the subject of extensive consideration in academic, operational and other circles.

The issue of trafficking in persons from and within Ethiopia has become a critical issue of concern for the country. The level of concern is clearly reflected in the increased media coverage of the situation of victims of trafficking as well as the measures taken by the government to address the problem through legislative, policy and programmatic mechanisms. While the current attention to the issue is to be commended, there also appears to be some level of confusion as to what trafficking in persons is. The current brief article is an attempt to help clarify the problem.

Before I embarked upon the merit of the issue, some preliminary issues should be discussed to see whether the International Criminal Court (hereinafter called ICC) is targeting Africans. To arrive at a fair and balanced conclusion, there is a need to discuss how the ICC exercises jurisdiction over the most heinous crimes by taking the ICC Statute (Rome Statute). Here, membership, complementarity, referral, and treaty obligations should first be addressed to ascertain the claim that the ICC is selective and targeting Africans. Most, if not all, cases filed in the ICC in the year 2008 were cases from African soil; the issues, whether it was deliberate and targetfull, is going to be determined case by case and issue by issue bases later on.

የሰው ልጅ ሐሳቡን ለሌላው መግለጽ መጀመሩ ሰዎች የጋራ ባሕርያትን ይዘው ወደ አዲስ ስልጣኔ፤ ወደ አዲስ ሕይወት እንዲወጣ አድርጎታል፡፡ ነገር ግን የዚህ ትስስር ድንበር የለሽ መሆን ጉዳት አለው በማለት፤ በተለያዩ ወቅቶች በተለያዩ ምክንያቶች መረጃን የመለዋወጡ ሂደት ገደብ እንዲኖረው ይደረጋል፡፡ ገደብ እንዲደረግ የሚያስገድዱት ዋነኛ ምክንያቶች ሦስቱን ዋነኛ ተቋማት መጠበቅ በሚል ሐሳብ ስር ይጠቃለል፡፡ እነዚህም ተቋማት ቤተሰብ፣ ቤተ እምነት እና ቤተ መንግሥት ናቸው፡፡ ቤተሰብን መጠበቅ ስንል ቤተሰብ የኅብረተሰብ መሠረት በመሆኑ ቤተሰብን እና ስርዓቱን የሚጎዱ ነገሮች (Obscene) በአደባባይ እንዳይኖሩ ማድረግ ማለታችን ነው፡፡ ቤተ እምነትን የሚያጎድፉ ነገሮችም (Blasphemous) እንዲሁ:: እንዲሁም በሦስተኝነት በሕግ የተዘረጋውን ስርዓት ለመጠበቅ ሲባል ሲሆን  ይሄም የግደባ ሂደት ሳንሱር (Censorship) ይባላል፡፡

የበጎ አድራጎት ድርጅቶችና ማህበራት አዋጅ ከበጎ አድራጎት ኮሚቴ በቀር ለሁሉም የበጎ አድራጎት ድርጅቶችና ማህበራት ሦስት የህልውና ደረጃዎችን ያስቀምጣል፡፡ እነዚህም ምስረታ፣ ምዝገባ እና ፈቃድ ናቸው፡፡ ምስረታ የምንለው የበጎ አድራጎት ድርጅቱን ወይም ማህበሩን ለመፍጠር አስፈላጊ የሚሆኑበት የመጀመሪያ ደረጃ ነው፡፡ የዚህ ደረጃ ዋነኛ መለያው ሶስት ወር ገደማ በሚሆነው በዚህ ጊዜ ውስጥ ድርጅቱ ወይም ማህበሩ ሕጋዊ ሰውነት የሌለውና በሕግ ፊት ውጤት ያላቸውን ተግባራት ለማከናወን ያለው ብቃትም ውሱን መሆኑ ነው፡፡ በተለይም በድርጅቱ ወይም በማህበሩ ስም ገንዘብ የማሰባሰብ ብቃቱ ውሱን ወይም በሕግ የተገደበ ይሆናል፡፡ ይህ የመጀመሪያ ደረጃ ድርጅቱ ወይም ማህበሩ ሲመዘገብ ወይም ባለመመዝገቡ ምክንያት ህልውናውን ሲያጣ የሚጠናቀቅ ይሆናል፡፡

The Charities and Societies Proclamation refers to three stages in the coming into operation of charities and societies except charitable committees. These are: formation, registration and licensing. Formation refers to the early stage where the situations necessary for the coming into being of the charity or society as an entity are put into place. The most distinct feature of this stage is that the charity or society does not have legal personality during this stage, which usually takes a period of three months. As such, its capacity to engage in acts with legal consequences (juridical acts) is limited. Most notably, it is limited in its capacity to raise funds. This stage reaches its end either upon registration or when the charity or society ceases to exist for failure to apply for registration.

በአገር ውስጥ እና በተለይም ወደ ሌሎች አገራት የሚካሄድ ሕገወጥ የሰዎች ዝውውር በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ የላቀ ትኩረት እያገኘ መጥቷል፡፡ ይህም ትኩረት በቅርቡ ጉዳዩ እያገኘ ካለው ሰፊ የሚድያ ሽፋን ባሻገር ችግሩን ለመፍታት በተከታታይ በመንግስት እየተወሰዱ ያሉ የሕግ፣ የፖሊሲና የፕሮግራም እርምጃዎች ላይ ይንፀባረቃል፡፡ ለዚህ ጉዳይ የተሰጠው ትኩረት ይበል የሚያሰኝ ቢሆንም አልፎ አልፎ ሕገወጥ የሰዎች ዝውውር ምንነት ጋር በተያያዘ የተወሰነ ግራ መጋባት ይታያል፡፡ ይሕ አጭር ጽሁፍ ይህንን ክፍተት ለመሙላት ለሚደረው ጥረት አስተዋጽኦ ያደርጋል በሚል እምነት የተዘጋጀ ነው፡፡

It will be unwise to begin the essay without introducing the reader about injunction in Ethiopian Civil Procedure Code (CPC). Injunction is one form of provisional measure ordered by a competent judicial organ to the requesting party. Robert Allen Sedler, a famous author on Ethiopian civil procedure, says that it may be necessary to make provision for the protection of the parties and the maintenance of the property in dispute pending the final determination of the case. The court is vested with exclusive power to issue provisional measures until the final judgement.

Parties’ freedom to agree on any matter extends to agree to resolve their dispute either judicial litigation or arbitration. Arbitration is a system of dispute settlement where by disputants takes their case before arbitrators of their own choice. The civil code defines it “as a contract whereby the parties to a dispute entrust its solution to a third party, the arbitrator, who undertakes to settle the dispute in accordance with the principles of law.” (Art 3325(1)).