Jurisdictional Quandary between the House of the Federation and Courts in Ethiopia

Proceedings of The World Conference on Social Sciences

Year: 2019

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/worldcss.2019.09.554

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Jurisdictional Quandary between the House of the Federation and Courts in Ethiopia

Geleta Zerihun Yimer

 

 

ABSTRACT: 

As research reveals, almost the majority of the states in the world claiming to have a constitution included the provisions of human rights. Assuming that the constitution is the supreme law of the land, such incorporation of human rights provisions help to entrench human rights. As a result, human rights are granted not only a higher but also a foundational position in the legal system.1 The mere recognition of such rights does not necessarily guarantee they are enforced effectively. Hence, one of the steps to entrenching the supremacy of the constitution is to provide for an institutional guarantee for ensuring against the executive or legislative encroachments on the constitutional values and principles,2 which above all human rights. The constitutional spot of human rights is to impose a specific obligation on a state to limit its power. Hence, the activities that are undertaken for human rights protections should go beyond documenting the rights to real enforcement measures. These measures require the existence of an appropriate institutional mechanism for the actual application of human rights provisions.

Keywords: The House of the Federation, Courts, Council of Constitutional Inquiry.