ADDRESSING THE DILEMMA OF SOCIAL COURTS: THEIR ROLE FOR ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND THEIR IMPACTS ON INFRINGEMENT OF RIGHTS, THE CASE OF KEBELES IN MEKET WOREDA

Abstract

Access to justice is itself a fundamental human right and key instrument for the realization of other human rights. A number of binding and non- binding international and regional human right instruments recognize this right. As state party to various international human rights instruments, Art. 9(4) of the FDRE Constitution states that international treaties ratified by Ethiopia are integral part of the law of the land. The Constitution itself guarantees everyone the right to access to justice. The Constitution also stipulates independence of the judiciary and provides three tiers of courts both at Federal and State level: First Instance, High and Supreme Courts. However it doesn’t make any reference to social courts. Irrespective of this, from the year 1946 social courts exist in Ethiopia. Social courts have undeniable role in terms of physical accessibility and their traditional procedure. On the other hand, apart from the constitutionality claims such social courts are also criticized for posing infringement of the rights of parties owing to the educational level of judges, the documentation of the courts’ system, the traditional procedures, interference by local administrators aggravated by their ever increasing material jurisdiction. This study critically examined the real contributions of social courts as far as access to justice is concerned and identify the challenges and threats it has posed on the rights of citizens. To do so, qualitative methodology employed and interview, case analysis as well as unstructured observation used as data collection tools. In addition, literatures, policy and legal frameworks, journal articles and books have been reviewed. Accordingly, this study find out, in spite of the fact that, the right to access to justice guaranteed by international, regional and national laws, There are impediments to realize access to justice in social courts due to legal and practical loopholes. Therefore stakeholders’ adequate attention required to minimize potential infringements and to increase enforcement of access to justice in social courts. The finding of the study will be an input for law makers since it clearly indicates the contribution of social courts towards enforcement of citizen’s right to access to justice. The study also describes actual causes that led social courts to infringe litigants’ right to access to justice.

Chapter: One Introduction 1.1 Back ground of the study Access to justice is a fundamental right in itself and an important right for