Chronological age is a social construct that reflects physical and biological regularities as wel... more Chronological age is a social construct that reflects physical and biological regularities as well as interactions with social structures. Legal systems commonly use chronological age in the design of rules, and they increasingly regulate the use of chronological age in governmental or social practices. “Age discrimination” has also received attention in international human rights law. Age discrimination law originated in employment law, primarily for the protection of middle-aged and older workers, before expanding in three dimensions: from employment to other fields of action, from older workers to age in general, and from “direct” (or intentional) discrimination to “indirect” discrimination (with discriminatory effect). Some of these expansions have been inadvertent or unconsidered.
After sketching some domestic (or just U.S.?) and international positive law frameworks, this article examines the justifications for expanding and internationalizing prohibitions of “age discrimination.” It considers four complimentary reasons for questioning a generalized prohibition of direct discrimination on the basis of chronological age as a human right, extrapolated from race or gender discrimination models, and proposes instead a more selective approach. It then explains that the argument for selectivity applies even more strongly to international regulation of indirect discrimination.
Two major conclusions come out of the study of Ethiopia’s experience with religion-state relation... more Two major conclusions come out of the study of Ethiopia’s experience with religion-state relations. First, the interaction between religion-state relations and the freedom of religion has followed patterns suggested by the Ryskamp-Durham model. The most serious violations of the freedom of religion took place under the establishment of Orthodox Christianity during the imperial regime and can be seen in the current imposition of the Ahbash movement. The anti-clerical orientations of the Marxist regime also represented another low point. Accommodationist and cooperationist policies under the laicite informed 1994 Constitution, on the other hand, seem to have provided the optimal condition for the exercise of the freedom. Within the system established by the 1994 Constitution one can see how insensitive separationist policies such as the Ministry of Education’s directive can make the exercise of religion onerous in educational institutions, while accommodationist and especially coopera...
Terje Ostebo. 2012. Localizing Salafism: Religious Change among Oromo Muslims in Bale, Ethiopia. ... more Terje Ostebo. 2012. Localizing Salafism: Religious Change among Oromo Muslims in Bale, Ethiopia. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill NV. 380 pp. Has Salafism penetrated Ethiopia, when and how? Are political Islam and or extremism gaining a foothold? These are questions that are currently forcing scholars, policy makers, and politicians of Ethiopia and the Horn into fierce debate. 0stebo's book is published at an opportune moment, at a time when empirical analysis and data are much needed in order to make sense of the presence and impact of Salafism, not just in Bale but in the country as a whole. The book is also of immense historical relevance. Consulting various written and non-written sources and ploughing much new data about the subject matter, the author brings to light a wealth of data and analysis which is clearly and concisely articulated. This book is not just about the history of Islam in Bale; the treatise goes a long way in shedding light on the history of the Oromo of Ba...
From the backwaters of stagnation in democratization, the Arab Spring countries carried the day a... more From the backwaters of stagnation in democratization, the Arab Spring countries carried the day and became trailblazers to be replicated by activists all over the world. A couple of seasons after the initial revolution/revolt, Egyptians had transformed their political system, written themselves a constitution, and apparently destroyed the same constitution. While all sectors of society played a role in shaping the revolution, the latter has also affected society. Egypt’s 2012 constitution, one of the outcomes of the revolution, captures a moment in the process and also reflects an attempt to install an Islamist ideology in a constitutional democratic form. The constitution’s attempt to negotiate between Shari‘ah and democracy and its outline of a human rights regime make the future of democracy and human rights ambiguous, as the Islamist stance promulgated has yet to be tested in the real world of politics. As it stands today, the constitution is too ambiguous to allow one to draw a...
We are living in a world in which the moral legitimacy of cultures, religions, ideologies, and th... more We are living in a world in which the moral legitimacy of cultures, religions, ideologies, and the practices of states, international organizations, and even corporations is being measured against human rights norms. The moral significance of and practical respect for human rights has grown so much that human rights have been described as a global religion, and a new standard for civilization. International trade, a popular and much debated issue of our time, is one of those phenomena that is currently being measured against the standards of human rights. Leading experts remain divided about whether global trade is good or bad for human rights. There are those who are utterly convinced that the world trade regime has a mutual basis with human rights and see potential in the growth of one as a positive sign for the other. There are also those who, on the other hand, are equally convinced that human rights and international trade regimes are in a relationship of enmity.
Islam as a living normative and ethical system deals with societal problems that reality throws a... more Islam as a living normative and ethical system deals with societal problems that reality throws at it. In the decades following decolonization it has and continues to be faced with some challenges that are unique to our time and uniquely connected with human rights. These challenges include the development of the contemporary biopolitical state, institutionalized and professional police forces and armies, mass industrialization and industrial exploitation, urbanization, industry-scale prison systems, multinational corporations, neocolonialism, and global climate change. The demand on the Islamic normative system to provide answers to ethical and practical problems raised by these developments was underscored by a surge in public discourse on human rights in Islam following theArab Spring revolts. The article participates in the same discourse from an ethico-legal perspective critically engaging Islamic texts, the Islamic heritage, and the lived experience of Muslims. The working hypothesis for this study is that Islamic texts and tradition provide a strong foundation for a natural rights theory on which a contemporary Islamic understanding of human rights can be built. Partly because of the circumstances in which human rights were introduced to the Islamicate world, Muslim scholars, politicians, and activists were primarily reactive to apologetic claims made against their tradition. This article proposes that the Islamic discourse on human rights ought to be organic and justified based on functional reasons—that is, the fact that the protection of human rights is necessitated by the existence of certain sociopolitical realities. Although
Like any other political regime the Ethiopian political/economic establishment enforces asymmetri... more Like any other political regime the Ethiopian political/economic establishment enforces asymmetric relationships, inequities and contradictions it entails through the deployment of layers of coercion and co-option, as well as a corresponding set of discursive practices that constitute, legitimize, and perpetuate its power. These practices, which fall under the rubric of revolutionary democracy, represent the political system and its different socio-political actors, and deploy a myriad of techniques to mask and mystify relationships of inequity with the ultimate aim of normalizing the system. Revolutionary democracy is presented as a specific type of democratic discourse that treats the need for democracy as a truism, while simultaneously appropriating the core connotation of democracy as popular sovereignty, only to enshrine authoritarian rule. The article captures an iteration of revolutionary democracy at a time the political order is being challenged, including from within the ruling party, showing how it is deployed to manufacture consent.
Since its enunciation by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights human rights education has gro... more Since its enunciation by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights human rights education has grown into an extensive subject within the human rights movement. The fact that African human rights system has been catching up with and is in tune with the global human rights movement is evinced, among other things, by the fact that the region has developed its own bill of rights which underscores the importance of human rights education and declares it as a state obligation. This article studies whether and to what extent the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the region’s human rights watchdog, is protecting and promoting the right to human rights education. The Commission’s track record shows that while the Commission has undertaken steps to ensure human rights education in Africa, its efforts are wanting when looked at the standards that have been achieved at the universal level. While small positive efforts are highlighted the Commission has a long way to go in ensurin...
The international community has for more than six decades experience with international instituti... more The international community has for more than six decades experience with international institutions that deal with human rights and the International Criminal Court (ICC) is the most recent of these institutions. If we take stock of the international community’s experience we can identify common conditioning factors that have either strengthened or weakened the effectiveness of the mechanisms established by the international community to deal gross violations of human rights. And the study of these conditioning factors can teach invaluable lessons for new institutions such as the ICC. This study identifies three types of determining factors that will affect the effectiveness of the ICC: Determining factors that are constitutional to the ICC, those that depend on the agency of the people running the ICC and factors external to but that can potentially be rectified by actors both inside and outside of the ICC.
When the African Union was established, replacing the Organisation of African Unity, many were en... more When the African Union was established, replacing the Organisation of African Unity, many were enthusiastic that it would champion the cause of human rights and democracy, one of the areas in which its predecessor had failed. Among the reasons for optimism was the fact that the African Union’s Constitutive Act was a lot more empathetic for the cause of human rights and democratic ideals. The article contends that, while the Constitutive Act might be potentially important, it is but one among many conditioning factors for the Union’s actions. The article argues that the most important determining factor for the Union’s success or failure is the human rights track record of member states and the perceived or real dependence of elites within these states on human rights violations. Other conditioning factors, such as international legal obligations created by the Constitutive Act and other treaties, pressure from pan-African sentiment within the AU, and pressure from the AU’s human rig...
Chronological age is a social construct that reflects physical and biological regularities as wel... more Chronological age is a social construct that reflects physical and biological regularities as well as interactions with social structures. Legal systems commonly use chronological age in the design of rules, and they increasingly regulate the use of chronological age in governmental or social practices. “Age discrimination” has also received attention in international human rights law. Age discrimination law originated in employment law, primarily for the protection of middle-aged and older workers, before expanding in three dimensions: from employment to other fields of action, from older workers to age in general, and from “direct” (or intentional) discrimination to “indirect” discrimination (with discriminatory effect). Some of these expansions have been inadvertent or unconsidered.
After sketching some domestic (or just U.S.?) and international positive law frameworks, this article examines the justifications for expanding and internationalizing prohibitions of “age discrimination.” It considers four complimentary reasons for questioning a generalized prohibition of direct discrimination on the basis of chronological age as a human right, extrapolated from race or gender discrimination models, and proposes instead a more selective approach. It then explains that the argument for selectivity applies even more strongly to international regulation of indirect discrimination.
Two major conclusions come out of the study of Ethiopia’s experience with religion-state relation... more Two major conclusions come out of the study of Ethiopia’s experience with religion-state relations. First, the interaction between religion-state relations and the freedom of religion has followed patterns suggested by the Ryskamp-Durham model. The most serious violations of the freedom of religion took place under the establishment of Orthodox Christianity during the imperial regime and can be seen in the current imposition of the Ahbash movement. The anti-clerical orientations of the Marxist regime also represented another low point. Accommodationist and cooperationist policies under the laicite informed 1994 Constitution, on the other hand, seem to have provided the optimal condition for the exercise of the freedom. Within the system established by the 1994 Constitution one can see how insensitive separationist policies such as the Ministry of Education’s directive can make the exercise of religion onerous in educational institutions, while accommodationist and especially coopera...
Terje Ostebo. 2012. Localizing Salafism: Religious Change among Oromo Muslims in Bale, Ethiopia. ... more Terje Ostebo. 2012. Localizing Salafism: Religious Change among Oromo Muslims in Bale, Ethiopia. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill NV. 380 pp. Has Salafism penetrated Ethiopia, when and how? Are political Islam and or extremism gaining a foothold? These are questions that are currently forcing scholars, policy makers, and politicians of Ethiopia and the Horn into fierce debate. 0stebo's book is published at an opportune moment, at a time when empirical analysis and data are much needed in order to make sense of the presence and impact of Salafism, not just in Bale but in the country as a whole. The book is also of immense historical relevance. Consulting various written and non-written sources and ploughing much new data about the subject matter, the author brings to light a wealth of data and analysis which is clearly and concisely articulated. This book is not just about the history of Islam in Bale; the treatise goes a long way in shedding light on the history of the Oromo of Ba...
From the backwaters of stagnation in democratization, the Arab Spring countries carried the day a... more From the backwaters of stagnation in democratization, the Arab Spring countries carried the day and became trailblazers to be replicated by activists all over the world. A couple of seasons after the initial revolution/revolt, Egyptians had transformed their political system, written themselves a constitution, and apparently destroyed the same constitution. While all sectors of society played a role in shaping the revolution, the latter has also affected society. Egypt’s 2012 constitution, one of the outcomes of the revolution, captures a moment in the process and also reflects an attempt to install an Islamist ideology in a constitutional democratic form. The constitution’s attempt to negotiate between Shari‘ah and democracy and its outline of a human rights regime make the future of democracy and human rights ambiguous, as the Islamist stance promulgated has yet to be tested in the real world of politics. As it stands today, the constitution is too ambiguous to allow one to draw a...
We are living in a world in which the moral legitimacy of cultures, religions, ideologies, and th... more We are living in a world in which the moral legitimacy of cultures, religions, ideologies, and the practices of states, international organizations, and even corporations is being measured against human rights norms. The moral significance of and practical respect for human rights has grown so much that human rights have been described as a global religion, and a new standard for civilization. International trade, a popular and much debated issue of our time, is one of those phenomena that is currently being measured against the standards of human rights. Leading experts remain divided about whether global trade is good or bad for human rights. There are those who are utterly convinced that the world trade regime has a mutual basis with human rights and see potential in the growth of one as a positive sign for the other. There are also those who, on the other hand, are equally convinced that human rights and international trade regimes are in a relationship of enmity.
Islam as a living normative and ethical system deals with societal problems that reality throws a... more Islam as a living normative and ethical system deals with societal problems that reality throws at it. In the decades following decolonization it has and continues to be faced with some challenges that are unique to our time and uniquely connected with human rights. These challenges include the development of the contemporary biopolitical state, institutionalized and professional police forces and armies, mass industrialization and industrial exploitation, urbanization, industry-scale prison systems, multinational corporations, neocolonialism, and global climate change. The demand on the Islamic normative system to provide answers to ethical and practical problems raised by these developments was underscored by a surge in public discourse on human rights in Islam following theArab Spring revolts. The article participates in the same discourse from an ethico-legal perspective critically engaging Islamic texts, the Islamic heritage, and the lived experience of Muslims. The working hypothesis for this study is that Islamic texts and tradition provide a strong foundation for a natural rights theory on which a contemporary Islamic understanding of human rights can be built. Partly because of the circumstances in which human rights were introduced to the Islamicate world, Muslim scholars, politicians, and activists were primarily reactive to apologetic claims made against their tradition. This article proposes that the Islamic discourse on human rights ought to be organic and justified based on functional reasons—that is, the fact that the protection of human rights is necessitated by the existence of certain sociopolitical realities. Although
Like any other political regime the Ethiopian political/economic establishment enforces asymmetri... more Like any other political regime the Ethiopian political/economic establishment enforces asymmetric relationships, inequities and contradictions it entails through the deployment of layers of coercion and co-option, as well as a corresponding set of discursive practices that constitute, legitimize, and perpetuate its power. These practices, which fall under the rubric of revolutionary democracy, represent the political system and its different socio-political actors, and deploy a myriad of techniques to mask and mystify relationships of inequity with the ultimate aim of normalizing the system. Revolutionary democracy is presented as a specific type of democratic discourse that treats the need for democracy as a truism, while simultaneously appropriating the core connotation of democracy as popular sovereignty, only to enshrine authoritarian rule. The article captures an iteration of revolutionary democracy at a time the political order is being challenged, including from within the ruling party, showing how it is deployed to manufacture consent.
Since its enunciation by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights human rights education has gro... more Since its enunciation by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights human rights education has grown into an extensive subject within the human rights movement. The fact that African human rights system has been catching up with and is in tune with the global human rights movement is evinced, among other things, by the fact that the region has developed its own bill of rights which underscores the importance of human rights education and declares it as a state obligation. This article studies whether and to what extent the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the region’s human rights watchdog, is protecting and promoting the right to human rights education. The Commission’s track record shows that while the Commission has undertaken steps to ensure human rights education in Africa, its efforts are wanting when looked at the standards that have been achieved at the universal level. While small positive efforts are highlighted the Commission has a long way to go in ensurin...
The international community has for more than six decades experience with international instituti... more The international community has for more than six decades experience with international institutions that deal with human rights and the International Criminal Court (ICC) is the most recent of these institutions. If we take stock of the international community’s experience we can identify common conditioning factors that have either strengthened or weakened the effectiveness of the mechanisms established by the international community to deal gross violations of human rights. And the study of these conditioning factors can teach invaluable lessons for new institutions such as the ICC. This study identifies three types of determining factors that will affect the effectiveness of the ICC: Determining factors that are constitutional to the ICC, those that depend on the agency of the people running the ICC and factors external to but that can potentially be rectified by actors both inside and outside of the ICC.
When the African Union was established, replacing the Organisation of African Unity, many were en... more When the African Union was established, replacing the Organisation of African Unity, many were enthusiastic that it would champion the cause of human rights and democracy, one of the areas in which its predecessor had failed. Among the reasons for optimism was the fact that the African Union’s Constitutive Act was a lot more empathetic for the cause of human rights and democratic ideals. The article contends that, while the Constitutive Act might be potentially important, it is but one among many conditioning factors for the Union’s actions. The article argues that the most important determining factor for the Union’s success or failure is the human rights track record of member states and the perceived or real dependence of elites within these states on human rights violations. Other conditioning factors, such as international legal obligations created by the Constitutive Act and other treaties, pressure from pan-African sentiment within the AU, and pressure from the AU’s human rig...
The contemporary Ethiopian state is, without question, facing enormous challenges, including the ... more The contemporary Ethiopian state is, without question, facing enormous challenges, including the militarization of state and non-state actors, high population density accompanied by youth unemployment, food insecurity, real and perceived inequality and discrimination among ethnic groups, ethnic and political polarization and widespread human rights abuses. At the core of the issues faced by Ethiopia lies the state-building process by which major constituencies and elite groups were either alienated !om, or coopted into, ruling structures. Unable to derive political legitimacy !om democratic participation, successive governments largely relied on coercion and neopatrimonialism, modulated by constitutional narratives and reform efforts including those of the imperial regime’s attempts to regulate government functions by a written constitution, the Derg’s land law reforms and the abolition of the gabar system, and the EPRDF’s recognition and promotion of linguistic and cultural rights. Despite initially promising political, legal, and institutional reform initiatives undertaken by the incumbent regime, Ethiopians remain divided in their views about what kind of constitutional structure has the greatest potential to unify the country without compromising diversity.
In mid-2018, the government of Ethiopia announced its decision to initiate a legal and justice se... more In mid-2018, the government of Ethiopia announced its decision to initiate a legal and justice sector reform process as part of the broader initiative to open up the political space. It established the Legal and Justice Affairs Advisory Council (LJAAC or Council) under the Federal Attorney General’s Office (AGO). The members of the Council were drawn from the academia, legal practice, and civil society organizations. LJAAC then established Working Groups on various issues composed of volunteer legal scholars and practitioners. What started with thirteen initial members of the Council, who were appointed by the Attorney General, quickly grew into an institution that boasted two hundred and ten highly qualified (mostly legal) volunteers and fourteen thematic Working Groups supported by a small Secretariat.
This publication captures some of the work of the LJAAC from a human rights perspective.
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Papers by Abadir Ibrahim
After sketching some domestic (or just U.S.?) and international positive law frameworks, this article examines the justifications for expanding and internationalizing prohibitions of “age discrimination.” It considers four complimentary reasons for questioning a generalized prohibition of direct discrimination on the basis of chronological age as a human right, extrapolated from race or gender discrimination models, and proposes instead a more selective approach. It then explains that the argument for selectivity applies even more strongly to international regulation of indirect discrimination.
After sketching some domestic (or just U.S.?) and international positive law frameworks, this article examines the justifications for expanding and internationalizing prohibitions of “age discrimination.” It considers four complimentary reasons for questioning a generalized prohibition of direct discrimination on the basis of chronological age as a human right, extrapolated from race or gender discrimination models, and proposes instead a more selective approach. It then explains that the argument for selectivity applies even more strongly to international regulation of indirect discrimination.
This publication captures some of the work of the LJAAC from a human rights perspective.