Major women's right issues in Ethiopia: examining efficiency of the law and its enforcement

Abstract

Ethiopia, after ratification of several international human right instruments took legislative and other important measures to respect the rights of women in general. However, such measures are remained to be insufficient. Abuses of women rights continued to persist; perpetrators remained unpunished or punished with fines or quiet few years of imprisonment for gross violations of women's rights. Particularly, the situation of domestic violence including intimate partner violence, as some scholars rightly put it, is beyond the expectation of the 21st century. The article is meant to show the readers the existence of violence against women and harmful traditional practices including domestic violence, sexual violence, FGM and early marriage as well as to show gaps on the administrative and legal measures taken by relevant actors to tackle the problems in light of the international human right standards.