The predicaments of child victims of crime seeking justice in Ethiopia: a double victimization by the justice process
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21825/af.v24i1.4993Abstract
This article presents an account of a legal system that has fundamentally failed Ethiopia ́s young and vulnerable citizens. The Ethiopian justice process has permitted the subjection of child victims to cycles of traumatisation during investigation, prosecution and trial phases of cases in which they are involved. Ethiopia does not have laws that require the special treatment of children who are victims or witnesses of crime. It has neither rules of criminal procedure nor evidence that direct the conduct of criminal proceedings involving child victims. This article will show that although the Ethiopian Constitution incorporates principles such as the consideration of ‘the best interests of the child’, the realization of this principle for the Ethiopian child victim of crime remains illusory due to the absence of detailed rules that guide and compel the justice process to that effect. Based on empirical data, the article argues further that although ad hoc initiatives to introduce victims to a child-friendly justice process exist in a limited number of urban areas, these initiatives do not reach the vast majority of child victims around the country who continue to be further victimized by the justice process. Key words: Ethiopia, child victims, justice process, court, double victimizationDownloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).