12 | P age b
1.9. Structure of the Study The paper will have five chapters. The first chapter provides general overview of the study. As an introductory it deals
with background of the study,
statement of problem,
Literature review, objectives and scope of the study. This chapter also provides what research method employed to conduct the research and importance of the study upon its completion. It also outlines challenges encountered while conducting the research. Chapter two is about the legal framework of torture. The chapter has four subsections which precisely discussed international and regional conventions and customary international law prohibiting torture in the first and second sections. The third section provides the obligation of state to criminalize and prosecute torture under international laws. This section also briefly discussed the issue of whether one of the elements of torture (status of perpetrator) should be extended or not. The final section offers an insight to domestic laws criminalizing torture in two sections separating them as pre and post 1994. Here legal arguments regarding self-executing or non-self executing nature of international law in Ethiopia legal system are discussed briefly. Chapter three provides the absolute nature of torture under Ethiopian law and practice vis-à-vis international law. The chapter has three sections. The first section provides introduction to the chapter. The second section analyzes the law on limitation and derogation regarding torture in Ethiopia and international law and defense of justifiable acts for torture. The third section analyzes law and practice in Ethiopia
regarding grant of amnesty, pardon, statute of limitation and immunity for alleged torture in relation to the international law and jurisprudences. Chapter four provides the elements of torture and the practice of prosecution of torture with the existing lack of clear definition of torture in the criminal code in light with international law. Under this chapter each elements of torture in the criminal code as crime of use of improper method are analyzed in light with the scope of torture under international law. Besides, how acts constituting torture under international laws are prosecuted in Ethiopia is discussed. Finally,
the last chapter,
chapter five, presents the
summary of the major findings, the conclusion drawn from those findings and possible recommendations.
