23 |
P age b
copy from UDHR.
95
The Constitution of 1955 did not clearly provide for the rights against torture, rather it provides that:
„No one shall be subject to cruel and inhuman treatment‟.
96
Then overthrow of the imperial regime introduced the country with the new Constitution of the Peoples Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) which ended up the imperial rule or kingship.
97
Undeniably the ideology of the government, socialism, affects the recognition of fundamental rights. This can be inferred from Part Two Chapter Seven of the PDRE Constitution of 1987, which is claimed the copy paste of the former Soviet Union, gives more emphasis to social and cultural rights than civil and political rights in that the Constitution put social and economic rights first before civil and political rights.
98
However, unexpectedly it does not provide provision that prohibit torture and other ill-treatments. There are also subsidiary laws before 1994 that criminalized torture. With the introduction of western-based codes-the first Ethiopian Penal Code appeared in the early 1930's.
99
The Penal Code of 1930, which was enacted one year prior to the 1931 Constitution, is the first codification in criminal justice system. The code has 487 articles which provide prohibited acts with their respective punishment and introduce some criminal law principles.
100
Although the code criminalized many offences including those committed against human person, dignity, property, and health,
101
it does not outlaw or mention the term torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The modernization of Ethiopian legal system in general and the criminal justice system in particular sought by the then government to govern the complexities of modern life and result The Revised Constitution of Ethiopia, proclamation No, Negarit Gazetta, Year 15, No. 2, Art 37-65. Hereinafter Constitution of 1955); and see also H. Bereket, note 92, 83. ibid Art. 57. M. Fisseha-
Tsion, Highlights of the Constitution of the Peoples' Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE)‟
(1988)14(2) Review of Socialist Law 129.
98
The Constitution of the Peoples Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, proclamation No. 1, 1987, Nagarit Gazetta, Year 47, No. 1 Hereinafter PDRE Constitution ) Art. 35-58; see also Menghistu F, note 88, 152. J. W. Van Doren, Positivism and the Rule of Law, Formal Systems or Concealed Values A Case Study of the Ethiopian Legal System (1994) 3 J. Transnat'l L. & Pol'y 165. M. Abdo, Legal History and Traditions (2009) A Teaching Material prepared by Justice and Legal System
Research Institute
(unpublished) 92. The Penal Code of 1930, Enacted in the reign of His Majesty Haile Sellassie I, September 1930, Part V, Chapter
1-13. Among other things the Code punish insulting, false accusation, adultery, abortion, assault, bodily injury, perjury and murder.
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