The state's duty to respect and protect : violence against persons with disabilities in Africa - the case of Ethiopia

Abstract

Disability-based violence has been a topic side-lined for too long in mainstream studies on violence, including human rights research, analytical discourses and praxis. Literature, albeit not adequately available on this subject matter from an African context in particular, shows that disability, in and of its own, is a paramount factor aggravating the risk of a breach of one’s right to freedom from violence. However, mainstream authoritative reports such as the World Report on Violence and Health and its subsequent iterations, mention disability merely as a consequence of violence and not the cause of violence in and of itself. Underpinned in emerging international normative standards, jurisprudence and instruments of Disability Justice, such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the recently adopted Africa Disability Protocol, the research established the justified, long-overdue need for policies and State interventions on violence against persons with disabilities to shift from public-health-oriented stances to a rights-based reconceptualization. It is suggested that appropriate policy, legislative and institutional responses to violence perpetrated against persons with disabilities can be found in the recognition, first and foremost, that such violence is essentially disability-based. In arguing so, the thesis identified what it referred to as the salient disruptors of disability-based violence vis- à-vis violence against persons without disabilities. Through a socio-legal research method, the thesis has then unravelled the interplay between the nature, sources, and scope of State responsibility under international law within the context of disability rights, with a focus on Ethiopia as a case study. In the interest of drawing practical comparative insights, some pertinent lessons were also drawn from other jurisdictions in Africa such as, inter alia: Malawi (given the systemic atrocities against persons with albinism in that jurisdiction) and Sierra Leone (due to wide-scale, disability-based displacements and systemic attacks reportedly perpetrated during and in the aftermath of armed conflicts). Finally, the study assessed the (in)adequacy of existing institutional and administrative measures in Ethiopia to curb disability-based violence, followed by recommendations of disability-focused responsive measures to close the gap between obligations and status quo.