The Right to Liberty and Security versus Counter-Terrorism under International Law

Analysing the Ethiopian legal and institutional frameworks as a case study of an 'authoritarian state'

Shimels Sisay Belete

• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9783745869965
• eBook ISBN: 9783745869972
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Criminal Law
• Index: Law

Particularly in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack, the threat of terrorism, however, defined, has been invoked as a common 'justification' in the pursuit of remodelling policies, laws, and institutions, both at the international and in the domestic politico-legal showground. The broader central theme that this book explores is the normative vibe under which the present-day counterterrorism discourse is construed and sculpted in the legislative and institutional structures of an authoritarian state where the political power and government institutions are functioning under a single-party-monopolised system. Presenting the Ethiopian legislative and institutional frameworks as a case study, the book critically reflects on the extent that the international legal and/or institutional counterterrorism response is sensitised in a manner lessening the risk of conflating authoritarian regime's unbearable reactions to citizens' legitimate demands and resistances against its repression vis-àvis that of its response to the common threat of international terrorism. In particular, the book ponders whether or not the range of the substantive and procedural aspects of the Ethiopian antiterrorism legislative and institutional frameworks are wrought to fit into the main objectives and standards that emanate from the pertinent international laws relating to terrorism and the international human rights law as well as the domestic constitutional law maxims.

Table of contents

• Title
• Copyright
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Briefing the Post-1991 Ethiopian Politico-Legal Lineaments: Impetuses in Moulding the Extant Version of the Domestic ‘Terrorism’ Cliché
• Chapter 2. The Quest for Human Rights Standardization in International Law Relating to Terrorism: Rethinking the ‘No Need of Compatibility’ Cliché in State’s Counterterrorism Obligations
• Chapter 3. The Terrorism Discourse and Anchoring Its Definitional Lacuna in International Law: A Step in Appraising Ethiopia’s ‘Self-Guided’ National Approach
• Chapter 4. A Crime of ‘Terrorist Act’ under the Ethiopian Anti-Terrorism Law: A Critical Appraisal of its Definitional Scope in Light of the International Terrorism Law’s Lensing Purview
• Chapter 5. Proscribing Groups as Terrorist Organizations: Whose Mandate Is It for That Matter? Assessing Ethiopia’s ‘Judiciary-Exclusion’ Approach
• Chapter 6. Countering Terrorism and the Pursuit of the Right to Liberty and Security of Person: International Human Rights Law as a Standard Legal Framework
• Chapter 7. Parsing the Content and Scope of the Right to Liberty and Security in the Context of Countering Terrorism Milieus
• Chapter 8. Procedural Guarantees against Arbitrary Deprivation of Liberty in the Enforcement of the Criminal Justice System: Assessing the Normative Standards in the Ethiopian Anti-Terrorism Proclamation
• Conclusion
• Bibliography