Ensuring Access To Justice For Women Victims Of Domestic Violence In Ethiopia: The Case Of Jimma Zone

Abstract

Ensuring the right to access to justice for Jimma zone women victims of domestic violence become easier said than done. This work by presenting the legal responses to the right to access to justice for women victims of domestic violence in Ethiopia, explore the practical challenges women victims of domestic violence are facing in accessing justice and suggested measures to ensure the right to access to justice for women victims of domestic violence in Jimma Zone. Three districts of the Zone are selected as research areas. Interview was conducted with public prosecutors who were focal person on women and children cases, selective judges and police investigators working as focal person on women and children cases from each distric and 3 victims of domestic violence from each district were interviewed. The interviewees (victims of domestic violence) were purposefully selected from urban and rural settings of the study area. The analysis followed is qualitative approach. The thesis found out that domestic violence against women in Jimma Zone continued to persist and perpetrators remained unpunished. The thesis tries to show the barriers of the right to access to justice for women victims of domestic violence in Jimma zone. Creation of awareness, sustainable resource allocation to support victims/survivors and effective law enforcement institutions are some of the practical strategies proposed to mitigate the right to access to justice for women victims of domestic violence in Jimma and the incidence of domestic violence against them.