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Regulating Inter-Ethnic Induced Hate Speech in Ethiopia

Received: 6 December 2021     Accepted: 25 December 2021     Published: 31 December 2021
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Abstract

Freedom of expression is not absolute right and may be restricted for the sake of protecting other fundamental human rights in accordance with law. Online social Media is unlike print media, tend to be unregulated and provide services being manipulated all over the world. Hate speech should not be hided under the protective umbrella of freedom of speech or expression. There must have a clear demarcation between free speech and hate speech. Accordingly, the main objective of the article is to examine international legal instruments, Ethiopian legal frameworks and institutional setting which regulate hate speech. In order to achieve the intended aims, the study employed doctrinal legal research on which legal analysis of the principal legislations. In so doing, the result of findings identified a lot of legal vacuums with regards to hate speech. Further, the existing FDRE proclamation No.1185/2020 provides responsibilities of service provider institutions to suppress and prevent dissemination of hate speech; however, the practical enforcement of hate speech legislation in Ethiopia suffers challenges inter-alia: absence of uniform definition, contents and scope of hate speech, anonymity, jurisdiction etc. Finally, the study used OSCOLA rule of reference in this article.

Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.hss.20210906.21
Page(s) 298-305
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Hate Speech, Social Media, Freedom of Expression, Media Laws, Human Rights

References
[1] Elizabeth Phillips, 2000. Purveyors of Hate on the Internet: Are We Ready for Hate Spam? Georgia state university laws review Volume 17, Issue 2, p. 385.
[2] Hagos Niguse, 2018. Spreading Hatred: A Study of Face-book in Ethiopia, Global Media Review (GMR), Volume 1, Issue 2, p. 10 Available at http://www.amitymediajournal.com
[3] Ligabo, 2005. A Report of the Special Reporter on the Protection and Promotion of Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, UN Doc, E/CN, 4/2006/55 paragraph 3.
[4] Interview with Aba Gada of Ittu-Humbanna (Aba Gada Shamil Ahmedo) on Inter-Ethnic Respect and Hate Speech in line with Ittu-Humbanna Customary Legal Framework on 10 November 2021, at West Hararghe Zone, Chiro Town, Ethiopia.
[5] Muluken Asegidew, 2021. Social Media Hate Speech in the walk of Ethiopian Political Reform: Analysis of Hate Speech Prevalence, Severity, and Natures, Information, Communication and Society, P. 12.
[6] Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) National Human Right Action Plan, 2013-2015, p. 59.
[7] Bryan A. Garner, 2004. Black's Law Dictionary (8th Edition), p. 4381.
[8] Face-book Help Center: What Does Face-book Consider being Hate Speech? Content that Attacks People Based on Their Actual or Perceived Race, Ethnicity, National Origin, Religion, Sex, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Disability or Disease is not allowed, available at: http://www.facebook.com /help/135402139904490/, accessed on October 15/2021.
[9] You tube Community Guidelines, available at: http://www.youtube.com/community guidelines, on 15 October 2021.
[10] Google user content and conduct policy, available at http://www.google.com/intl/en-US/policy/content.html, on 15 October 2021.
[11] Yahoo terms of Service Prohibits ‘Content that is Unlawful, Harmful, Threatening, Abusive, Harassing, Tortuous, Defamatory, Vulgar, Obscene, Libellous, Invasive of another’s Privacy, Hateful or Racially, Ethnically Objectionable’http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/smallbusiness/bizmail/spam/spam-44.html, on 15, October 2021.
[12] Council of Europe Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime, 2003. Concerning Criminalization of Acts of Racist and Xenophobic Nature Committed Through Computer System, January 28/2003.
[13] Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) Hate Speech and Disinformation Prevention and Suppression Proclamation No.1185/2020.
[14] UN International Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), 1965.
[15] UN International Convention on Civil and Political Right (ICCPR), 1966. Article 20.
[16] UN Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), 1948. United Nations, Treaty Series, Vol. 78, on 9 December 1948.
[17] African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), 1981. June 27, 21 I. L. M. 59 (1982) (entered into force Oct. 21, 1986).
[18] Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime, 2003. Entered into force in 2006.
[19] Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Constitution, 1995. Proclamation No. 1/1995, Article 9 (4).
[20] F. Viljoen, 2007. International human rights law in Africa, pp. 530-538.
[21] GedionTimothewos, 2010. Freedom of Expression in Ethiopia: The Jurisprudential Dearth, Mizan Law Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, p. 208.
[22] Abadir Mohammed, 2008. The Human Rights Provisions of the FDRE Constitution in Light of Theoretical Foundations of Human Rights, Addis Ababa University Printing Press, p. 85.
[23] Vienna Declaration, 1993. Vienna Declaration and Program of Action World Conference on Human Rights Article 5.
[24] Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) Broadcasting Service Proclamation 533/2007, Article 2 (2).
[25] Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) Advertisement Proclamation No. 759/2012, Article 2 (1), Federal Negarit Gazeta.
[26] Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) Computer Crime Proclamation No. 958/2016, Article 14-15.
[27] Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) National Intelligence and Security Service Re-establishment Proclamation, Proclamation No. 804/2013, Article 8 (6), Federal Negarit Gazeta.
[28] Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) Human Rights Commission Establishment Proclamation No. 210/2000, Article 4, 22 and 23.
[29] The problem with hate speech laws in Europe, 2017, available at: https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/01/30/inEnglish, accessed on 30 November 2019.
[30] Report of the OSCE-ODIHR Expert Meeting Incitement to Hatred versus Freedom of Expression: Challenges of combating hate crimes motivated by hate on the Internet Warsaw, 22 March 2010.
[31] Bart Goddyn, 2001. Defining Anonymity and its Dimensions in the Electronic World Submitted to the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law and Information Technology (ICRI) of the Catholic University for the Seminar on Law and Information Science, p. 4.
[32] Andrews, Jeff Gilbert, 2011. Anonymity on the Internet CS 181 Final Project, Spring 2011 Georgia, available at: https://sites.google.com/site/cs181anonymity/home.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Anwar Ahmed, Abdurahman Ousman Dansa, Abadir Youya Musa. (2021). Regulating Inter-Ethnic Induced Hate Speech in Ethiopia. Humanities and Social Sciences, 9(6), 298-305. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210906.21

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    ACS Style

    Anwar Ahmed; Abdurahman Ousman Dansa; Abadir Youya Musa. Regulating Inter-Ethnic Induced Hate Speech in Ethiopia. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2021, 9(6), 298-305. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20210906.21

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    AMA Style

    Anwar Ahmed, Abdurahman Ousman Dansa, Abadir Youya Musa. Regulating Inter-Ethnic Induced Hate Speech in Ethiopia. Humanit Soc Sci. 2021;9(6):298-305. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20210906.21

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  • @article{10.11648/j.hss.20210906.21,
      author = {Anwar Ahmed and Abdurahman Ousman Dansa and Abadir Youya Musa},
      title = {Regulating Inter-Ethnic Induced Hate Speech in Ethiopia},
      journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
      volume = {9},
      number = {6},
      pages = {298-305},
      doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20210906.21},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210906.21},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20210906.21},
      abstract = {Freedom of expression is not absolute right and may be restricted for the sake of protecting other fundamental human rights in accordance with law. Online social Media is unlike print media, tend to be unregulated and provide services being manipulated all over the world. Hate speech should not be hided under the protective umbrella of freedom of speech or expression. There must have a clear demarcation between free speech and hate speech. Accordingly, the main objective of the article is to examine international legal instruments, Ethiopian legal frameworks and institutional setting which regulate hate speech. In order to achieve the intended aims, the study employed doctrinal legal research on which legal analysis of the principal legislations. In so doing, the result of findings identified a lot of legal vacuums with regards to hate speech. Further, the existing FDRE proclamation No.1185/2020 provides responsibilities of service provider institutions to suppress and prevent dissemination of hate speech; however, the practical enforcement of hate speech legislation in Ethiopia suffers challenges inter-alia: absence of uniform definition, contents and scope of hate speech, anonymity, jurisdiction etc. Finally, the study used OSCOLA rule of reference in this article.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Regulating Inter-Ethnic Induced Hate Speech in Ethiopia
    AU  - Anwar Ahmed
    AU  - Abdurahman Ousman Dansa
    AU  - Abadir Youya Musa
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210906.21
    DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20210906.21
    T2  - Humanities and Social Sciences
    JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
    JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
    SP  - 298
    EP  - 305
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-8184
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210906.21
    AB  - Freedom of expression is not absolute right and may be restricted for the sake of protecting other fundamental human rights in accordance with law. Online social Media is unlike print media, tend to be unregulated and provide services being manipulated all over the world. Hate speech should not be hided under the protective umbrella of freedom of speech or expression. There must have a clear demarcation between free speech and hate speech. Accordingly, the main objective of the article is to examine international legal instruments, Ethiopian legal frameworks and institutional setting which regulate hate speech. In order to achieve the intended aims, the study employed doctrinal legal research on which legal analysis of the principal legislations. In so doing, the result of findings identified a lot of legal vacuums with regards to hate speech. Further, the existing FDRE proclamation No.1185/2020 provides responsibilities of service provider institutions to suppress and prevent dissemination of hate speech; however, the practical enforcement of hate speech legislation in Ethiopia suffers challenges inter-alia: absence of uniform definition, contents and scope of hate speech, anonymity, jurisdiction etc. Finally, the study used OSCOLA rule of reference in this article.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 6
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • School of Law, Oda Bultum University, Chiro, Ethiopia

  • College of Social Science and Humanities, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Program, West Hararghe High Court of Oromia Regional State, Chiro, Ethiopia

  • College of Social Science and Humanities, Peace and Development Studies Program, Haramaya University, Haramaya, Ethiopia

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