Freedom of expression is the key for building a real democracy in any country.It is also a human right.However,there should be a limit to it as there is a limit on any right.For example,defamatory,libel,riot-provoking expressions need not be permitted by the guise of freedom of expression. In Ethiopia,there are nations and nationalities with their own identities. If one person tries to say something like "This type of nation or nationality is non-existent '' or if the person speaks something similar to this that degrades the identity of a certain nation or nationality,etc,is this something that falls within the legitimate right to freedom of expression? The right to freedom of expression should never ever be a tool for the abuse of others' rights. If abused,the legitimate right starts to constitute a crime. Nowadays,there are many posts on social media that degrade a certain ethnic,religious or political ideology groups. Constructive analysis and criticism is an encouragable culture but blatant insult is not. What do you think about this issue?
Force Majeure and Hardship under UNCISG and Ethiopian law (By our professional guest author Yidnekachew Tadele - LL.B., LL.M (Federalism Studies) and LL.M Candidate (International Investment Law) Honourable yidnekachew is currently working as a judge at Addis Ababa City Appelate Court.
Introduction The article that is entitled Force Majeure and Hardship under UNCISG and Ethiopian law discusses only about UNCISG and Ethiopian law. The paper doesn’t discuss about other UN convection or other countries’ laws. The article has five parts. The first part discuss about the general concept of force majeure and hardships. The second part discusses about the similarity and differences of force majeure and hardship. The Third one discusses about force majeure and hardship under UNCISG. The fourth part discusses about force majeure and hardship under Ethiopian law. Under the fifth and the last part the article the writer concludes the paper and gives some recommendations.
I would wholeheartedly agree with your 1st and 2nd statements: FoE is a pre-requisite for meaningful participation, in turn the essence of democracy; and, (partly for this very reason) FoE is a fundamental human right (as well as a pre-requisite for dignified human existence. Yet, the rest of your post gives me pose; not that any sane person would expect rights without limits. Or would I question the veracity of 'the rights of others' or 'public security' justifications for limitations on FoE. My worries pertain to two items in your post: the word 'permitted' and 'the guise of FoE'. The first, IMHO, erroneously subjects a legally recognized right as a matter of permission. The second is simply too negative a word to use in reference to our rights, yours and mine. Generally, I would submit that the issue should be the permissibility or legitimacy of the limits rather than the potential for abuse.
ReplyDeletegmgiorgis,I don't think defamation,blathphemy,etc is a legally recognized right;rather it is Freedom of Expression(with Justifiable Limits)which is legally recognized.
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