SCHOOL OF LAW EXCELLING THE REACH OF LEGAL SCHOLARSHIP THREE SPECIALIZED LL.M PROGRAMS

Transcription

1 SCHOOL OF LAW EXCELLING THE REACH OF LEGAL SCHOLARSHIP THREE SPECIALIZED LL.M PROGRAMS 1

2 About the Law School Bahir Dar University is established with the broad objectives of cultivating and transmitting knowledge, conducting research and studies in various fields that assist in solving societal problems, and producing competent persons in the respective fields of study, as well as with the view of providing professional services at the regional and national level that help accelerate the overall socio-economic development of the country. The Bahir Dar University Law School has been established within the context of these broader objectives of the University. The Department of Law was officially established by the decision of the University Senate in August 2001, and subsequently developed into a full-fledged Faculty in February 2004, renamed in 2009 as Law School. The School has as its mission serving the basic purpose of playing a major role in producing adequately trained legal professionals who will be prepared to serve their community with legal skills, ethical and intellectual guidance, and to strengthen the qualification and man power of the personnel in the judiciary, law enforcement agencies, counselling and advisory departments, and other institutions engaged in law related activities at various levels. Conducting research and giving community services are also within the mission of the School. The School has also taken a share of responsibility in guaranteeing the proper dissemination of basic ideals of law and protection of universally acknowledged human rights through its Legal Aid Centre. Currently, in the field of law, the School is giving training that leads to Bachelor of Law (LLB) in the Regular, Continuing Education and Distance programs. Because of the ever increasing demand for qualified legal professionals with high level of training, the School has already started expanding its horizon of training into master of laws programs. There are three specialized LL.M Programs launched by the school. Regular Students have been admitted in all the three programs. Our students have come mainly from the academia, the judiciary, and the offices of public prosecution. There are also students who are private attorneys and consultants. Moreover, we have broadened students and stakeholders access to our LL.M through summer program. In this respect, the FDRE Ministry of Defense and the Justice Bureau of Gambella Regional State send students to our LL.M in Criminal Justice and Human Rights program in the summer arrangement. We are preparing to admit into our LL.M Programs (on summer) personnel from the Amhara National Regional State Bureau of Justice, Supreme Court, and Justice System Reform and Research Institute. We are willing and ready to broaden this opportunity on project basis to other governmental and non-governmental institutions. 2

3 1. MASTER OF LAW IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW Our LL.M Program in Criminal Justice and Human Rights is the first of its kind all over the country s law schools. It provides students with a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the knowledge and expertise that lead them to become matured and full-fledged professionals in both specific, but interrelated, fields of Human Rights and Criminal Justice. Students in the Class Room attending Professor Pietro s Lecture Program Objectives The program is designed to train qualified persons in criminal justice and human rights who can help transform the current state of the criminal justice system and human rights practices. The program focuses on a systematic examination of the criminal justice system in its entirety which involves a sustained and methodological investigation of its normative, institutional, procedural and cultural framework. The program is expected to widen the students understanding of theoretical background and legal framework of human rights law. In light of the close inter-relationship of criminal justice and human rights, the LLM in Criminal Justice and Human Rights program will allow the students the flexibility to receive advanced instructions in both areas of law. The program is designed in such a way as to enable students acquire an in-depth understanding of how the criminal justice system works and relate it with human rights law. The program will also develop a range of transferable skills, including in research, written and oral presentation. Graduates will be equipped with an advanced understanding of the legal and theoretical framework of the criminal justice system and human rights. They will be able to identify problems in the criminal justice and human rights issues and come up with workable solutions. Further, they will acquire the knowledge and skills required to conduct cutting-edge research in a 3

4 professional manner in their field. Course Breakdown The list of courses offered in the program is indicated in the table below by the year and the semester in which they are offered. Advanced Legal Research Methodology Advanced Issues in Criminal Law Criminology The History, Philosophy and Politics of Human Rights Comparative Criminal Justice Policy Advanced Criminal Procedure & Criminal Evidence International Human Rights Law International Humanitarian Law Restorative Justice International Criminal Law Comparative Regional Human Rights Protection System Human Rights and Development LLM Thesis What Students Say about the Program Kidist Gebrehiwot, the first Woman to join our Postgraduate program. She is extremely successful, and proven to be exmplary to all our students and to those who strive to join us. To learn and to know the unknown is always fascinating. This happiness is astounding when people with vast experience and knowledge are the source of this wisdom. This is exactly what I have experienced as a graduate student in the criminal justice and human rights program at Bahir Dar University. Thanks to the tireless professors, I believe, as a student, I have benefited a lot. In my stay at the university, I believe, I improved my skills to listen to people s ideas, critically examine it and support and/or refute against it on the basis of established thought or theory. I have also learned how to work together for a common goal and hence our classes were more of cooperative than competitive. This, I could say, has been quite an important aspect of the classes we have had. To cut it short, if one is to have a better exposure to worldly experience and knowledge related to criminal justice and human rights, I would say this school is a number one choice to avail. 4

5 Abebe Assefa Being acquainted with the values of criminal justice and human rights laws at times means being the fullest person on the contemporary and pressing issues of criminal justice and human rights. This is, however, hardly possible unless a student is certain to decide and study his/her LL.M in Bahir Dar University, Law school. Attending Law School, in Bahir Dar University, department of Criminal Justice and Human Rights Laws was the best decision I have ever made. My involvement with this program was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my entire life. Simply put, the school offered me the opportunity to grow as an individual and bestow me other valuable extramural skills which will benefit me much in the real world life. The program, with no doubt, makes the school perfect for me. Because, firstly, it is a new program, as far as my knowledge is concerned, in the history of the country s law schools. The courses which are offered present a number of different approaches to criminal justice and human rights laws. Starting from criminal behavior courses, focusing on the reasons why crimes are committed and the approaches to reduce the same, to the various legal courses explaining the penalties and the institutions, it offers also the various aspects of human rights laws. In doing so, the program makes criminal justice and human rights two sides of the same coin. It is really interesting innovation to heighten the value of human rights by integrating human rights courses with the criminal justice courses which could enable a criminal justice system responsive to human rights issues. This, for me, makes the program a well ranked program. Secondly, the school, without exaggeration, never made the quality of the program negotiable. I got the opportunity to learn from celebrated professors and experts, who were extremely knowledgeable, from across the corners. They all were marvelous, extremely approachable and helpful so that succeeding in academics was very easy. Besides, it was a pleasure for me to spend two years with highly qualified and cooperative faculty members. All in all, criminal justice and human rights laws program in this school was a great choice for me. I would still choose to go to the School for such program if I had a second opportunity to do so. I would, therefore, highly recommend this School to anyone interested in studying criminal justice and human rights law. Wondimagegn Gebre Bahir Dar University is really a big university playing tremendous roles in producing intellectuals capable of, in my opinion, bringing change to the country. As part of accomplishing its grand objectives, the university has ever been able to launch and offer many postgraduate programs. As part of the university, the law school is running many attention-grabbing postgraduate programs-of which criminal justice and human rights law is one. I feel lucky that I am expert in both criminal justice and human rights law. The school has done a lot in equipping me (and all of my other classmates) with the expected and required knowledge and skill in the field of criminal justice and human rights law within, if not exceeding, the available resources. One can note that this is not exaggeration when she/he proves that all the courses we took were delivered by instructors of high profile, both in academic and experience qualifications. I believe these good things 5

6 would be kept up for they are the reasons that brand the school when compared to its most counterparts. It is always a startling for me that almost all the law school staff have shared and worked for the visions and objectives of the school. Let me use this opportunity that I would like to express my special thanks to the diligent and vibrant law school staff. Above all, I would like to thank all the instructors that taught me for sowing the seed that inspired me to believe in my abilities to reach for greater heights. All the excellent cooperation of the instructors and those that were around me will always be an inspiration throughout my future career. By now, I appreciated the time I decided to pursue my LLM study at Bahir Dar University. I would like to conclude with the statement Keep the good thingsup Some of the Professors Handling Courses in the Criminal Justice and Human Rights Program Publications 1. A book entitled A Rights-Based Approach to HIV Prevention, Care, Support and Treatment: A Review of Its Implementation in Ethiopia, Proquest, USA, 2012, available online. 2. Participation Rights of the Child, Ethiopian Journal of Legal Education, V. I, No2, HIV Testing From an African Human Rights Perspective: An Analysis of the Policy and Legal Framework of Ethiopia, Mekelle University Law Journal, V.1, No The Ramification of the 2009 Higher Education Proclamation on the Institutional Academic Freedom of Ethiopian Law Schools,Ethiopian Journal of Legal Education, V. 3, No. 2, The Human Rights Discourse in Perspective: Cultural Relativism and Women s Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, Jimma University Law Journal, V. 3, No. 1, Doctor Mizanie Abate (LL.B, Addis Ababa University, LL.M, University of Pretoria, PhD, University of Alabama). Dr. Mizanie has been the Director of the school and delivered such Courses as International Human Rights Law, Comparative Regional Human Rights Protection System Professor Pietro Toggia (PhD), a visiting scholar, delivers at BDU Law School such course as Comparative Criminal Justice Policy, Restorative Justice. Professor Pietro Toggia has been teaching in the Department of Criminal Justice since fall He earned his Master's and doctoral degrees in justice 6 studies at Arizona State University in United States. He is a full professor and teaches Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminology, Comparative Criminal Justice Systems, Ethics in Criminal Justice, and occasionally Senior Seminar in Criminal Justice. He has recently taught three sections of a graduate course in Advanced Criminology (as a visiting professor in Ethiopia) in the Department of Sociology at Addis Ababa University, in the Faculty of LAW at AAU, and in the School of Law at Bahir Dar University in fall He gave invitational lectures on transnational organized crimes at the University of Teramo (Italy) in May 2009 and on critical survey of criminological theories at Kenyatta University (Kenya) in May Dr. Toggia also co-organized and conducted a three-day workshop on human rights and policing for a group of high-ranking Kenyan police officers in August He has co-edited two books on the Horn of Africa and Ethiopia: Crisis and Terror in the Horn of Africa: The Autopsy of Democracy, Human Rights and Freedom with Ashgate (2000); Ethiopia in

7 Transit: Millennial Quest for Stability and Continuity with Routledge (2011). He has also published peer reviewed articles, and presented numerous international conference papers with a primary focus on Africa on such topics as modern policing in Ethiopia, constitutionalism and the rule of law, genocide, kidnapping in Kenya, innovative mobile technology and innovative crimes in Kenya, organized crime syndicate (Mungiki) in Kenya, transitional justice in Africa, anti-vagrancy laws in Ethiopia, comparative police systems and police reforms in Kenya and South Africa at the American Society of Criminology, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the African Studies Association annual conferences. He has two encyclopedia entries (forthcoming in early 2012) on kidnapping and international guidelines on victimization in The Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Wiley-Blackwell). Dr. Toggia currently serves as a member of the editorial boards of the African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies (online) and the International Journal of Ethiopian Studies (Tsehai Publishers). He also serves as the book review editor of African Identities (Routledge). Worku Yazie (Assistant Professor) (LL.B, Addis Ababa University; LL.M, Addis Ababa University) Worku Yazie is among the most senior staffs of the school. He has served the school as a dean for several years. His administration had the aspiration to realize that the school would run postgraduate programs, and he took the initiative towards the fulfillment of that vision.worku is currently teaching and advising students in the Criminal Justice and Human Rights LLM Program of the School. His main research interests are in the area of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law and Criminal Evidence. Publications 1. Presumption of Innocence and the Requirement of Proof Beyond reasonable Doubt: Reflections on Meaning, Scope and their Place under Ethiopian Law, Ethiopian Human Rights Law Series, Vol. 3, (Addis Ababa University Faculty of Law; AAU Press (January 2010); 2. Issue Framing and Deciding Burdens of Proof in Civil Cases: A comment on Ato Gebru G/Meskel v Priest G/Medhin Reda case, Bahir Dar University Law Journal, Vol. 1, No.1, School of Law, Bahir Dar University; AAU Press (April 2010); 3. Operation and Effect of Presumptions in Civil Proceedings: An Inquiry into the interpretation of Art 2024 of the Ethiopian Civil Code, Mizan Law Review Vol. 4, No 2; St. Mary s University College, 2010; 4. Status and Role of Victims of Crime in the Ethiopian Criminal Justice System, Bahir Dar University Law Journal, Vol. 2, No.1, School of Law, July, 2011; 5. (Co-author) Molla Ababu & Worku Yaze, MATERIALS ON LAW OF EVIDENCE: Notes, Cases and Questions; Eclipse (Addis Ababa); 2010; 6. (Co-author) Dessie Seioum & Worku Yaze, False Testimony and Perjury in the Criminal Justice System of the Amhara National Regional State: Prevalence, Causes, Impacts and Solutions, Higigat, (Journal of Amhara National Regional State Justice Bureau), Vol. 1, No 3, June 2012 /Sene 2004 E.C 7

8 2. LL.M IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND LAND LAW Since the second half of the 20 th century, the world has seen unprecedented breakthroughs in terms of the level of science, technology, and economic growth. These are normally meant to maximize opportunity, welfare, and security and safety to humanity. Unfortunately, however, there have been numerous phenomena that are proven to be major setbacks to the gains of the progress that humanity could have exploited. One of the most important hindrances to human s achievement is problems posed to the environment. Environmental problems, irrespective of their causes from domestic or global activities, have kept on threatening the wellbeing of human race. Needless to mention the fact that the root-causes for the bulk of ecological problems are traceable to anthropogenic interferences to nature. The economic success witnessed in the development history has been countered by environmental externalities of the development process itself. There has literally been few or no development process that does not put any pressure on the environment. There seems to be a consensus that there are way-outs to significantly reduce the adverse environmental effect of development processes. In doing so, environmental policies and regulations occupy a central place in all spheres of human activities. Equally important in that respect is availability of professionals who are well equipped with the knowledge and expertise on important issues and regulatory regimes concerning the environment. Being cognizant of this fact, the law school strives to carryout its share of responsibility by putting in place this unique master s program. The school also underscores the important place that land occupies in the socio-economic life of societies such as those in Ethiopia where significant numbers of the people engage in land-based economic and social activities. There is acute need for legal professionals trained in land governance. The law school has been providing this opportunity to current and prospective students to qualify in the two distinctively important field of study-environmental and Land Law. Training Objectives The program is designed to train qualified persons in Environment and Land Law who can act as experts in the field of land law and environmental law. The program is expected to widen the students understanding of the rules and principle related to land regulation and environment protection. The program is designed in such a way as to enable students acquire an in-depth understanding of domestic and international environmental law policies and principles and the land law regime in comparative perspective. It is expected to equip them with the requisite knowledge that will enable them to research and find out problems in the field of environment and land law. Students in the class-room with their beloved professor, Ato Melese Damtie 8

9 Courses Offered in the Program Advanced Research Methods Introduction to Environmental Science International Environmental Law Ethiopian Environmental Policy and Law Environmental Governance Law and Sustainable Development Environmental Ethic Conceptual and Theoretical Foundations of Property Comparative Land Policy and Law Ethiopian Rural Land Policy and Law Ethiopian Urban Land Policy and Law International and Nile Water Law(E) Ethiopian Water Law and Policy(E) LL.M. Thesis What Our Students say about the Program matured instructors, are proposed in a manner that broadens students perception of the concepts, underlining principles and legal frameworks of both domestic and international arena. I, personally, obtain a variety of stances to appreciate environmental and land problems with corresponding mechanisms of solving the challenges. I am Binyam Seleshi from graduate study program on Environment and land Law at School of Law in Bahir Dar University. The program is intended to produce competent man power in the field of environment and land with parallel knowledge of tackling problems arise out of the issues. Besides, the diversified discussions and thoughts raised during the lectures enables me (and my mates as well) to grasp wider range of experience in the area. The bunch of miscellaneous experiences, as derived from variety of personalities, in the class room creates conducive environment to assemble skills and knowledge existed in reality with the principles and concepts under the curriculum. The lectures, conducted by well experienced and I have joined the University this year as a post-graduate student of Environment and Land Law- in the School of Law. I have seen most of the courses are being delivered by different professors and professionals coming from different areas outside of Bahir Dar. In doing so, I have seen encouraging endeavors to bring well versed and practically proficient professors and expert to deliver different courses. Hence, we have got chances to discuss about problems and proposed solution concerning nature and the environment with highly specialized and practically experienced professors and professionals. Besides, there is cooperative and friendly type of relationship among us, i.e. students, between students and staffs of the law school. Haileeyesus T/Mariam 9

10 Some of the Professors Handling Courses in the Environmental and Land Law Program Melese Damtie (Assistant Professor) (BSC, Addis Ababa University; LL.B, Addis Ababa University, LL.M, University of Amsterdam; PhD Candidate, University of Warwick). He is a visiting professor delivering Ethiopian Environmental Policy and Law Publications 1. Mellese Damtie & Mohammud Abdulahi, Legal and Institutional Analysis for Sustainable Use of Forest Resources: The Case of Sheka Forest in Southwestern Ethiopia, Forests of Sheka: Multidisciplinary Case studies in impacts of land use/ land cover changes, Southwest Ethiopia, Melca-Ethiopia, Mellese Damtie, Medico-Legal Significance of Duration of Pregnancy Under the Ethiopian Civil Code. Ethiopian Law Review, Vol. 1 No. 1, August Mellese Damtie and Ellen Alem, Women s Reproductive Rights in the Ethiopian Context" BERCHI: The Annual Journal of Ethiopian Women lawyers Association, Vol. 1 2, summer, Mellese Damtie, Land use and Forest Legislation for Conservation, Development and Utilization of Forests, published in the Proceedings of a Workshop conducted on February 1, 2001 organized by the Biological Society of Ethiopia under a theme of Imperative problems Associated with Forestry in Ethiopia. 5. Mellese Damtie, Original W. Giorgis and Emebet Kebede, Violence Against Women in Addis Ababa, BERCHI: The Annual Journal of Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association, 5, Mellese Damtie and Mesfin Bayou, Overview of Environmental Impact Assessment in Ethiopia: Gaps and Challenges, Melca Mahber, Mellese Damtie, Collation Under Ethiopian Law of Successions: Payment by Taking Less MIZAN Law Review, Volume Mellese Damtie, Land Ownership and Its Relations to Sustainable Development, Ethiopian Business Law Series AAU, Faculty of Law, Vol. 3, Mellese Damtie (2010) Environmental Law, Book published as part of the NUFFIC project entitled Support to the Development of Faculties of Law of the Jimma and Bahir Dar Universities NPT-Eth-182 and organized by Utrecht University, Eclipse Press, Addis Ababa. 10. Mellese Damtie, Anthropocentric and Ecocentric Versions of the Ethiopian Legal Regime, book chapter in Peter Burdon (ed.) (2011), Exploring Wild Law: The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence, Wakefield Press, Kent Town. 11. Mellese Damtie and Solomon Kebede (2012), The Need for Redesigning and Redefining Institutional Roles for Environmental Governance in Ethiopia, MELCA-Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. 10

11 Dr. Dejene Girma Janka (LL.B, Addis Ababa University; LL.M University of Pretoria ; PhD, University of Alabama). Dr. Dejene is a visiting professor who handles a course on Sustainable Development Publications: The Place of Environmental Protection in the Growth and Transformation Plan of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Oromia Journal of Law, The Relevance of Hobbesian Principles of Punishment in Today s World in light of the Ethiopian Criminal System, Jimma University Journal of Law, V4, No1, December The Construction and Distribution of Condominium Houses in Ethiopia in Light of the Right to Housing, Ethiopian Journal of Legal Education, V3 No 2, Dec Environmental Democracy in Ethiopia: Emphasis on Public Participation in the Administration of Environmental Impact Assessment, Bahir Dar University Journal of Law, V.1, No.2, November Environmental Impact Assessment, Bahir Dar University Journal of Law, V.1, No.2, November Participation of Stakeholders in Environmental Impact Assessment Process in Ethiopia: Law and Practice, Jimma University Law Journal, 2011, V 3, No. 1, ISSN , October The Domestic Applicability of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in Ethiopia, Ethiopian Journal of Legal Education, V3 No 1, June Criminal Responsibility of Juridical Persons in Ethiopia, Jimma University Journal of Law, V2 No1, January Tell Me Why I Need to Go to Court: A Devastating Move by the Federal Cassation Division, Jimma University Journal of Law, V2, No1, January Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and their Enforcement under the FDRE Constitution, Jimma University Journal of Law, V1 No2, January The Defence of Duress, Consent and Necessity under the New Criminal Code of Ethiopia, Jimma University Journal of Law, V1, No1, October

12 Ermias Ayalew (Assistant Professor) (LL.B, Addis Ababa University; LL.M, University of Pretoria & University of Amsterdam; PhD Candiddate, University of South Africa ). Ermias has been coordinator of the Postgraduate Program, the Research and Community Services Unit of the School. He has Been handling such courses as Advanced Legal Research Methods, Law, Environment and Development. Publications Environmental Measures for Process and Production Methods in the GATT/WTO rules (published in the Jimma University Law Journal, Vol ). Eco-labelling in the WTO TBT Agreement and Concerns of less developing countries (published in the Bahir Dar University Law Journal, Vol ). Civil Law Remedies for Victims of Medical Malpractice Under the Ethiopian Law (Ethiopian Journal of legal education, Vol. 4, No ). Co-author a Book on the Ethiopian Law of Traders and Business Organizations (published by the support of the Netherlands NUFFIC-NPT project ). Daniel Woldegebriel Daniel Weldegebriel Ambaye (LL.B, MSc) is a lecturer and a PhD fellow teaching both at the Institute of Land Administration and the School of Law, Bahir Dar University. He received his first degree in laws from Addis Ababa University and his Masters degree in Land Management from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden. Ato Daniel has been teaching and researching Ethiopian land law for several years. Ato Daniel has a vast experience in teaching and writing modules, research articles and newspaper commentaries. He co-authored two teaching text materials on Jurisprudence and Land Law for Ethiopian law schools sponsored by the FDRE Justice and Legal Research Institute. He also wrote and presented papers on international conferences related to expropriation, land rights, and informal settlements in Hanoi-Vietnam, Marrakesh-Morocco and Rome-Italy respectively. 12

13 3. LL.M IN BUSINESS AND CORPORATE LAW The dynamics of doing business both locally and internationally demands legal professionals wellequipped with the knowledge and expertise to deal with complex situations in business transactions. Corporate businesses are ever flourishing in the country and across the globe, and everyone expect this trend to mushroom in the years to come. These realities motivate the law school to respond to the acute demand in legal personal in business and corporate law. The program is designed to train applicants with background in law. The program focuses on a systematic examination of the basic aspects of the Ethiopian and international business and corporate regime. The study involves a sustained and methodological investigation of its [business and corporate law s] normative, institutional, procedural and cultural framework. The program is expected to widen the students understanding of theoretical background and legal framework of commercial law. Also, the LLM in Business & Corporate Law program will allow the students the flexibility to receive advanced instructions in related yet distinct areas of law. The program is designed in such a way as to enable students acquire an in-depth understanding of how the international and national business regulatory regimes fare in both economic and legal terms. The program will also develop a range of transferable skills, including in research, written and oral presentation. Graduates will be equipped with an advanced understanding of the legal and theoretical framework of the business, corporate and tax laws of Ethiopia. They will be able to identify problems in business and corporate law and come up with workable solutions. Further, they will acquire the knowledge and skills required to conduct cuttingedge research in a professional manner in their field. Most importantly, graduates are expected to contribute a lot in the understanding and consolidation of the promising business and corporate developments in Ethiopia. Generally, the LLM in Business and Corporate Law prepares students for: a career as an independent researcher in the public and private sector with special focus on business and corporate issues; a career as advisor, consultant, and dispute settlers in matters involving business and corporate issues. Course Breakdown The list of courses offered in the program is indicated in the table below by the year and the semester in which they are offered. Advanced Legal Research Methods Comparative Corporate Law Business Regulation International Business Transactions Commercial Dispute Settlement International Economic Law Law of Financial Market & Institutions Law of Corporate Finance & Governance Business Tax Law Ethiopian Competition Policy & Law Seminar on the Law of Public Enterprises & Endowments LLM Thesis 13