Uses and Users of Justice in Africa : The Case of Ethiopia's Federal Courts
This report presents the findings of one of a series of studies sponsored by the World Bank on the 'uses and users' of courts in the regions where it participates in justice reform projects. These studies typically use aggregate statistic...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank
2012
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| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000356161_20101122013414 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2937 |
| Summary: | This report presents the findings of one
of a series of studies sponsored by the World Bank on the
'uses and users' of courts in the regions where it
participates in justice reform projects. These studies
typically use aggregate statistics and random samples of
cases files to analyze court performance. The results of
these studies are useful to countries and to the Bank in
separating real from imagined problems, identifying their
causes, planning reform programs, and tracking their results
over time. Although in Africa court use is typically
restricted to a small portion of the population, most donor
funding goes to the formal court system and most countries
are interested in expanding access to the latter. Hence, the
studies can help evaluate those investments and point them
in directions where they are likely to do the most good in
advancing objectives like increased and more equitable
access, delay reduction, and satisfactory resolution of
common disputes. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in
Africa and thus in the world. As in the rest of Africa,
traditional dispute resolution mechanisms and a series of
'hybrid institutions' serve a majority of the
population. However, its judicial system is unusual in
several aspects. First, since 1994, the government has been
actively engaged in expanding access to the formal system
and improving the professionalism of its judges. Second, at
both the federal and sub-national levels, governments have
been actively extending the reach of the court system, both
by adding courts and judges and by using a variety of
additional mechanisms. Third, and most important for this
study, for the past ten years, the federal judiciary has
been promoting the development of a computerized case
tracking system to monitor performance. |
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