Communication 341/07 - Equality Now v Ethiopia
tireless efforts are being made to ensure equal protection of women with men as per
the African Charter. It therefore requests the Commission to dismiss the matter.
Additional Submissions of the Complainants on Admissibility
55.
In response to the arguments of the State, the Complainants submit that domestic
remedies were exhausted once the Victim's case was denied by the highest Court of
Appeal, which is the Cassation Bench of the Federal Supreme Court. They state that
the initiation of new legal proceedings against the principal suspects as an
alternative means of punitive measures against Aberew - has no bearing on the
issue of exhaustion of domestic remedies by Woineshet, as she had exhausted all
domestic remedies available to her prior to filing the Communication with the
Commission. They state that any new proceedings by the Government, which to
date have not commenced, do not negate this fact and should be considered in the
context of a review on the merits.
56.
The Complainants further submit that the fact that the case of Woineshet on the
charges of her abduction and rape by Aberew went up to the highest court, the
Federal Supreme Court's Cassation bench, which declined to hear the matter, was
not disputed by the Respondent State. They also state that there are no further
remedies under Ethiopian law that can be exercised by the Victim, and that she has
no legal right to seek further action by the Government against Aberew.
57.
Whilst the Complainants appreciate and applaud the efforts that have since been
made by the Respondent State to protect and promote the human rights of women
in Ethiopia, including through the amendment of the Ethiopian Constitution and
the ratification of international and regional human rights instruments, they
maintain that the protection offered by the laws and standards to which the
Respondent State is bound was not extended to Woineshet, that the Courts did not
correctly implement the law and that the legal system therefore failed to provide to
Woineshet the legal protection to which she was entitled.
58.
They further aver that the Government's submission itself implicitly recognizes this
failure in highlighting the dissatisfaction of the Justice Bureau of Oromiya with the
judgments, and by indicating its intention to bring a charge of statutory rape
against Aberew.
59.
In response to the Respondent State's contention in its submission of October 2007,
that it had initiated a new case against Aberew, which was allegedly pending as at
the time of the State's submission in 2007, the Complainants, in rebuttal,
follows: