A THESIS SUBMITTED TO ARBA MINCH UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL OF LAW IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF LAW (LL.M) IN HUMAN RIGHTS AND JUSTICE STUDIES

Abstract

Though the judiciary is inherently given the power to interpret and apply law so as to dispense justice, their institutional as well as the individual independence of judges working in judiciary is vital to achieve the ultimate purpose. States have extra human rights obligation not to violate the fundamental rights of suspected and arrested persons. The judicial independence has a great role in protecting the human rights of suspected. However, in the study area, corruption, interferences from other organs, opaque appointment procedure and lack of budgetary autonomy are problems in ensuring independence of court. Therefore, this study intended to examine the context, trend and practices of judicial independence in Gamo Zone. A qualitative legal research methodology was adopted and data was collected from judges, court presidents, public prosecutors and private lawyers through open ended questionnaires and interviews. Both content and thematic qualitative data analyzing techniques were used to analyses the collected data. The study revealed that, interferences from other bodies of government, corruption, non-transparent procedure of selection and appointment of judges & discipline management; unconstitutional budget allocation & misuse of budget and toothless JAC in ensuring judicial independence are the main findings. Therefore, the effective implementation of the principle of judicial independence in Gamo zone is highly required. It is also suggested that courts have to be reformed in holistically to be modernized justice rendering institution.