CORE CRIMES VICTIMS' RIGHT TO REPRESENTATION IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN ETHIOPIA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Historically, core crime victims were at the center of the criminal justice system. Through time, they lost this status. The legal representation of core crime victims in criminal proceedings increases the efficiency and truthfulness of the criminal justice system, heals crime victims’ pains, restores peace and security, and becomes one of the bases for reconciliation. The theme of this thesis is comparatively analyzing core crime victims’ rights to legal representation in criminal proceedings in Ethiopia with the ICC, Germany, South Africa, and the USA, with the main objective of drawing good lessons Ethiopia can learn and analyzing the merits and challenges of extending their rights from the perspectives of international and national selected jurisdictions. For this purpose, doctrinal research methodology is used to analyze the normative framework of selected jurisdictions. Based on the research findings, core crime victims’ rights to legal representation in criminal proceedings are not recognized under Ethiopia’s legal framework. The legal representation of crime victims in criminal proceedings is not introduced in the Ethiopian criminal justice system even for ordinary crimes. The core crime victims’ legal representatives’ role in the criminal proceedings is limited to civil proceedings when a joinder is allowed at the discretion of the court. The draft criminal law procedure and evidence code also followed a similar path. A progressive framework is included under the transitional justice policy that was adopted in April 2024 but is yet to be concretized. By drawing lessons from the comparative study of the selected jurisdictions, it is imperative for Ethiopia to incorporate core crime victims’ right to representation in criminal proceedings under its legal framework. The incorporation of the legal and institutional framework for the representation of core crimes victim representation should be in a manner that avoids secondary victimization of the victims and in a way that does not violate accused persons' right to a fair trial.