https://hulr.haramayajournals.org/index.php/hulr <p>The Haramaya Law Review (HLR) publishes original scholarly works on any topic relevant to the legal community, including analysis of domestic or international laws and cases, the African Union and other international organizations, challenges and lessons from domestic practice, and original field research.</p> Haramaya University en-US Haramaya Law Review 2227-2178 https://hulr.haramayajournals.org/index.php/hulr/article/view/472 <p>It is doubtful that many of the legislative restrictions on freedom of expression in Ethiopia <br>would go happily with the values and aspirations of the Constitution. The Ethiopian <br>legislature often enacts laws that limit the right to freedom of expression and often does so <br>with the alleged claims of protecting and promoting other policy objectives and interests. <br>This article examines the justifications given by the legislature in cases involving freedom of <br>expression in Ethiopia with the requirements of legality, legitimacy, and proportionality <br>developed elsewhere through constitutional and international human rights jurisprudence. <br>Although the Ethiopian legal regime on freedom of expression is now changing as new laws <br>are introduced, there has been little change regarding limits on freedom of expression in the <br>various pieces of legislation enacted so far. The article argues that the Ethiopian legislature <br>has yet to subscribe to the legitimate grounds of limitation of freedom of expression and to <br>comply with constitutional and international standards. The finding and analysis of the <br>paper reveals that the legislature frequently limits freedom of expression beyond what the <br>Constitution permits. This suggests the need for further legislative reforms concerning the <br>limits of freedom of expression in those laws under consideration. To this end, it is <br>suggested that the adoption of a proportionality analysis will result in a better legislative <br>and judicial interpretation of laws.</p> Hanan Marelign Zeleke Getachew Assefa Woldemariam Andrew Botterell Copyright (c) 2024 Haramaya University https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 2025-01-22 2025-01-22 13 1 24 https://hulr.haramayajournals.org/index.php/hulr/article/view/478 <p>This paper explores the factors affecting smallholder farmers’ participatory decision<br>making in land and water resource allocation. It employed a grounded theory research <br>design and utilized data collected through Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), Focus Group <br>Discussions (FGDs), non-participant observation, and document analyses. The factors <br>affecting smallholder farmers’ participatory decision-making include legal and practical <br>gaps such as asymmetric governance and regulatory disparities, complex and divergent <br>interests of stakeholders, social exclusion, communal land tenure insecurity, a deficit in <br>smallholder farmers' structural representation, and disenfranchisement stemming from <br>privatization. It further finds the consequences of non-participatory decision-making such as <br>restricted access to resources and conflicts, environmental degradation, and diminished <br>trust in government. The paper urges legal reforms to enhance participatory decision<br>making, recommends a decision-making model that incorporates smallholder farmers, and <br>recommends the need for structural representation of smallholder farmers’ effective <br>participatory decision-making in resource allocation.</p> Alemnesh Tsehay Kassa Copyright (c) 2024 Haramaya University https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 2024-01-24 2024-01-24 13 25 48