Dr. Abadir M. Ibrahim is the Associate Director of the Human Rights Program (HRP). He plays a substantive and managerial role in innovating and implementing academic activities, including the speaker series, conferences, and the HRP’s various fellowships.
Abadir’s career spans government administration, legal practice, activism, scholarship and education. Before joining the HRP, he was the Head of the Secretariat for the Legal and Justice Affairs Advisory Council of Ethiopia – an independent statutory body mandated with advising and providing technical support to the Ethiopian government on pro-democracy and pro-rights justice sector reforms. In his role as Head of the Secretariat, Abadir oversaw the planning and implementation of the Advisory Council’s mandate in addition to providing his expertise in the drafting of legislation connected with civil society, anti-terrorism, transitional justice, National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), and the regulation of legal practice.
Previously, Abadir worked in different roles within the human rights field. Abadir’s academic and legal work has focused on African countries, and especially his home country of Ethiopia, and engaged with the African system of human rights. His broader research interests encompass the intersections between global human rights normative structures and non-western cultural/religious institutions and traditions with a special emphasis on normative ethics and religion. He earned his J.S.D. from the Intercultural Human Rights Program at St. Thomas University, School of Law. Abadir further holds LL.M. degrees from St. Thomas University and Addis Ababa University respectively, and an LL.B. from Addis Ababa University.
Related Work
Books
Between Failure and Redemption: The Future of the Ethiopian Social Contract(Northwestern Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs and Northwestern University Libraries, 2022) Eds: Abadir Ibrahim et al.
Righting Human Rights through Legal Reform: Ethiopia’s Contemporary ExperienceEthiopian Human Rights Law Series Vol. XII (Addis Ababa University 2020) Eds: Abadir Ibrahim et al.
The Role of Civil Society in Africa’s Quest for Democratization(Springer Int’l Pub., 2015)
The Human Rights Provisions of the FDRE Constitution in Light of the Theoretical Foundations of Human Rights
Ethiopian Human Rights Law Series Vol. I (AAU Univ. Press 2008)
Articles and Chapters
et al., When is Age Discrimination a Human Rights Violation?
36 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 223 (2023).
Islamic Law-Ethics and the Struggle against Slavery and Human Traffickingin Human Flourishing: The End of Law (Brill Nijhoff) Eds. W. Michael Reisman and Roza Pati (2023)
et al., A Dream Within a Dream: Minorities and Indigenous Peoples and Ethiopia’s Constitutional Momentsin Between Failure and Redemption: The Future of the Ethiopian Social Contract (Northwestern Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs and Northwestern University Libraries) Eds: Abadir Ibrahim et al. (2022)
Strategic Human Rights Litigation GuidelineLawyers for Human Rights – Ethiopia (2021)
Tilting at Windmills with Anti-Terrorism Laws: The Challenges of Doctrinally Challenging the Definition of TerrorismEthiopian Human Rights Law Series Vol. XII (Addis Ababa University) Eds: Abadir Ibrahim et al. (2020)
Critical Analysis of ‘Revolutionary Democracy’ Discourse and its Role in Ethiopia’s Experiment in (non)Democracy 21:1 International Journal of Ethiopian Studies (2018)
Rights-Based Learning Environment: The Missing Piece in Ethiopia’s Patchwork of a Human Rights Education Regime23:1 Political Crossroads 67 (2018)
A Not-So-Radical Approach to an Islamic Understanding of Human Rights96 Journal of Religion 346 (2016)
Religion-State Identification and Religious Freedom in Ethiopia, in Religious Freedom and Religious Pluralismin Africa: Prospects and Limitations (Christian Green, Pieter Coertzen and Len Hansen eds., SUN Press, 2016)
LGBT Rights in Africa and the Discursive Role of International Human Rights Law15 African Human Rights Law Journal 263 (2015)
Rooting Life and Death in Ethiopian Law: Towards a Holistic Approach to Rights Legislation
2 Ethiopian Journal of Human Rights 1 (2015)
Post-Revolutionary Islamism and the Future of Democracy and Human Rights in Egypt30 American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 19 (2013)
International Trade and Human Rights: An Unfinished Debate14 German Law Journal 321 (2013)
Evaluating a Decade of the AU’s Protection of Human Rights and Democracy: A Post-Tahrir Assessment12 African Human Rights Law Journal 30 (2012)
The Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement: The Beginning of the End of Egyptian Hydro-Political Hegemony18 Missouri Environmental Law and Policy Review 282 (2011)
A Critical Assessment of the Legal Principles Underlying the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement21 Journal of Water Law 198 (2011)
The International Criminal Court in Light of Controlling Factors of the Effectiveness of International Human Rights Mechanisms7 Eyes on the International Criminal Court 157 (2010-2011)
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Human Rights Education: Much Buzzing Still No Honey?35 South African Yearbook of International Law 111 (2010)
A Human Rights Approach to Environmental Protection: The Case of EthiopiaContemporary Legal Institutions 62 (2009)
“Reflections on a Quest for an Ethiopian Concept of Human Rights”
1 Ethiopian Journal of Legal Education 106 (2008)
“Notes on the Grading Criteria of the Law Faculty of the Addis Ababa University”
1 Ethiopian Journal of Legal Education (2008)
Book Reviews
Ahmedin Jebel, Pharaoh: “The Symbol of Dictators”Addis Ababa Ahmedin Jebel, Aug. 2015. x + 429 pp. Addis Standard (2017)
Terje Østebø. “Localizing Salafism: Religious change among Oromo Muslims in Bale”Ethiopia, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill NV, 2012. xxvi + 380 pp. 16 African Studies Quarterly 127 (2016)
Stig Jarle Hansen. “Al-Shabaab in Somalia: The History and Ideology of a Militant Islamist Group, 2005-2012″Oxford: C Hurst & Co. (2013) 14 Political Studies Review 315 (2016)
Daniel Drache & Lesley A. Jacobs (eds.), “Linking Global Trade and Human Rights: New Policy Space in Hard Economic Times”New York, NY: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014. 21 International Trade Law & Regulation 33 (2015)
E. Ike Udogu. “Examining Human Rights Issues and the Democracy Project in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Theoretical Critique and Prospects for Progress in the Millennium”Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2014. xxi, 219 pp. 14 African Studies Quarterly 111 (2014)
Other Publications
“The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission: A Champion of Transitional Justice?” Harvard Human Rights Reflections (4 Aug. 2023)
I’ve a Feeling We’re Not in Addis Anymore: Age Discrimination in Age-Set and Generation-Set Societies, Discrimination on the Basis of Chronological Age, November 2022 Workshop Proceedings and Working Papers, HRP Working Paper Series No. 001 (April 2023)
et al., “Ethiopia is not Ready for Transitional Justice”, Foreign Policy (14 Mar. 2023)
et al., “On Binaries, Blind Spots, and Shades of Gray: The UN Report on LGBTQ+ Persons in Armed Conflict”, EJIL: Talk! – Blog of the European Journal of International Law (28 Nov. 2022)
“Ethiopia’s Tortuous Path to Democratization”Ethiopia Insight (9 Jun. 2021)
et al., “The 2009 CSO Law and the Politics of “Me, Myself, and I” The Reporter (5 Sept. 2020)
et al., “የመንግሥት አስተዳደር ሥርዓት በአዲስ ምዕራፍ፤ የመመሪያዎች አወጣጥን በሕግ መግራት!”[Trans. A New Chapter in Ethiopian Administrative System: Regulating Law-Making by Law] Addis Maleda (1 Jun. 2020)
et al., “ትውልዳዊ ዕይታ፡ የፍትህ ስርዓት ለውጡን ‹ባልተሳካላቸው› የለውጥ አራማጆች ትከሻ ላይ ማቆም” [Trans. Learning to Stand on the Shoulders of “Unsuccessful” Reformers: An Intergenerational View?], Addis Maleda (11 May 2020)
et al., “የኢትዮጵያ የሕግና ፍትህ ስርዓት ማሻሻል ሂደት: አዲስ ጅማሬ ወይስ የሐሰት ተስፋ?” [Trans. Ethiopia’s Legal Reform: A New Beginning or a False Start?], Addis Maleda (11 May 2020)
et al., “ለማን አቤት ይባላል?” ለፍርድ ቤት! አዲሱ የአስተዳደር ሥነ-ሥርዓት አዋጅ እጅ ከምን” [Trans. Who do you Appeal to? The Courts! The Innovations of the New Administrative Procedure Law], Addis Maleda (4 May 2020)
et al., “The Silent Fighters: The Volunteers behind Ethiopia’s Democratic Reforms”, Addis Standard (27 Feb. 2020)
“Questions, Concerns and a Critique on the Decolonization of Ethiopian Knowledge”, Addis Standard (12 Dec. 2017)
“The Unfair Trial of Muslim Leaders: Why it Undermines Counterterrorism in Ethiopia”, Addis Standard (12 Aug. 2015)
“Religion Inspires in Ways that International Law Does Not”, Open Democracy (5 Mar. 2015) [subsequently translated into Arabic]
“Counterterrorism Policy in the Horn of Africa: A Sprint or a Marathon?” 14 Badr Magazine 23 (Aug. 2014)
“የግብፅ ዲሞክራሲ ሞትና አስተምህሮው” [Trans. Lessons in the Obituary of Egypt’s Democracy], The Reporter (25 Sept. 2013)
et al., “Redefining Protest in Ethiopia: What Happens to the ‘Terror’ Narrative when Muslims call for a Secular State?” Open Democracy (23 Oct. 2012) [subsequently translated into Amharic, Arabic and Oromo languages]
“The State, Political Exorcism, and the Possessed Population”, The Reporter (19 May. 2012)
“A Call for a Cultural Revolution in Africa and the Middle East”, The Reporter (03 Mar. 2012)
“How Surprising is the African Union’s Defense of Gaddafi?” The Reporter (22 Apr. 2011)
“Imaginative Interview with Thomas Hobbes and John Locke on the Current Situation in Egypt”, The Reporter (12 Feb. 2011).
Visual, Audio-Visual, and Mixed Genres
et al., በእመቤት ፍትሕ መነጽር፡ የፍትሕ ሥርዓት ለውጥና ከታሪክ ጋር የተያዘ ወግ [Trans.: In the Eyes of Lady Justice: A Historical Introspection on Justice System Reform] in Righting Human Rights through Legal Reform: Ethiopia’s Contemporary Experience, Ethiopian Human Rights Law Series Vol. XII (Addis Ababa University 2020) Eds: Abadir Ibrahim et al.
ከፏፏቴው ጫፍ የደረሰች ጀልባ [Trans.: A Boat at the Waterfall], Medium: whiteboard animation; Role: co-writing and direction (2021)
