---

Domestic violence threatens the lives and livelihood of the majority of Ethiopian women. This work presents the Ethiopian legal response to domestic violence in a comparative analysis with South Africa.The study found out that the state legal intervention on domestic violence issues is gravely lacking in Ethiopia. The study points out major factors as insufficient legal coverage in the criminal and civil laws of the country; lack of appropriate policy framework on provision of services for victims; lack of judicial activism to employ international and regional instruments to fill the legal gap at the domestic level and the trivialization of domestic violence as a private matter by both the community and law enforcement agencies. Additionally, the problem is attributed to the patriarchal culture in the society which condones domestic violence against women; the restraint on the already few activist organizations and lack of assuming state accountability for failure to protect the rights of women.

---

Tayechalem G. Moges was born in Ethiopia and graduated with a Gender Studies MA from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia and a Human Rights LLM from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. She is currently working as a consultant on areas of Human Rights, Gender and Justice. [PObox102,Addis Ababa,Ethiopia][tayechg@yahoo.com]

---