Legal Regime Governing Inter-Country Adoption Under The Ethiopian Family Laws; Do The Ethiopian Family Laws Totally Ban Inter Country Adoption? Takeaways From The Chinese Family Law
Tesfaye Boresa Senbeta has graduated in Law from Jimma University, took his LL.M in Human Rights Law from Addis Ababa University; is working as a Supreme Court Judge at Oromia Supreme Court (Ethiopia). He Has also served as Director General at Oromia regional State Legal Training and Research Institute; Currently LL.D candidate at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics Law School, Shanghai, China.
ABSTRACT
Adoption is the juridical act in which family bondage will be established without any blood relationship. It is also great chance for both children without parents and parents without child to have their own family. It can be made either at domestic levels or as inter country adoption.
Though its practice goes to ancient time, it is widely introduced in many countries legal system after the end of the II World War. In the case of Ethiopia; adoption is introduced by the Oromo nation for many centuries which is nationally named “Guddifachaa”.
Ethiopia has been practicing inter country adoption for more than two decades. Despite its challenge significant number children’s life have been changed and benefited from inter country adoption. However; Ethiopia has enacted a law banning the act in 2018. There are claims on the clarity of the law and its scope of applications. It is criticized for compromising the fate of many orphans in the country.
Thus, this paper assesses the legal regime governing inter-country adoption under the Ethiopian family laws by making a brief comparative study to with correspondent provisions of the Chinese family law. Court decisions were also employed as an empirical data.
Finally, it is concluded that the Ethiopian Family laws are not incompatible and the revised family law of Ethiopia is inadequate to regulate the act. Thus, it requires reconsideration of the act drawing lessons from the Chinese Civil Code, the latest civil code of the era allowing for inter-country adoption.
Keywords: Inter Country Adoption, Guddifachaa, Child Rights, Orphans, Vulnerables Ethiopia
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