As part of the research and publications program, the Center launched in March 2013   the Ethiopian Journal of Human Rights, which publishes research articles concerning Human Rights from the perspectives of various disciplines. A modest fund has been secured from the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission to publish the first four issues of the journal.

Moreover, as part of its mandate and efforts in promoting human rights education, the Center has engaged in the preparation of textbooks, handbooks and other learning materials. The first such material was published in August 2012; the ‘Handbook on the Rights of the Child in Ethiopia’ was published by the Center through a modest funding provided by Save the Children Norway.

The Center also published a guidebook on Human Rights Research Methodology in October 2013, with a view to addressing methodological and legitimate critique on human rights research. The “Human Rights Research: A Practical Guidebook on Methodology and Methods” by integrating methods of normative analysis with those of empirical investigation to guide researchers, students, and practitioners, it cements the interdisciplinary nature of human rights in the protection and promotion of human rights in Ethiopia. The Guidebook was prepared and published with the financial assistance from the Austrian Development Cooperation.

Community Services

Through its community service program the Center is implementing ‘Access to Justice Project’. The Access to Justice Project commenced with the financial assistance extended from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a result of an agreement entered between the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, upon the initiation by the Center for Human Rights, Addis Ababa University as an implementing agency. The Project is built upon a pilot project called “Legal Literacy, Rights Advice and Information for Poor People” that lasted from October 2008 to March 2012 and was evaluated as a success.

The Access to Justice Project started operation in December 2012. The overall objective of the Project is to make difference, in the long term, in the lives of poor people by raising awareness of their legal rights and by providing them with the means by which they can secure redress to rights and social justice. To achieve this objective, the major activities of the project include: legal aid service provision in Addis Ababa, Adama, Hawassa, Ambo and the surrounding areas of these urban centers; legal literacy and public information of rights through printed media and radio programs, research and publication, training on Human Rights, facilitating experience sharing and capacity building.