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Getachew Assefa Woldemariam

Getachew Assefa Woldemariam is an associate professor of law at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He has extensive experience in academia, research and consultancy. Assefa has authored articles published in various national and foreign refereed journals, including The American Journal of Comparative Law and the International Journal on Minority and Group Rights. He has also authored and edited several books, including Legal Pluralism in Ethiopia: Actors, Challenges and Solutions (2020, with Susanne Epple) and Grass-roots Justice in Ethiopia: The Contribution of Customary Dispute Resolution (2008, with Alula Pankhurst). From July 2018 to December 2021, Assefa served in the Ethiopian government’s reform initiatives as the chairperson of the Working Group on legal and institutional reform of democratic institutions, including the National Election Board of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. His research interests include Ethiopian and comparative constitutional law, human rights law, traditional justice systems, and law and religion. His current research focuses on the challenges of implementation of constitutional rights in (semi-) authoritarian systems. Currently, he is dean of the College of Law and Governance Studies of Addis Ababa University. Assefa holds LLB, LLM, and PhD in law degrees.