Reconsidering Access to Justice in Ethiopia: Towards A Human Rights-Based Approach Kokebe W. Jemaneh  Abstract It is widely accepted that access to justice is a fundamental right as well as a key means to realize other rights and fight injustice and poverty. Casual observation regarding access to justice in Ethiopia reveals that, despite government efforts in the past years to improve the situation, it is far from being adequately realized. This chapter summarily examines the legal and policy framework regarding access to justice in Ethiopia with a view to identify gaps in policy, law and practice. It concludes by recommending that a human rights-based approach to access to justice should be considered as the way forward and there are lessons to be learnt from the international access to justice movement in this regard. Key words: access to justice, human rights-based approach, Ethiopia Introduction The phrase ‘access to justice’ embodies an ideal that lies at the heart of any society that aspires to be just. The ideal embodied in the notion of access to justice is based on the proposition that each person should have effective means of protecting his rights or entitlements under the law. This ideal in turn emanates from the fundamental principle that all people should enjoy equality before the law, which itself is based on the notion of human dignity as the foundation of justice. 1 Because a system for dispensing justice is so central to any society, states put in place a system by which people may vindicate their rights and/or resolve disputes under the general auspice of the state. Ideally it is assumed that such a system is equally accessible and fair to all members of the society and leads to results that are individually and socially just. This being said, however, it should be noted that there is no uniform understanding of the concept of access to justice. And no justice system has lived up to the promises encapsulated by the universal ideals of ‘access to justice’ and escaped criticism. The literature on access to justice is replete with questions related to how, at what price, and for whose benefit justice systems work. Recognition that justice systems have failed to translate people’s rights into reality has recently led to the formulation of a human rights-based approach in international access to justice movement. This is based on the implicit and explicit recognition in a number of international human rights instruments of each and every person’s right to have effective access to justice. The right to  1 Research and Publications Officer, Access to Justice Project at the Center for Human Rights (AAU) Sackville, R., ‘Some thoughts on Access to Justice’, New Zealand Journal of Public International Law , Vol. 2, 2004, p.86.