Wondwossen Firew, PhD’25, a distinguished Ethiopian legal scholar who has devoted almost two decades of his career studying how power is structured, exercised, and held accountable, has completed doctoral studies at Queen’s Law.

Firew successfully defended his thesis, “Mental Illness and Public Authority – A Rights-Based Framework” in January. The paper, a comparative analysis that was primarily doctrinal – studying relevant case law, the Ethiopian constitution, and government policies – explores the intersection of public authority and the rights of mentally ill individuals. In his study, Firew considered the dual vulnerabilities of those individuals since they also run the risk of being imperiled by state interference and systemic neglect.

“I basically was concerned with issues that undermined the basis of the constitutional law” he says. “My goal was to bridge the gap between abstract human rights principles and their concrete applications.

“What I propose is a rights-based legal framework that integrates international human rights principles with administrative accountability mechanisms. Hopefully, this will ensure that mental health status doesn’t dictate one’s access to dignity and justice.”

Such individual rights, which are fundamental in a democratic society, long have been a concern for Firew. As a youngster growing up in the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa, he was ever ready to talk about and debate the issues of the day.  

“I may even have been a bit argumentative at times,” he says with a laugh. “My dad was a high school history teacher, and he was passionate in his opinions – especially when the law was involved – and so he suggested that I might think about and becoming a lawyer.”

Firew followed his father’s sage advice. In doing so, not only did Wondwossen excel in his studies at Addis Ababa University while earning a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree, when he graduated in 2007 he received not one, but two job offers from the University of Gondar in the Amhara Region of northwestern Ethiopia. Firew accepted a position as a lecturer at the law school and later to head the university’s Legal Services Directorate, which advised the university leaders on governance, regulatory compliance, and institutional legal matters.

Firew served with distinction in both capacities for more than a decade. During those years, his perspectives broadened. One particular area that intrigued him was what he saw was the need for a more robust and responsive human rights framework to protect Ethiopians who are afflicted with mental illnesses. As a result, Firew resumed his formal legal studies at Addis Ababa University and in 2011 he earned a Master of Laws (LLM) degree in Constitutional and Public Laws.

“My grounding in various areas of Ethiopian law and in the specifics of how the country’s mental healthcare system operates gave me fresh insights into the tension between the words of the Ethiopian constitution and the inadequacies of the care and treatment that patients with mental health issues receive,” says Firew.

Too often, he opines, there are shortcomings and problems in both areas. The reasons are as complex as they are varied.

With a population of more than 100 million, Ethiopia is Africa’s second most populous nation. It’s also one of the world’s poorest. And this can be problematic where human rights are concerned.

Given Ethiopia’s precarious financial situation, the central government in Addis Ababa has struggled to cope with the challenges posed by climate change, the lingering impacts of the COVID pandemic, and global economic turmoil. At the same time, it also battled for two years (2020-2022) with rebels in the Tigray region of the country’s north and it’s still at war with rebels in the Amhara and Oromia regions of the country. In the face of such daunting challenges, the care and treatment for individuals who require mental healthcare too often has been inadequate. Nowhere has that been truer than in the vastness of Ethiopia’s impoverished rural areas. Many residents there aren’t well educated, and a belief that demonic possession is a cause of mental illness is widespread.

All of that aside, Firew notes that Chapter Three of the Ethiopian Constitution, which deals with Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, states that the guarantees that are set out in the Constitution “shall be interpreted in a manner conforming to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenants on Human Rights, and international instruments adopted by Ethiopia.”

Firew explains that when the Ethiopian Constitution was adopted in 1995 there was what he describes as “the hangover effect” of a mindset that had been in place since the imperial and military junta days. “This made it very difficult for people to engage in activism and to demand that the government honour rights and freedoms.”

Despite this, a grass roots movement of academics, legal scholars, healthcare professionals, human rights advocates, and individuals who were afflicted with mental-health concerns pushed to be heard. It wasn’t easy for them to make that happen. However, they forged ahead, presenting their arguments at academic conferences and seminars, in the media, and in other forums.

Firew was part of this effort. the more engaged he became, the more he recognized the need for someone to develop a rights-based framework for Ethiopia that would enhance rights protection for individuals who are afflicted with mental illnesses. “I started to wonder how accommodation between the public and the Constitution might happen,” says Firew.

It was with that question in mind that he wrote journal articles, a teaching textbook, authored chapters in two books, and was involved in editing the International Journal of Ethiopian Legal Studies. In addition, he applied for a Fellowship in the MasterCard Foundation’s Ethiopia Project. This innovative global initiative was created to foster the development of “the next generation of transformative leaders by enabling highly talented, service-oriented young people, primarily young Africans, to pursue higher education and cultivate their leadership potential.”

Happily, when funding came thorough, Firew was able to come to Canada to begin doctoral studies in 2019. He chose to do so at Queen’s Law because he knows about the school’s sterling academic reputation and its ties to the University of Gondar.

Five years of painstaking research and writing, carried on with encouragement and guidance from his thesis supervisor, Professor Jacob Weinrib, came to fruition in January when Firew successfully defended his thesis, “Mental Illness and Public Authority – A Rights-Based Framework.”

Says Firew, “I think my work is important because it sits at the intersection of state power, human rights, and mental illness.”

Next up on his “to-do” list is the task of translating his thesis into Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. Once that’s done, Firew hopes legal scholars, healthcare professionals, and government officials in his homeland will read and consider the ideas he puts forward in his thesis.

“I’d like to return home and to help solve some of the country’s mental healthcare-related problems,” Firew says. “However, the situation on the ground there is still a bit precarious, and so I, my wife, and our two young daughters [who are ages two-and-a-half and eight] will stay here in Canada a while longer.”

By Ken Cuthbertson, Law’83

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