Halfway into the six-month state of emergency the Ethiopian government declared on 9 October 2016, this is a commentary on the State of Emergency Declaration and the Directive for the Implementation of the Declaration. The commentary analyses the State of Emergency Declaration against established human rights norms provided for in the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. These norms include: notification to the United Nations Secretary General; legality; non-derogable rights; necessity; and proportionality.