Daniel Bekele (

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

: ዳንኤል በቀለ; 17 February 1967) (aka Daniel Bekele Mulugeta) is a prominent Ethiopian Lawyer , Human Rights Expert and Activist. He was unjustly detained from 2005 to 2008 for his election monitoring report and complaints about irregularities of the

2005 Ethiopian general election General elections were held in Ethiopia on 15 May 2005, for seats in the House of Peoples' Representatives and four regional government councils. Under pressure from the international community, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi promised that this elec ...

. He was executive director of the Africa division at

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

from 2011 to 2016. He also served as Senior Advisor at Amnesty International (2018 - 2019); as Policy Research and Advocacy Director at ActionAid Ethiopia. In 2019, Daniel was appointed Chief Commissioner of the

Ethiopian Human Rights Commission The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) () is a national human rights institution (NHRI) established by the Ethiopian government. The EHRC is charged with promoting human rights and investigating human rights abuses in Ethiopia. The EHRC ...

. After the end of his 5 years term, he announced in July 2024 that he is not seeking re-election for a second term. In 2025,

Berhanu Adelo Berhanu Adelo (Amharic: ብርሃኑ አደሎ) is an Ethiopian politician, lawyer and legal consultant who has been the Chief of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) since 2025. He has served various positions in government cabinet and w ...

was appointed Chief Commissioner replacing Daniel Bekele.

Youth and education

Daniel Bekele was born in the city of Addis Ababa on . He graduated in 1989 with a Bachelor's Degree in Law (LL.B) and in 2001 with a Master's Degree (MA) in Development Studies from

Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa University (; AAU) is a national university located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is the oldest university in Ethiopia. AAU has thirteen campuses. Twelve of these are situated in Addis Ababa, and one is located in Bishoftu, about away. ...

. He further obtained a second Master's Degree in Legal Studies in 2003 and a PhD in International Law/Human Rights Law in 2019 from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

Early career

Daniel was a legal advisor to Ethiopian Sugar Corporation during 1989–1990, and then became an independent Attorney & Legal Consultant. He specialized in supporting civil society, human rights education, and promoted legal and policy reform for improving human rights including protections for women's rights. Daniel became Head of Policy Research and Advocacy at

ActionAid ActionAid is an international non-governmental organization whose stated primary aim is to work against poverty and injustice worldwide. ActionAid is a federation of 45 country offices that works with communities, often via local partner organi ...

in 2004, as he continued to support civil society including voter education and election monitoring initiative by CSOs. He also served in the private sector where he held a senior position as Director of Legal Services and Secretary of the Board in United Insurance Company. Daniel was one of the leaders of the Ethiopian component of the

Global Call to Action Against Poverty The Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) is a network of over 11,000 civil society organizations (CSOs) dedicated to social justice, established in 2005 during the World Social Forum in Porto Allegre. It represents approximately 58 na ...

campaign.

2005–2008 detention

Daniel was one of the key civil society Leaders coordinating voter education, monitoring of the

. He criticized the procedures of how the election was held and involved in peace initiative to resolve the electoral dispute and impasse. On 16 October 2005, he was "badly beaten by unidentified armed men", which

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

interpreted to be a result of his human rights work and criticisms of the electoral procedures. Daniel was detained on 1 November 2005. In December 2007, he and Netsanet Demissie were convicted in trumped up charges at the

Ethiopian Federal High Court Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

for "provoking and preparing 'outrages against the Constitution'" by a majority of two judges out of three, after a two-year flawed trial. Daniel and Netsanet were released on 28 March 2008. Amnesty International considered Daniel's and Netsanet's detention and conviction to have been only based on their human rights activities, and defined both as having been

prisoners of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...

. Amnesty director for Africa, Erwin van der Borght, stated, "It is deplorable that civil society activists who are prisoners of conscience like Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie can be arrested and unfairly convicted simply for peacefully conducting human rights work."

Human rights bodies

Daniel was executive director of the Africa division of

(HRW) from 2011 to 2016, and later became its senior director for Africa advocacy. He also served as Senior Advisor for Amnesty International and European Center for Electoral Support (2018 - 2019) In July 2019, Daniel was appointed as Chief Commissioner of the

(EHRC), selected from among 88 candidates by the

House of Peoples' Representatives The House of Peoples' Representatives is the lower house of the Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly. Located in the capital Addis Ababa, the House has 547 members. All are elected in theory for five-year term in single-seat constituencies. ...

(HoPR, the lower house of Ethiopian parliament) replacing Addisu Gebreegziabhier. He was replaced by

in 2025 following appointment by the parliament of Ethiopia. Daniel received several awards including the EU Schuman Human Rights Award in 2024, The German Africa Award in 2021 2021 German Africa Prize for his commitment to defending human rights and democracy., Ethiopia Annual Bego Sew Award in 2022 for Public Service Leadership, Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism in 2009 from Human Rights Watch, and The Prisoners of Conscience Post-Graduate Study Award in 2009 from Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund

Points of view

In addition to his advocacy for human rights, peace, justice and development, Daniel has written on a wide range of topics including "Getting Natural Resources Governance Right"; How the Truth Commission in The Gambia should complement Justice; How Africa’s leaders should address the problems that hinder the development of the continent’s natural resources; Urging Nigeria's former President Buhari to apologize for his sexist remarks; Urging the AU to put human rights first;https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/u-s-africa-leaders-summit-putting-human-rights-first as well as urging the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

to put human rights first and instead of "pay nglip service" to human rights violations in

References