German Africa Prize 2021 awarded to Ethiopian human rights activist

Ethiopian lawyer Daniel Bekele is the winner of the German Africa Prize 2021. Human rights activist and chief commissioner of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) honored for his relentless commitment to monitoring and denounce injustice. DW will act as media partner at the award ceremony in Berlin in November.

The German Africa Prize is the highest honor of its kind in Germany. It honors exceptional personalities from the African continent who are committed to peace, reconciliation and social progress.

“I am delighted that the independent jury selected an outstanding human rights defender,” said Uschi Eid, president of the German Africa Foundation, which presents the award. She said Bekele “deserves this award for his lifelong defense of human rights. Sincerely hope the price will encourage [him] and his colleagues at the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission to be fearless and impartial defenders of human rights in Ethiopia. ”

Bekele told DW that he was “really excited and honored to be the first Ethiopian to receive this prestigious German award (…) I know this will go a long way to encourage and inspire my colleagues at the EHRC, as well as human rights defenders in Ethiopia and Africa, who work for the promotion and protection of human rights in increasingly difficult environments. ”

Daniel Bekele began his commitment to human rights early in his career. He began representing non-governmental organizations as a 23-year-old lawyer, quickly becoming a much sought-after expert on democracy and human rights. In 2004 Daniel became Head of Policy Research and Advocacy for Ethiopia at the international charity ActionAid. At the same time, he joined the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, a network of thousands of

poverty reduction organizations. As a representative of civil society, Daniel took a leading role in monitoring Ethiopia’s 2005 legislative elections. Critic of the electoral process, Bekele was attacked and injured by gunmen in October 2005. He was subsequently arrested, jailed and sentenced for attempting to “overthrow the government and the constitution”. He remained in prison from November 2005 to March 2008.

“The human rights defender believes that economic and social recovery will not lead to sustainable development without the application of human and political rights,” said Eid of the German Africa Foundation. “As such, [Daniel Bekele] does not hesitate to criticize the donor countries of the North for their cooperation with authoritarian regimes. ”

Following Ethiopia’s democratic opening under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in 2018, the country’s parliament elected Bekele as head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission in 2019. Bekele a transformed the commission and successfully argued for its greater independence, with parliament adopting an amendment in 2020 strengthening the commission’s operational and financial autonomy.

The German Africa Foundation recognizes, however, that the political crisis in Ethiopia and the civil war in northern Tigray province have cast a shadow over Becele’s work at the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. “It is not surprising that [the EHRC] has come under criticism in this context, ”the foundation said, adding that the EHRC faced the difficult task of assessing human rights violations impartially in a politically charged atmosphere. The EHRC is currently carrying out an investigation, in collaboration with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, into human rights violations committed by all parties to the conflict in Tigray.

The German Africa Prize will be officially awarded at a ceremony in November in Berlin. Since the creation of the German Africa Prize in 1993, it has been awarded to many notable Africans, including Kenyan computer pioneer Juliana Rotich, Ugandan human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo, former anti-activist corruption and South African ombudsman Thulisile Madonsela and Somali peace activist Ilwad. Elman.