Dr. Daniel Bekele

Former Chief Commissioner, Ethiopia Human Rights Commission

Dr. Daniel Bekele was formerly the Chief Commissioner of Ethiopian Human Right Commission (2019 –2024). Prior to that, he served in various positions including as Senior Advisor at Amnesty International as Executive Director for Africa at Human Rights Watch; as Policy and Research Director at Action Aid Ethiopia; as well as in academia, civil society, private sector and as researching consultant/advisor for international agencies. Long active in the field of human rights, rule of law, development and peace building; he led several initiatives including institutional reform of EHRC, joint human rights investigation with UN OHCHR, election monitoring, promotion of human rights and anti-poverty campaigns. Amnesty International and several others globally acknowledged him as prisoner of conscience and campaigned for his release when he was imprisoned from 2005 to 2008 because of his civil society work in Ethiopia.

He is recipient of several awards including the EU Schuman Award (2024), German Africa Award (2021) and the Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism (2009).

Dr. Daniel received a PhD in International Law and a Master’s Degree in Legal Studies from the University of Oxford as well as a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and a Master’s Degree (M.A.) in Development Studies from Addis Ababa University.