Daniel Bekele is a prominent Ethiopian Lawyer, Human Rights Expert and Activist.
16 Facts About Daniel Bekele
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Daniel Bekele was unjustly detained from 2005 to 2008 for his election monitoring report and complaints about irregularities of the 2005 Ethiopian general election.
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Daniel Bekele was executive director of the Africa division at Human Rights Watch from 2011 to 2016.
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Daniel Bekele served as Senior Advisor at Amnesty International ; as Policy Research and Advocacy Director at ActionAid Ethiopia.
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In 2019, Daniel was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission.
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Daniel Bekele was born in the city of Addis Ababa on 17 February 1967.
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Daniel Bekele specialized in supporting civil society, human rights education, and promoted legal and policy reform for improving human rights including protections for women's rights.
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Daniel Bekele became Head of Policy Research and Advocacy at ActionAid in 2004, as he continued to support civil society including voter education and election monitoring initiative by CSOs.
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Daniel Bekele 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.
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Daniel Bekele was one of the leaders of the Ethiopian component of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty campaign.
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Daniel Bekele was one of the key civil society Leaders coordinating voter education, monitoring of the 2005 Ethiopian general election.
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Daniel Bekele criticized the procedures of how the election was held and involved in peace initiative to resolve the electoral dispute and impasse.
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Daniel Bekele was executive director of the Africa division of Human Rights Watch from 2011 to 2016, and later became its senior director for Africa advocacy.
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Daniel Bekele served as Senior Advisor for Amnesty International and European Center for Electoral Support In July 2019, Daniel was appointed as Chief Commissioner of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, selected from among 88 candidates by the House of Peoples' Representatives replacing Addisu Gebreegziabhier.
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Daniel Bekele was replaced by Berhanu Adelo in 2025 following appointment by the parliament of Ethiopia.
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Daniel Bekele 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.