Hilina Berhanu Degefa

Hilina Berhanu Degefa (born 1992)[1] is an Ethiopian women's rights activist and researcher.[2] She is a co-founder of The Yellow Movement, a youth-led feminist advocacy and empowerment program based in Addis Ababa and Mekelle University. She was a 2015 recipient of a Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, the youngest to receive the honor at the age of 22. Hilina is also a Women Deliver Young Leaders Fellow, class of 2020. She is the first Ethiopian civil society representative to brief the UN Security Council.[3]

Hilina Berhanu Degefa
Born1992 (age 30–31)
NationalityEthiopian
Alma materAddis Ababa University
SOAS University of London
Occupations
  • Women's rights activisit
  • researcher

Early life

Hilina earned a bachelor's degree in Law from Addis Ababa University.[4] She earned a master's degree in Law and Gender from SOAS, University of London (the School of Oriental and African Studies), where she was a Governance and Development in Africa scholar, funded by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.[5][6]

Career

In 2011, Hilina was a co-founder of The Yellow Movement, a youth-led feminist movement along with law department faculty member, Blen Sahilu, and fellow law student Aklile Solomon.[4][7] The Yellow Movement creation was inspired by Aberash Hailay, an Ethiopian flight attendant whose eyes were gouged out by her jealous former husband earlier that year.[1]

Hilina received a 2015 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.[8] Hilina also taught at Addis Ababa University, School of Law and later joined Mekelle University's Institute of Gender and Development as a lecturer and researcher.[9] In March 2022, She published a research report on Gender and Violent Extremism under European Institute of Peace.[10] In April 2022, Hilina became the first Ethiopian CS briefer to present before the UNSC.[11]

See also

References
  1. Davison, William (27 January 2015). "Ethiopia's women vow to turn tide of violence, rape and murder". The Guardian.
  2. "Talking Back: Hilina Berhanu and Aklile Solomon". Review of African Political Economy. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  3. "What's in Blue: Ethiopia, Meeting under "Any Other Business"". Security Council Report. 13 April 2022.
  4. "Hilina Berhanu Degefa". IREX.
  5. "Internships". Lex:lead, Lawyers for Economic Advancement and Development.
  6. Dieng, Rama S. (10 May 2016). "Interview with Aya Chebbi & Hilina Berhanu on Youth & Governance in Africa". YouTube.
  7. "The Yellow Movement: Challenging Gender Inequality". London International Development Centre.
  8. "Meet the 2015 Mandela Washington Fellows from Ethiopia". Tadias Magazine.
  9. Devine, Catherine (28 December 2017). "The faces behind the Yellow Movement: How Ethiopia's young women are vowing to change culture of sexual harassment, rape and domestic violence". The Independent. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  10. "Gender and Extremism in Ethiopia". European Institute of Peace.
  11. Kumar, Akshaya [@AkshayaSays] (15 April 2022). "ICYMI - This week, with support from @UKUN_NewYork, @FCDOGovUK and @tariqahmadbt, Hilina Berhanu an Ethiopian human rights defender and sexual violence investigator briefed the Security Council about #CRSV conflict related sexual violence in her country" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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