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Hilina Berhanu Degefa

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Hilina Berhanu Degefa
Born1992 (age 31–32)
NationalityEthiopian
Alma materAddis Ababa University
SOAS University of London
Occupations
  • Women's rights activisit
  • researcher

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]

Early life

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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

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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

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References

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  1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b "Hilina Berhanu Degefa". IREX. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Internships". Lex:lead, Lawyers for Economic Advancement and Development. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  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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