ACERWC Grants Affiliate Status to Ethiopian Human Rights Commission

ADDIS ABABA – The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) announced that it has granted affiliate status to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

The Committee made the decision to grant the status to EHIC during the its 39th Ordinary Session, held virtually late in March, 2022.

The ACERWC is a regional human rights body mandated to promote and protect the rights and welfare of the child pursuant to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

The charter was adopted by the Organisation of African Unity (now the African Union) in 1990 and ratified by Ethiopia in 2002.

EHRC is the second African national human rights institution to be granted affiliate status by the ACERWC following its application for the status.

The Affiliate status with the the Committee entitles EHRC to participate in sessions of the Committee including by presenting statements on the human rights situation of children in Ethiopia.

It also allows the Commission to propose agenda items, provide expert advice or briefings, submit alternative or shadow reports as well as to directly work with the Committee in the discharge of any aspect of its mandate.

The Committee said it “would like to closely work and enhance its collaboration with [the] Commission and looks forward to increased involvement of [EHRC] in the activities and works of the Committee” as per the Guidelines for Granting Affiliate Status.

EHRC Chief Commissioner Daniel Bekele welcomed the announcement as “yet another milestone in the Commission’s engagement with regional and international human rights mechanisms”.

“The Commission will continue to strengthen its work on the protection and promotion of children’s rights in Ethiopia by actively engaging with ACERWC,” Daniel added.

The Commission received the affiliate rank four months after the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions re-accredited EHRC with “A” Status.

The EHRC already has affiliate status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), and regularly reports on the human rights situation in Ethiopia during the public sessions of the ACHPR.

 

Featured Image Caption: Ethiopian Human Rights Commission Commissioner Daniel Bekele [Photo File]