57-680: The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission ( EHRC ) ( Amharic : የኢትዮጵያ ሰብዓዊ መብቶች ኮሚሽን ) is a national human rights institution (NHRI) established by the Ethiopian government . The EHRC is charged with promoting human rights and investigating human rights abuses in Ethiopia. The EHRC states organizational independence as one of its values. In October 2021, the EHRC's rating by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions for operation in accordance with
114-513: A holy language by the Rastafari religion and is widely used among its followers worldwide. Early Afro-Asiatic populations speaking proto- Semitic , proto- Cushitic and proto- Omotic languages would have diverged by the fourth or fifth millennium BC. Shortly afterwards, the proto-Cushitic and proto-Omotic groups would have settled in the Ethiopian highlands, with the proto-Semitic speakers crossing
171-723: A joint investigation together with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCRC) into Tigray War human rights violations committed by all parties. In January 2020, the EHRC gave advice to the HoPR on a draft revision of the Ethiopian Criminal Procedure Code and Evidence Law . Motivations for the revision of the 1961 code included taking into account the federal Ethiopian system and regional and international treaties. The EHRC provided
228-513: A pidgin as early as the 4th century AD to enable communication between Aksumite soldiers speaking Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic languages, but this hypothesis has not garnered widespread acceptance. The preservation in Old Amharic of VSO word order and gutturals typical of Semitic languages, Cushitic influences shared with other Ethio-Semitic languages (especially those of the Southern branch), and
285-410: A 33-page report with 30 recommendations for improvements on the draft, recommending implementation of the requirements of "precaution, legality, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination" in the use of force by police to minimise police brutality ; minimalising the use of pre-trial detention ; accountability to avoid torture during interrogations; compensatory procedures for illegal detentions;
342-481: A proper watchdog". Improvements included greater independence in selecting commissioners and employing and dismissing staff, while commissioners had earlier mostly consisted of ruling party members. The EHRC gained more power in making unannounced visits to prisons, and getting more access for lawyers and family members to political prisoners. In response to the EHRC's November 2020 report on the Mai Kadra massacre , there
399-560: A researcher and journalist, was the EHRC's director of communications. From March 2021 to February 2022, Martin Witteveen, a legal expert in international criminal law, was one of EHRC's managing investigators. Under Proclamation No. 210/2000 establishing the EHRC, Article 13 states that the Chief Commissioner is accountable to the HoPR, not to the federal government of Ethiopia. Removal of the Chief Commissioner requires, under Article 17,
456-730: Is a South Ethio-Semitic language, along with Gurage , Argobba , Harari , and others. Due to the social stratification of the time, the Cushitic Agaw adopted the South Ethio-Semitic language and eventually absorbed the Semitic population. Amharic thus developed with a Cushitic substratum and a Semitic superstratum . The northernmost South Ethio-Semitic speakers, or the proto-Amhara, remained in constant contact with their North Ethio-Semitic neighbors, evidenced by linguistic analysis and oral traditions. A 7th century southward shift of
513-796: Is an Ethiopian Semitic language , which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages . It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas , and also serves as a lingua franca for all other populations residing in major cities and towns in Ethiopia . The language serves as the official working language of the Ethiopian federal government, and is also the official or working language of several of Ethiopia's federal regions . As of 2020, it has over 33,700,000 mother-tongue speakers and more than 25,100,000 second language speakers in 2019, making
570-571: Is an abugida , and the graphemes of the Amharic writing system are called fidäl . It is derived from a modification of the Ge'ez script . Each character represents a consonant+vowel sequence, but the basic shape of each character is determined by the consonant, which is modified for the vowel. Some consonant phonemes are written by more than one series of characters: / ʔ / , / s / , / tsʼ / , and / h / (the last one has four distinct letter forms). This
627-658: Is because these fidäl originally represented distinct sounds, but phonological changes merged them. The citation form for each series is the consonant+ ä form, i.e. the first column of the fidäl . The Amharic script is included in Unicode , and glyphs are included in fonts available with major operating systems. As in most other Ethiopian Semitic languages , gemination is contrastive in Amharic. That is, consonant length can distinguish words from one another; for example, alä 'he said', allä 'there is'; yǝmätall 'he hits', yǝmmättall 'he will be hit'. Gemination
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#1732845447024684-493: Is called an abugida ( አቡጊዳ ). The graphemes are called fidäl ( ፊደል ), which means "script", "alphabet", "letter", or "character". There is no universally agreed-upon Romanization of Amharic into Latin script . The Amharic examples in the sections below use one system that is common among linguists specializing in Ethiopian Semitic languages. Amharic has been the official working language of Ethiopia, language of
741-466: Is in Africa.' ልጁ Lǝǧ-u the boy ተኝቷል täññǝtʷall. asleep is ልጁ ተኝቷል Lǝǧ-u täññǝtʷall. {the boy} {asleep is} 'The boy is asleep.' ( -u is a definite article. Lǝǧ is 'boy'. Lǝǧu is 'the boy') አየሩ Ayyäru the weather ደስ däss pleasant Adanech Abebe Adanech Abebe ( Amharic : አዳነች አበቤ, Oromo : Adaanach Abeebee ) is an Ethiopian politician who
798-469: Is mostly heard as the affricate sound [ t͡sʼ ]. The rhotic consonant is realized as a trill when geminated and a tap otherwise. The closed central unrounded vowel ⟨ə⟩ /ɨ/ and mid-central vowel ⟨ä⟩ /ə/ are generally fronted to [ ɪ ] and [ ɛ ], respectively, following palatal consonants , and generally retracted and rounded to [ ʊ ] and [ ɔ ], respectively, following labialized velar consonants . The Amharic script
855-416: Is not indicated in Amharic orthography, but Amharic readers typically do not find this to be a problem. This property of the writing system is analogous to the vowels of Arabic and Hebrew or the tones of many Bantu languages , which are not normally indicated in writing. Ethiopian novelist Haddis Alemayehu , who was an advocate of Amharic orthography reform , indicated gemination in his novel Love to
912-690: Is serving as the thirty-second mayor of Addis Ababa since 2021. She has been serving as a deputy mayor from 2020 until 2021. She previously was the Minister of Revenue and Customs Authority from 2018 to 2020, when she became the first female to assume the role of the Federal Attorney General of Ethiopia. She is the first woman to hold the mayorship since it was created in 1910. Born in Arsi Province , Adanech has little familial disclosure, according to her education background documents. But it
969-756: The Bissober victims and four of the Ullaga victims. The EHRC documented reports of three people in Bissober executed by the ENDF after being accused of being TPLF informants, and reports of people being beaten for the same reason. The EHRC agreed with the Transitional Government of Tigray that a high level of humanitarian assistance was needed. On 10 February, the EHRC published a brief report based on its 10–23 January visit to Mekelle and Alamata , Endamekoni and Kukufto in
1026-560: The EDF , and stated that it had "gathered evidence" of over 100 victims of the massacre. The EHRC stated that the crimes committed could constitute crimes against humanity . On 10 August, the EHRC deployed a team to Galikoma in the Afar Region to investigate a massacre that occurred on 5 August and which could be attributable to the Tigray Defense Forces . In mid-2021, the EHRC launched
1083-695: The Hachalu Hundessa riots on 1 January 2021. It found that part of the killings were a crime against humanity , with deliberate, widespread systematic killing of civilians by organised groups in 40 different locations over the three days of 30 June–2 July 2020. The EHRC counted 123 deaths, 76 of which it attributed to security forces. The EHRC found that security forces successfully prevented attacks in some places, failed to prevent them in others, and appeared to have used excessive lethal force. The EHRC called for regional and federal government investigations, judicial proceedings and institutional development to prevent
1140-546: The Paris Principles of human rights standards , to "A" status, full compliance. In February 2024, Aaron Maasho and Martin Witteveen, who held responsibilities in the EHRC during 2020–2022, stated in relation to the EHRC–OHCHR Tigray investigation that "the EHRC senior leadership was prone to downplaying the Ethiopian military's crimes and skilled at systematically obscuring them". The EHRC published its full report on
1197-471: The Sinai Peninsula into Asia . A later return movement of peoples from South Arabia would have introduced the Semitic languages to Ethiopia. Based on archaeological evidence, the presence of Semitic speakers in the territory date to some time before 500 BC. Linguistic analysis suggests the presence of Semitic languages in Ethiopia as early as 2000 BC. Levine indicates that by the end of that millennium,
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#17328454470241254-601: The UN Paris Principles was upgraded from grade B (partial compliance) to grade A (full compliance). Mandated by provisions in the 1995 Constitution (article 55), the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission was legally established on 4 July 2000 as an autonomous body accountable to the House of Peoples' Representatives (HoPR), the lower house of the Ethiopian federal parliament . In 2004, Parliament appointed
1311-453: The presumption of innocence ; procedures for fair trials ; accounting for the needs of vulnerable groups throughout policing and judicial procedures; and concerns about traditional judicial systems. Amharic language Amharic ( / æ m ˈ h ær ɪ k / am- HARR -ik or / ɑː m ˈ h ɑːr ɪ k / ahm- HAR -ik ; native name : አማርኛ , romanized : Amarəñña , IPA: [amarɨɲːa] )
1368-504: The total number of speakers over 58,800,000. Amharic is the largest, most widely spoken language in Ethiopia, and the second most spoken mother-tongue in Ethiopia (after Oromo ). Amharic is also the second most widely spoken Semitic language in the world (after Arabic ). Amharic is written left-to-right using a system that grew out of the Geʽez script . The segmental writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as units
1425-430: The 2020–2021 Tigray War , after visiting Mai Kadra to collect evidence. EHRC's preliminary findings were that 600 people of Amhara ethnicity were killed by local Tigrayan youth with the support of local police. The EHRC collected evidence following the 23 December 2020 Metekel massacre . The EHRC found that many of the victims were Shinasha and that survivors knew the perpetrators "by name and sight". The EHRC described
1482-468: The EHRC and for EHRC reports. In 2019, Amnesty International described the EHRC as lacking independence and serving government interests rather than providing accountability for abuses. As of November 2019, the EHRC paid low salaries. The chief commissioner earned an after-tax salary of US$ 270 per month, typical for Ethiopian civil servants. Spending of the US$ 3 million annual budget required approval by
1539-475: The EHRC that 92 people from the ENDF and TPLF and civilians were killed in the war. Security was mainly controlled by Amhara Liyu Hayl and militia. Looting by Fano , Amhara Liyu Hayl and militia, and ENDF and Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) soldiers was reported. Harassment of ethnic Tigrayan residents was reported. In Dansha, the EHRC estimated the number of civilians killed as 25, without details such as identity and place of burial. Residents of Dansha stated that
1596-419: The EHRC's first Chief Commissioner. During 2017 and 2018, Addisu Gebre Egziabher was the head (Chief Commissioner) of the EHRC. In February 2019, Daniel Bekele , a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience , director at Human Rights Watch and a frequent critic of the EHRC, was appointed as the new chief commissioner and charged with its reform. From July 2020 to November 2021, Aaron Maasho,
1653-463: The Ethiopianist tradition they are often transcribed with a dot below the letter. The notation of central vowels in the Ethiopianist tradition is shown in angled brackets. The voiced bilabial plosive /b/ is phonetically realized as a voiced labial approximant [β̞] medially between sonorants in non- geminated form. The fricative ejective / sʼ / is heard as a fricative ejective [ sʼ ], but
1710-519: The Grave by placing a dot above the characters whose consonants were geminated, but this practice is rare. Punctuation includes the following: One may construct simple Amharic sentences by using a subject and a predicate . Here are a few simple sentences: ኢትዮጵያ ʾItyop̣p̣ya Ethiopia አፍሪካ ʾAfrika Africa ውስጥ wǝsṭ in ናት nat is ኢትዮጵያ አፍሪካ ውስጥ ናት ʾItyop̣p̣ya ʾAfrika wǝsṭ nat {Ethiopia} {Africa} {in} {is} 'Ethiopia
1767-488: The Ministry of Finance, which was seen as a constraint on the EHRC's autonomy. The EHRC received hundreds of complaints monthly in 2019, but could only investigate a small percentage due to its lack of talented staff and budgetary autonomy. According to The Guardian , after Daniel Bekele took over as leader of the EHRC in early 2019, he strengthened the EHRC's capacities and independence, making it "into something approaching
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1824-604: The Oromia Justice Bureau. In the 2005 general election , she won a seat in the House of People's Representatives Aseko constituency. Then, she took a director position at the Oromia Development Association (ODA), where she served for five years. During the position, Adanech reformed the status of the association and becomes the mayor of Adama . She was the first female in the position and embarked on significant changes during her administration, including
1881-583: The Southern Zone of Tigray Region, describing the extensive lack of key infrastructure, the division of Tigray into multiple sectors of administrative control , 108 cases of rape officially reported in Mekelle, Adigrat, Wukro and Ayder over two months, a lack of police and health structures where rape victims would normally report the rapes, and summarised cases of child victims of the war and internally displaced people. The EHRC lacked sufficient information to check
1938-449: The alphabet used for writing the Geʽez language. There are 34 basic characters, each of which has seven forms depending on which vowel is to be pronounced in the syllable. There are also 49 "wa" letters, which form compound sounds involving "w." All together, the alphabet has some 280 letters. Until 2020 Amharic was the sole official language of Ethiopia. The 2007 census reported that Amharic
1995-576: The area, but those residents who felt at risk were provided with transportation to their chosen destinations". In Ullaga, EHRC members visited trenches that had been dug in the primary school grounds by the TPLF in preparation for war since June 2020, according to residents. The residents counted 31 civilian deaths from three days of fighting, most due to crossfire, some were deliberately killed by soldiers, and others were killed by unidentified people. Bissober residents counted 27 civilian deaths. The EHRC named 21 of
2052-527: The center of gravity of the Kingdom of Aksum and the ensuing integration and Christianization of the proto-Amhara also resulted in a high prevalence of Geʽez sourced lexicon in Amharic. Some time after the 9th century AD, Amharic diverged from its closest relative, Argobba , probably due to religious differences as the Argobba adopted Islam. In 1983, Lionel Bender proposed that Amharic may have been constructed as
2109-493: The core inhabitants of Greater Ethiopia would have consisted of dark-skinned agropastoralists speaking Afro-Asiatic languages of the Semitic, Cushitic and Omotic branches. Other scholars such as Messay Kebede and Daniel E. Alemu argue that migration across the Red Sea was defined by reciprocal exchange, if it even occurred at all, and that Ethio-Semitic-speaking ethnic groups should not be characterized as foreign invaders. Amharic
2166-566: The courts, the language of trade and everyday communications and of the military since the late 12th century. The Amhara nobles supported the Zagwe prince Lalibela in his power struggle against his brothers which led him to make Amharic Lessana Negus as well as fill the Amhara nobles in the top positions of his Kingdom. The appellation of "language of the king" ( Ge'ez : ልሳነ ነጋሢ ; "Lǝssanä nägaśi," Amharic : የነጋሢ ቋንቋ "Yä-nägaśi qʷanqʷa") and its use in
2223-551: The creation of a Special Inquiry Tribunal composed of members of the HoPR, of the House of Federation (HoF) and the vice-president of the Federal Supreme Court . Under Article 35, appointees and investigators of the EHRC have immunity against detention and arrest, except when caught red-handed ( in flagrante delicto ) for a serious offence, or with the permission of the HoPR or the Chief Commissioner. Article 40 establishes non-answerability for defamation for complainants to
2280-433: The deaths occurred during crossfire. Ethnic Tigrayan residents stated that security had improved at the time of the EHRC's visit, but that they remained afraid of attacks and "retaliation for what happened [in] Mai Kadra". Some regular services had restarted operating as of mid-December, but electricity, water and schools remained unoperational. The EHRC quoted the new interim coordinator of Dansha: "Tigrayans live peacefully in
2337-455: The government by underlying "America and its associates, without understanding the ways of the TPLF forces ways and disastrous acts, they are interfering in our domestic affairs by imposing travel sanctions and prerequisites which can by no means be accepted". Although Adanech never shared her personal life via public media, she revealed her husband Teshome Abebe on a Seifu on EBS talk show episode. Adanech also told she has two children,
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2394-468: The independence of the EHRC, stating, "state institutions in Ethiopia have a history of not being independent or impartial, but on the other hand we have started a process of trying to build independent institutions and I believe the Ethiopian human rights commission is one of them". In October 2021, the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions upgraded the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission from its previous status of "B", partial compliance with
2451-624: The massacre as a "sign of a severe decline of human rights protections" and criticised the authorities for the departure of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) from the area of the massacre on the preceding day. In January 2021, the EHRC published a brief monitoring report on Humera , Dansha and Bissober, based on its 14–18 November 2020 visit to Dansha, Humera and Mai Kadra , its 15–20 December visit to Dansha and Gondar , and its 31 December–5 January 2021 visit to Bissober and Ullaga . A Humera hospital employee informed
2508-563: The military in the course of "law enforcement operation". In October 2021, Adanech visited a cluster wheat farm in Hitosa District in Arsi along with other government officials. At the event, she highlighted to ensure food security and witnessing 680 hectares of land covered with food crop in the current harvest season. Adanech also expressed anti-American stance on the intervention of the war; during March 2021 pro-government rally, she supported
2565-475: The number of geographically distinct Cushitic languages that have influenced Amharic at different points in time (e.g. Oromo influence beginning in the 16th century) support a natural evolution of Amharic from a Proto-Ethio-Semitic language with considerable Cushitic influences (similar to Gurage, Tigrinya, etc.). The Amharic ejective consonants correspond to the Proto-Semitic " emphatic consonants ." In
2622-568: The numbers of refoulement of Eritrean refugees to Eritrea. In February 2021, the EHRC said that it was verifying the video of the 5–6 January 2021 Debre Abbay massacre and would "investigate the incident" if it judged the video to be authentic. The EHRC visited Aksum in Tigray Region from 27 February to 5 March 2021 during the Tigray War , after initial reports of the Aksum massacre leaked out to
2679-475: The recurrence of similar events. During 21–25 November, the EHRC investigated conflict in the Konso Zone that had taken place during 10–21 November. It found that 66 people had been killed, 39 injured, 100,000 displaced and houses and other property had been burnt. The people interviewed by the EHRC gave numerous, conflicting accounts attributing responsibility for the violence. The EHRC saw contributing factors to
2736-537: The reduction of corruption within the city. She served as minister of the Revenue and Customs Authority from 2018 to 2020, reinstating corruption and bribery investigations. After serving two years, she was appointed to Federal Attorney General of Ethiopia under the premiership of Abiy Ahmed on 12 March 2020. On 18 August 2020, she was appointed as Deputy Mayor of Addis Ababa , with 138 voices. Adanech included two individuals from her cabinet. In September 2021, Adanech
2793-612: The royal court are otherwise traced to the Amhara Emperor Yekuno Amlak . It is one of the official languages of Ethiopia , together with other regions like Oromo , Somali , Afar , and Tigrinya . Amharic is an Afro-Asiatic language of the Southwest Semitic group and is related to Geʽez , or Ethiopic, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox church; Amharic is written in a slightly modified form of
2850-670: The school, but only Adanech passed the 6th Grade National Exam (Ministry Exam). Adanech completed undergraduate studies at Law in the Ethiopian Civil Service University in 2001, and attended a graduate program in leadership from Greenwich University in the United Kingdom . Adanech's early career was as an elementary school teacher before becoming the administrative director of the school. Her capability for leadership at both federal and regional levels led her to enter politics. In 2001, Adanech served as attorney of
2907-597: The victims killed in Axum were Tigray People's Liberation Front fighters rather than civilians, while later "conceding" that 40 of the victims were civilians. Daniel stated that "a good number of officials" reacted constructively to the report, while "some" were "very dismissive". Ethiopian officials claimed that EHRC reports on detention conditions in Oromia were "biased and unbalanced" in May 2021. In June 2021, Daniel described his vision for
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#17328454470242964-435: The violence as including unmet popular demand for administrative changes, border conflicts and competition for the use of natural resources. The EHRC made recommendations to authorities for solving the conflict. The EHRC commented that Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) soldiers had left the area on 31 October. On 24 November 2020, the EHRC released its preliminary report on the Mai Kadra massacre that took place during
3021-468: The world in early January. The EHRC conducted interviews with "survivors, 45 families of victims, eyewitnesses and religious leaders", held a group discussion with 20 residents, talks with local kebele officials, and discussions with medical staff of the Saint Mary and Aksum Referral Hospitals. In its preliminary report, the EHRC attributed the main part of the massacre, that of the 28–29 November weekend, to
3078-520: Was a "growing perception among Tigrayans" that the EHRC was biased in favour of the federal government's view of the massacre. Daniel stated that "at the time we did not have enough information to document and report on" attacks against Tigrayans during the massacre. The EHRC's March 2021 report on the Axum massacre "provoked outcry among Ethiopian and Eritrean government supporters", according to The Guardian . The Attorney General 's office initially claimed that
3135-557: Was elected mayor of the city. Adanech is the first woman in the mayor position of Addis Ababa since 1910. Adanech was known for corruption fighting by undertaking significant reforms in Ethiopia, and involved in mobilizing resource to support the government against the rebel TPLF amidst the Tigray War . In November 2021, Adanech visited injured ENDF soldiers at Armed Forces Comprehensive Specialized Hospital in Bishoftu . She donated 15 million birr of medical equipment and other clothes to
3192-467: Was spoken by 21.6 million native speakers in Ethiopia. More recent sources state the number of first-language speakers in 2018 as nearly 32 million, with another 25 million second-language speakers in Ethiopia. Additionally, 3 million emigrants outside of Ethiopia speak the language. Most of the Ethiopian Jewish communities in Ethiopia and Israel speak Amharic. Furthermore, Amharic is considered
3249-518: Was widely known Abebe Deso is her father. She is the only daughter of six children. Abebe's prominence in the province led to establishing Ireecha Primary School in 1977, where Adanech was received as the first female student. Adanech independently taught herself for the sake of her father based on child marriage . Inspired by her deeds, Abebe progressively admitted the violence against women and criticized parents who did not want to allow their female children to attend school. Initially, five girls enrolled
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