Thoughts on the programme: I decided to study this programme as I knew about human rights only from the few courses I took in my previous studies. It takes an in-depth knowledge of human rights to live up to the challenges encountered in one’s day to day professional activities. FAU is an ideal place to study human rights because of its combination of experienced professors, staff and a very friendly living environment in Erlangen.

Professional background: I obtained my LL.B Degree from Addis Ababa University and my masters in International and Comparative Law from Vrije Universiteit Brussel.  I worked as a criminal investigator and public prosecutor at the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office, Ethiopia. During this time, I investigated and prosecuted gross human rights violations (torture, extra-judicial killings, rape, disappearance, etc.) perpetrated by officials of the military regime that ruled Ethiopia for 17 years. I have worked for the Ministry of Justice (now Office of the Federal Attorney General) in areas of capacity gaps assessment, capacity building, justice reform, public legal education and legal research.

Since 2009 I am an independent consultant (and an attorney-at-law) with organisations such as EU, UNDP, USAID and DFID in different parts of Africa.