The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Chief Commissioner Berhanu Adello, and senior leadership, met with Najla Nassif Palma, the United Nations Victims’ Rights Advocate, on March 11, 2026, at EHRC’s head office in Addis Ababa. The meeting took place during her official visit to Ethiopia, as part of her mandate to advance victims’ rights and system-wide support for survivors. The meeting aimed to strengthen cooperation and enhance the implementation of survivor-centred approaches, ensuring that the rights, voices and needs of victims effectively guide institutional responses and support mechanisms.
During the meeting, the Chief Commissioner briefed the Victims’ Rights Advocate on EHRC’s mandate, roles, and its continued solidarity with victims. He highlighted the Commission’s advocacy for redress, its monitoring of victim-centredness in Ethiopia’s transitional justice process, and the range of activities undertaken to advance the rights of women and children through a dedicated department. The leadership also detailed EHRC’s work in monitoring and investigations, issuing recommendations, facilitating legal aid, ensuring the provision of psychosocial support, strengthening referral mechanisms and advocating for victims reparations.
The Victims’ Rights Advocate acknowledged EHRC’s efforts and discussed challenges related to ensuring accountability for perpetrators of sexual exploitation and abuse both at international and national levels. She emphasized the need for clear accountability measures, as well as the importance of robust reporting and follow-up mechanisms to address gaps that may hinder timely and effective responses. The Advocate underscored that addressing these challenges is essential to ensuring that survivors’ lived experiences inform policies and actions, and that support and justice are accessible to all victims.
The discussion emphasized learning from EHRC’s experiences in supporting victims, building trust and prioritizing victims’ rights, while exploring opportunities for collaboration to strengthen victims support, monitoring, and advocacy.
The engagement forms part of the Victims’ Rights Advocate’s broader efforts to meet with UN agencies, government institutions, civil society organizations and regional bodies in Addis Ababa to advance a consistent, system-wide, survivor-centred approach to prevention, response and accountability.