Ethiopian Men and Women of the year 2003

Tigrai.net is pleased to recognize the following greatest Ethiopian individuals as “Ethiopian Men and Women of the year 2003” for their commitment, dedication and accomplishment in their field.

Meaza Ashenafi, 2003 AfricanPrize Laureate
Meaza Ashenafi: Executive Director, Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association

Meaza Ashenafi established Ethiopia's leading women's legal aid, education and policy-reform organization in 1995 - the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA).

Ms. Ashenafi's organization has led the charge for women's rights across the political spectrum and across the nation. She has championed women's rights in the areas of domestic violence, sexual abuse, the family, economic and land rights.

EWLA engages in public education, research and law-reform advocacy, and provides free legal aid to women who are victims of injustice. It has twice-weekly radio broadcasts on women's issues; two publications; a resource center for information on legal and women's issues; a legal aid program that handled 3,917 cases in 2000; a task force on violence against women; and programs related to civil service reform, political participation of women, and networking.

Born of an illiterate mother and a civil servant father in a small town near the Sudan border, she received her LLB degree from Addis Ababa University and was qualified as a lawyer in 1986. Her teachers used to say, "Oh, you're so smart and have so much potential; it's too bad you're not a boy."

Prior to founding EWLA, Meaza Ashenafi was a legal advisor to the Constitution Commission of Ethiopia's transition government. Ms. Ashenafi was responsible for advising the commission, preparing position papers for the commission's human rights panel, and producing the first drafts of the constitution's articles on the rights of women and children.

Founding Members of AHEAD ( Association for Higher Education and Development)
The Association for Higher Education and Development (AHEAD) is a voluntary, non-for-profit and non-organization founded in Ottawa Canada, in 1999

Temesghen Hailu: President
Dr. Yohannes Kebede: Director at large
Ainalem Tebeje: Vice-President
Tezazu Tebeje: Founding member
Yoseph Hailu: Founding member
Azieb Teferi: Treasurer and Webmaster
Captain Haile Belai: Ahead member
Dr. Ibrahim Yimer: Ahead member

Reverend Abba Tesfamariam Baraki: An Irob Ethiopian-American Citizen
Reverend Abba Tesfamariam is one of a few Ethiopian-Americans who consistently exposed the EEBC’s crime of injustice, the complicity of the UN, and the betrayal of the International community against the Irob people in Ethiopia.

The EEBC’s Crime of Injustice, the Complicity of the UN, and the Betrayal of the International Community against the Irob Minority in Ethiopia:
A Critical Statement and An Urgent Call for Justice
Petition L-43/2002 (The Issue of Irobland)
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH IN REACTION TO BILL “H.R. 2760”
The Scheduled Ethio-Eritrean Border Demarcation, the Violation of Civic and Human Rights of the Irob Ethnic Minority in the Contested Border Areas of Ethiopia, and the U.S. Government's pressure for its Implementation through The Bill “H.R. 2760”.
"Scusa Magra":
UNMEES’s Apology, Hypocrisy or Disingenuous Repentance Regarding the Deliberately Distorted Incidents in the Irob Region’s Disputed Borders?

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