Hilina Berhanu Degefa: Gender Specialist, UN Briefing Pioneer and Co-Founder of The Yellow Movement

Hilina Berhanu Degefa (born 1992) is an Ethiopian feminist activist, gender policy specialist, and researcher. She grew up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in a multicultural, idea-driven household that embraced fluidity in self-expression . As the firstborn child, she naturally shouldered the first set of social expectations from both her parents and the community at large. “Speaking out and defiance were very much part of my upbringing,” she recalled. “Activism in a way was an extension of my normal lived experience “She pursued her higher education at Addis Ababa University, School of Law, where she earned her LL.B. (Bachelor of Laws). She then obtained her LL.M. in Law and Gender from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, funded by the prestigious Mo Ibrahim Foundation Scholarship on Governance for Development in Africa. She is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford.

The Aberash Hailay Case: Catalyst for Activism

The defining moment that launched Hilina’s public activism occurred in October 2011 during her third year of law school. Aberash Hailay, an Ethiopian Airlines flight attendant, lost her eyesight after her ex-husband stabbed both of her eyes with a wine opener. The case seized national attention, eliciting widespread outrage with repeated calls for justice and pledges that her name would never be forgotten. However, Hilina observed that “the outrage was short lived”. She became frustrated with the “short-lived social outrage which typically and ultimately ends up in blaming the survivor”. Along with fellow law student Aklile Solomon and gender and law lecturer Blen Sahilu, she began breaking down court hearings related to gender-based violence and sharing the information with the wider public. This marked the beginning of a consistent conversation about violence against women in Ethiopia.

The Yellow Movement: A Youth-Led Feminist Revolution

In 2011, Hilina Berhanu Degefa co-founded The Yellow Movement at Addis Ababa University (AAU) a youth-led feminist advocacy and empowerment program. The name “Yellow” was chosen for its symbolism of optimism, positive change, and disruption of patriarchal structures. “Yellow is bright and the colour of the sun which really speaks to why we organise,” explained co-founder Aklile Solomon. The movement operates primarily within Ethiopian higher education institutions, including Addis Ababa, Mekelle, and Hawassa universities, focusing on combating violence against women, promoting gender equality, and addressing harmful practices in dispute resolution, sexuality, and women’s societal roles. Its activities encompass:

• Public discussions on rights and sexuality
• Fundraising events such as Valentine’s Day flower sales to supply sanitary pads and stationery to female students
• Online campaigns during periods like the 16 Days of Activism
• A public book club and establishment of feminist libraries
• Merit-based scholarships for female students
• A gender training manual for universities

The movement maintains a core membership of about 50, recruits 20–30 new members annually, engages around 300 volunteers for events, and has amassed approximately 10,000 social media followers. It employs collective decision-making via polls and votes, with leadership distributed by seniority and interest rather than formal hierarchy.

Academic Career and Teaching

Hilina Berhanu Degefa has combined her activism with academic work, serving as a lecturer and researcher at Addis Ababa University School of Law and Mekelle University’s Department of Gender and Development Studies. Her teaching portfolio includes gender and law, gender and development, and feminist theories. Hilina Berhanu Degefa has also been involved in developing feminist libraries in Mekelle University and Addis Ababa, and overseeing research projects with a gender lens. Her academic work informs her advocacy, creating a powerful synergy between theory and practice.

Groundbreaking UN Security Council Briefing (2022)

Hilina Berhanu Degefa on April 13, 2022,  made history as the first Ethiopian civil society representative to brief the United Nations Security Council. She addressed the UN Security Council Open Debate on Sexual Violence in Conflict, bringing the stories of Ethiopian women directly to the chamber  “I speak to you today as an Ethiopian woman: one who has heard these testimonies and seen these injuries firsthand in Tigray; one who carries the guilt of survival and silence,” she began. Her briefing detailed six key points about conflict-related sexual violence in Ethiopia since the war began in Tigray in November 2020:

1. Rape as a systematic tactic of war: She documented cases like Blen, a 21-year-old waitress from Badme, held against her will and subjected to sexual slavery, starvation, and gang rape by Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers
2. Ethnically motivated sexual violence: She highlighted how sexual violence was used to terrorize communities and build camaraderie among allied forces
3. Vulnerability of specific groups: Girls, older women, disabled individuals, and minorities faced heightened risks
4. Destroyed health facilities and lack of reproductive care: She visited a shelter at Mekelle University where lactating mothers could not access timely care
5. Mental health crisis and suicides: She shared the story of Kadija, a nine-month pregnant woman from Afar who gave birth under a tree after walking nine days while in labor, and a 50-year-old Amhara woman who died by suicide after being gang-raped
6. Overlooked communities: Women from Oromo, Gumuz, Konso, Kimant, and Somali communities experiencing violence without international attention

She concluded with powerful recommendations, urging the Security Council to demand survivor-centered investigations, ensure full humanitarian access, and champion the work of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia. “My patriotism, my political loyalty, and my allegiance lie exclusively and firmly with Ethiopian women,” she declared.

Research on Gender and Extremism

Hilina in march 2021, published the report “Gender and extremism in Ethiopia” through the European Institute of Peace. This groundbreaking study provided a gender-sensitive analysis of women’s participation in violent extremism and the shortcomings of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) initiatives in Ethiopia. The research combined literature review with field observations in conflict-prone areas including Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, Somali, Sidama/SNNPR, and Benishangul-Gumuz, supplemented by 45 semi-structured interviews (28 with women) conducted from May to October 2021.  She found that women engaged in violent extremism through pathways shaped by intersectional factors including ethnic and religious identities such as reinforcement of in-group ideologies via online communities, romantic attraction to charismatic leaders, and responses to state oppression like ethnic profiling or gender-based violations by security forces. She critiqued Ethiopian P/CVE efforts, such as “Mothers for Peace” programs, for perpetuating stereotypes by portraying women solely as victims or innate peacebuilders, neglecting their agency in endorsing violence. In 2025, she published “We fought as fighters, not as women”: women’s participation in ethnonational armed groups in Ethiopia’’ analyzing women’s involvement in the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), Tigray Defense Forces (TDF), and Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). She argued that “ethnonational mobilisations… tend to flatten and camouflage internal divisions, including gender hierarchies”, allowing women to assert agency by framing their contributions as those of fighters undifferentiated by sex.

Major Awards and Fellowships

Hilina’s work has been recognized through numerous prestigious honors:

• Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders (2015): At age 22, she was the youngest Ethiopian to receive this honor, the flagship program of the U.S. Department of State
• Women Deliver Young Leaders Fellow, Class of 2020
• Anthony Lester Fellowship (2024): One of the inaugural recipients of this fellowship from Bard College’s Human Rights Project, receiving a $25,000 stipend to work on combating proposals to legalize female genital mutilation in The Gambia
• XCEPT Women Researchers Fellowship (2024):  Researching women’s participation in non-state ethnic and ethno-national armed groups in Ethiopia, including cross-border implications with Kenya
• Feminist Leadership Programme (2023): Participant in the Women’s Resource Centre’s feminist leadership training

She currently sits on the UN Youth Advisory Board of Ethiopia and served as deputy chair of the UN Women ECO advisory group for two years.

International Roles and Current Work

As of 2023, Hilina works as a gender and inclusion specialist at the United Nations Office in Vienna. She has spearheaded gender and inclusion programmes within diverse international organizations and think tanks, including the UN office in Vienna and the European Institute of Peace. Her approach to women’s rights work is described as intersectional and community-oriented, with extensive experience across Horn and Eastern Africa, as well as Central Europe. She has also been a research fellow with the XCEPT program, focusing on women’s participation in non-state ethnic and ethno-national armed groups in Ethiopia.

Advocacy Philosophy and Key Perspectives

Hilina’s work is grounded in several core principles:

On Democracy and Women’s Inclusion: “The full inclusion of women will make democracy real” in Ethiopia, she has stated. She argues that women’s full political participation helps governments become more accountable, credible, and responsive.

On Peace and Everyday Violence: “What we witnessed during the war is truly an extension of our ‘peace-time’ reality… war and violence are not confined to the frontlines, especially for us women they are deeply rooted in the mundane, everyday spaces of people’s lives… As an Ethiopian woman, I can confirm that we have never known true peace.”

On Patriarchy as a Global Force: “I think the gendered challenges Ethiopian women face are not isolated or exceptional, but rather compared with the experiences of women across the world, owing mainly to the normalized forces of patriarchy and sexism.”

On Transitional Justice: She has critiqued Ethiopia’s transitional justice process as “one of the most unfair and upsetting aspects of the post-war response,” noting that “for survivors and for the Tigray community at large, having to engage with these same institutions in this transitional justice work is retraumatizing and deeply unjust.”

On Civic Space: “The crackdown on civic space has a layered and particularly harsh impact on women’s civil society… when new forms of state backlash emerge, such as harassment of civil society leaders, suspensions, and intrusive office inspections, it shrinks an already fragile space even further.”

Challenges and Resilience

Hilina has faced significant backlash for her advocacy. She has acknowledged substantial social media harassment, death and rape threats, and offline repercussions such as job losses and physical intimidation, often framed as defenses of cultural and religious norms. Opponents have accused The Yellow Movement of using gender equality as a cover to promote LGBTI rights, thereby eroding traditional Ethiopian values. Critics have also argued that her approach primarily reflects the perspectives of urban, educated, middle-class women, potentially overlooking rural or less privileged Ethiopian women. Hilina has conceded the movement’s privileges as urban feminists, committing to internal dialogues to refine practices, while maintaining that this self-awareness does not fully bridge the gap to grassroots engagement. Her acts of radical self-care include venting to male friends about living in a “female body,” switching off her phone, and staying indoors conscious habits developed to maintain mental health in a highly conservative and oppressive environment