𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐚𝐧𝐳𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞 𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚.

Former Tanzanian Chief Justice Mohamed Chande Othman has been appointed to chair the Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia which operates under the UN Human Rights Council.

He takes over from Kaari Betty Murungi following her resignation as chairperson and member of the commission. Apart from a seven-year stint as Tanzania’s top judge (2010-2017), Mr Othman also served as chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (1998- 2000) and the Council’s independent expert on the human rights situation in the Sudan (2009-2010) among his previous postings.

The three-person Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, created in December 2021, is mandated to investigate alleged human rights violations and abuses in Ethiopia committed since November 2020.

The commission is scheduled to deliver its next update on the Ethiopian situation to the UN Human Rights Council between February and March 2023.