Kumlachew Dagne Chekol (LLB, Addis Ababa University, LLM-University of Michigan Law School), is a prominent business andhuman rights lawyer with23 years of experience in the Ethiopian academia and legal practice. Kumlachew specializes in corporate and investment law and has been involved in more than 25 (multimillion dollar) mergers and acquisitions as well as privatization transactions. In conducting due diligence, structuring transactions and developing human resource manuals, Kumlachew always gives due attention to ensuring compliance with labor, health and safety as well as environmental issues.
Kumlachew is widely known for his active engagement on human rights and civil society issues. He was the chair of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), the only human rights monitoring CSO in Ethiopia, from 2015-2017. He also founded the Consortium of Ethiopian Human Rights Organizations (CEHRO).Kumlachew was the principal co-drafter of CSO parallel reports for Ethiopia’s during Ethiopia’s Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council in 2009 and 2014.  He has also written CSO parallel reports on the ICCPR, CESCR, CEDAW and CERD in 2009. The reports, which were submitted to the UN High Commissioner’s Office for Human Rights, provided comprehensive analysis on the implementation of these human rights conventions in Ethiopia.  Kumlachew has worked with Freedom House and NED to support the capacity of local human rights CSOs through research, advisory support and internship programs.
Kumlachew was among the principal drafters of the Civil Society Proclamation No. 1113/2011, and actively participated in the Working Groups set up to reform Civil Society, media and anti-terrorism laws. The new CSO law removed the repressive provisions of the old draconian law which decimated human rights work by CSOs. Since November 2018, Kumlachew is working as Ethiopia Programming consultant to Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA). He also provides high level policy advice and support to Open Society Foundations onsupport toreforms and rebuilding the capacity of human rights CSOs in Ethiopia. Kumlachew has established with other concerned colleagues a human rights CSO specializing on labor rights issues, called the Ethiopian Labor Rights Watch (ELRW). ELRW seeks to advance labor rights through legal aid, research and advocacy on legal and policy reform to ensure protection of employees working in industrial parks, as well as in textile and horticulture sectors.