Yohannes Abraha

Tigray Community Advocate • International Relations & Governance Enthusiast • Diaspora Leader

Background & Identity
Yohannes Abraha is a Toronto-based advocate for the Tigray community originally from the Tigray region of Ethiopia. He has an academic background in international relations, governance, and development—he studied at the University of Antwerpen.

Advocacy & Public Engagement

Engages actively via social media platforms (including X / formerly Twitter) on issues around the Tigray crisis, humanitarian access, and governance.
Uses his influence to raise awareness of the siege conditions, displacement, and suffering in Tigray, seeking to bring diaspora and international attention to reports of human rights abuses.

Professional Style & Strengths

Communicator with both local/Canadian and international reach; able to bridge diaspora experiences with policy issues.
Leverages first-hand knowledge of the situation in Tigray, combined with academic understanding, to speak to both humanitarian and governance dimensions.
Self-employed or independent, which suggests flexibility and possibly multiple projects or roles; likely able to adapt to different speaking formats.

Value for Speaking Engagements

First-hand and informed voice on Tigray’s humanitarian crisis, useful for audiences seeking perspectives grounded in lived and diasporic experience.
Policy relevant: his interest in international relations, development, and governance suggests he can speak not only to the moral/humanitarian side but also to structural, political, and justice-driven responses.
Diaspora connection: As someone located in Toronto, he can provide insight into how diaspora communities are impacted and how they organize, which is often of interest to multi-stakeholder panels (including academia, NGOs, and government).

. Reuters

Ethiopias crackdown on ethnic Tigrayans snares thousands .png

“Ethiopia’s crackdown on ethnic Tigrayans snares thousands,” Reuters (May 2021). This is a major piece examining how Tigrayan diplomats, professors, journalists, and businesspeople are being sidelined and affected by the conflict in Ethiopia. Yohannes Abraha is quoted in it.

In the article, Yohannes speaks about being dismissed from his role as director of southern and western European affairs at the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of a broader move to “sideline Tigrayans.” He is pictured in Toronto in the article

ResearchGate – Academic Profile / Dissertation, Academic Publication / Bio, Johannes Abraha’s academic credentials: he completed a dissertation titled “From Descriptive to Substantive Political Representation. Resolving the tension between Ethnic federalism and the developmental state model.” He is affiliated with the Institute of Development Policy at University of Antwerp. ResearchGate.

This shows his analytical / research side—policy, governance, ethnic federalism, etc. Useful to cite when looking for speaking on governance, federalism, democracy, etc.