18th June, 2023
By Taiwo Okanlawon
The fight for Human rights requires action on multiple fronts. It happens in many places, from communities to courtrooms, pushed by citizens and politicians alike. But while many democracies already have constitutionally promised equality, the reality faced by people says differently. When this happens, how do we hold governments accountable to our human rights privilege?
As a complex phenomenon, corruption has been identified as a hydra-headed monster with grievous effects on development, thereby making it a human rights issue both in African continent and some parts of other continents aswell.
To these human rights lawyers, corruption per se is a human rights violation, insofar as it interferes with the right of the people to dispose of their natural wealth and resources and thereby increases poverty and frustrates socio-economic development.
There are a number of famous female African human rights lawyers who have made their name by fighting for societal justice. Find out more about them and the impressive work they carry out.
1. Fatou Bensouda
She is a chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda is one of the world’s most influential human rights lawyers working today. Originally from Gambia, Bensouda received her Barrister of Law from the University of Nigeria and became Gambia’s first international maritime law expert. She then began work as a non-government civil servant with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
First a Legal Adviser and Trial Attorney, she moved up to Senior Legal Adviser and Head of the Legal Advisory Unit from 2002-2004. In 2012, Bensouda was named the chief prosecutor for the ICC. When she began investigating the possibility of war crimes committed by the US forces and allies in Afghanistan, the US revoked her visa, banning Bensouda from the country. Her office plans to continue their investigation.
For her work and status within the human rights community, Bensouda has received many recognitions and awards. In 2009, she received the ICJ International Jurists award for her criminal law work nationally and internationally. In 2011, she was awarded the World Peace Through Law Award, and in 2017, Time Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
2. Oluwafunke Adeoye
She is a Nigerian lawyer and human rights defender, who has like the Sage of Anacostia” and “The Lion of Anacostia” as Douglass was referred to, fought the menace with all his vigour
The Human Rights Lawyer, Trainer and Social Entrepreneur with a decade of experience is currently working on improving human rights and strengthening criminal justice systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.
She has Represented clients in criminal & human rights matters from the lower court to Appeal Court. And was actively engaged in the use of Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution to settle disputes at the Lagos Multi Door Court House and before Arbitral Tribunals.
The astute graduate of law from the University of Benin, a fellow of the Cornell University Makwanyane Institute for Capital Defenders, and an Acumen West Africa Fellow has not only remained a notable figure in the fight against rights abuses and corruption in Nigeria and the African continent but has also demonstrated it through actions.
Going by online sources, So far, over 7,000+ justice-involved individuals have benefited directly from her interventions, and She also initiated a social enterprise aimed at preventing recidivism
During her stay at University of Benin, Edo state, she did not leave anybody in doubt of her passion for activism which earn her a recipient of Ondo State Government Scholarship For Outstanding Performance.
In 2020, She Implemented the COVID-19 Grassroots Justice fund Project supported by Namati and Funds for Global Human Rights which provided support to 5,000 justice-involved individuals whose justice needs have been grossly
impacted by the coronavirus.
In 2022, She was Selected as 1 of 30 African Human Rights Lawyers to undergo Strategic Litigation
Training in Nairobi, Kenya.
She also Co-authored “Legal Representation for Indigent Pre-trial Detainees” acknowledged by the Federal Ministry of Justice and Legal Aid Council.
Funke is committed to mentoring, and she has done so in various formal and informal settings. She currently serves as a teen mentor at her local church. She lives in Abuja, Nigeria, with her husband and two sons.
3. Yara Sallam
Sallam is an intrepid Egyptian attorney, scholar, and feminist activist.
Earning a law degree from Cairo University in 2007, a Maitrise in Commercial Law from the prestigious Sorbonne University in France, and an LLM in International Human Rights Law from Notre Dame, Sallam has cultivated an impressive body of work.
Following her Master’s in the U.S., Sallam returned to Egypt to work for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, specializing in violence and discrimination against ethnic minorities. After some time working for the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights in Gambia following her Master’s, Sallam went on to win the North African Human Rights Defender Shield Award in 2013 for her work promoting women’s rights.
Beginning in June 2013, Sallam participated in a series of protests against violence towards women and freedom of speech infringements in Egypt, leading to her arrest later that same year. After imprisonment for over a year, Sallam was granted presidential pardon and released in 2015. She has remained vocal in her feminist activism.