Governing Council
Professor Shadrack Gutto (Kenya/ South Africa) – Elder
Prof. Gutto is currently a full Professor and Chair of African Renaissance Studies & Director of the postgraduate Centre for African Renaissance Studies, University of South Africa (UNISA). He is also Professor Extraordinaire at the Faculty of Humanities, Tshwane University of Technology since 2008 and Non-Executive Chairperson at Maluleke Seriti Makume Matlala (Attorneys) Inc since 2007. He is a member of UNISA Senate, Senate Executive Committee, and deputy chair of Senate Publications Committee; Academic planner and coordinator of the Government of South Africa-UNISA-Government of Southern Sudan human capacity and institutions’ building project (2004-2011).
Prof. Gutto obtained an LL.B. (hons) from the University of Nairobi in 1975, a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, U.S.A in 1978, a post-graduate Diploma in International and Comparative Law of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France (1978). He was a Senior Teaching and Research Fellow, Institute of Sociology of Law, Lund University from 1989 to March 1994; meanwhile he completed a doctorate in sociology of human rights law in 1993.
In 1982, during the Kenyan Government’s crackdown on critical academics, was forced into exile and lived in Graz, Austria and London, the U.K. He was a Lecturer and Research Fellow, Faculty of Law and the Institute of Development Studies, University of Nairobi, Lecturer at the Law Faculty, University of Zimbabwe, and founding editor of the Zimbabwe Law Review. Declared a persona non grata for unspecified “national security” grounds in 1988. Granted Convention refugee status in Sweden in 1989.
Prof. Gutto was an Associate Professor, Law Faculty and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand from April 1994; Deputy Director (1995-1998) and Acting Director (2000-2001). He headed the Land Rights Research Programme and lectured in Public International Law, Human Rights, Property Law and Land Reform, Constitutional Law and Jurisprudence. Supervised masters and doctoral students. Was Co-Chairperson of Wits University Transformation/Institutional Forum 1996-2000.
Dr. Edward Kwakwa (Ghana) - Treasurer
Dr. Edward Kwakwa is Legal Counsel at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. Kwakwa holds an LL.B degree from the University of Ghana, an LL.M. from Queen’s University in Canada, and an LL.M. and a J.S.D. from Yale University in the U.S.A.
Before joining WIPO, Kwakwa practiced corporate and international trade law and investment with the law firm of O’Melveny and Myers in Washington, D.C., worked as International Legal Adviser at the Commission on Global Governance in Geneva, as Senior Legal Adviser at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and as Legal Affairs Officer at the World Trade Organization. His publications include two books and numerous articles on international law.
He is currently serving as Vice-President of the African Foundation for International Law, and served from 2001 to 2004 on the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law. He has been an Adjunct/Visiting Professor of Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the University of Denver College of Law, the International Law Institute in Uganda, and the University of Pretoria, South Africa, where he was recently appointed Extraordinary Professor in Law.
Mirjam Blaak (Uganda)
Mirjam Blaak is the Deputy Head of Mission at the Uganda Embassy in Brussels with responsibilities for the Benelux, the European Union, and the International Criminal Court (ICC). She holds an L.L.M. in Dutch law with a specialisation in international law from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. She is certified as Professional Legal Mediator and Justice Rapid Response expert.
Highlights of Blaak’s accomplishments include working as a member of team of experts revising the Model Law for implementing legislation of the ICC Statute, initiating and organizing the first ICC Review Conference in Kampala, Uganda, acting as facilitator for the Hague Working Group on geographical representation and gender balance in the recruitment of the ICC staff, and serving as the Executive Director of the Executive Board of the Common Fund for Commodities, representing six countries in East and Southern Africa.
Prior to her current position, Blaak worked as financial advisor to Drillcon, a Danish company based in Kampala, as the Executive Director of Schnyder International and Schnyder Company, a legal, marketing, and management consultancy firm operating in East Africa, as Country Representative for the Netherlands Management Cooperation Programme (PUM) in Uganda, and as Legal/Associate Protection Officer with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Nairobi, Kenya.
Bahame Tom Nyanduga (Tanzania)
Bahame Tom Nyanduga was Member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights from 2003-2009. During his tenure, he was Special Raporteur for Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Migrants in Africa. As well he served as Acting Chair Person of the Commission. Mr. Nyanduga has served as President of the Tanganyika Law Society and the East Africa Law Society, has lectured at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, and at the University of Leuven in Belgium. He has worked at the Justice and Foreign Ministries of Tanzania, and was Legal Consultant to the Burundi Peace Negotiations Secretariat.
Currently a Legal Practitioner in Tanzania, Mr. Nyanduga serves as Defense counsel before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and has appeared before the East African Court of Justice. He holds an L.L.B (Hons) from the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, an L.L.M from the London School of Economics (LSE), and a P.G.D. in International Law from the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague.
Evelyn A. Ankumah (Ghana/ The Netherlands) - Executive Director
Evelyn Ankumah is the Founding Executive Director of Africa Legal Aid (AFLA). A Lawyer with academic and professional experience in North America, Europe, and Africa, she brings a unique international perspective to the organization. Under her direction, AFLA’s three offices in The Hague, Accra and Pretoria have been established, and the organization has developed close working ties with regional and international bodies including the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the African Human Rights Systems, and the recently established War Crimes Division (WCD) of the High Court of Uganda. She is General Editor of AFLA’s publications including its “flagship journal” the AFLA Quarterly, the AFLA Book Series, and the E-Reporter on Africa and International Justice.
After earning a J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law, and upon admission to the Bar of Minnesota, Evelyn Ankumah practiced law briefly in Minnesota. She continued her career in The Netherlands as Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of Law of the Maastricht University, and as Legal Officer with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. In 1996, she published the first Book on the African Commission and its work, and is arguably the most quoted author on the Commission. Originally published in English by Kluwer Law International, the Book has since been published in French and Arabic. She is Scholar at Large at the Maastricht University, and is working on a Book on Africa and International Justice.
In April 2009, five years after relocating to her native Ghana, Ankumah fled her country with her husband and young daughters due to a series of brutal, politicized and gendered tabloid media assaults. Ankumah’s experience has been described by Gender Experts, as an under-treated area of Gender violence perpetrated through the media.