Amnesty International Announces New Fellowship on International Justice for Young African Professionals – African Business

Amnesty International is proud to announce the launch a new fellowship program to increase access to international justice for professionals in the African region. The International Justice in Africa Fellowship has been established against the backdrop of Amnesty International and T.M.C Asser’s May 2021 report titled ‘The Rome Statute at 40’ which highlighted the critical gap for access to spaces of engagement for national stakeholders from the global south and the need to enhance diversity of representation in the field of international justice.

Chuka Charles Ainze-Onyia, Nigeria (Nigeria), Sarah Mutseo Ngachi Kenya (Kenya). They were selected from 368 applicants across Africa.

The fellowship lasts nine months and allows the fellows to transfer their skills and have the chance to improve their technical knowledge by engaging in legal analysis, research, and policy discourse on international criminal law and justice.

This fellowship is the first ever of its kind.In the midst the Covid-19 pandemic, and at a time when new armed conflicts have emerged while old ones remain unresolved. Crimes under international law have been committed at a large scale in many countries, including Ukraine, Ethiopia, Israel/Palestine, Myanmar, Mali, Central Africa Republic, and Yemen. The international response required has been rare. It is imperative that perpetrators be brought to justice through fair, impartial, and independent trials for all crimes under international laws.

Chuka started his career as a lawyer in 2017 and has been working within the Nigerian criminal justice process. He began his career as a prosecutor in Anambra State Department of Public Prosecutions. After that, he joined a private practice where he represented pretrial prisoners. He is interested in international justice, and has participated in international advocacy and research on behalf of victims of human right violations in Nigeria and Ethiopia, Central African Republic and Central African Republic.

“This fellowship presents an opportunity for me to develop and amplify my voice on the many issues of international justice plaguing the continent and beyond,” said Chuka, who is based in the organization’s West Africa Regional Office in Dakar, Senegal.

Sarah Mutseo Ngachi joins the fellowship with three years’ professional experience in the field of human rights and international justice. Her interests lie at intersection of corporate accountability, international criminal law, and environmental justice. Called to the Bar in Kenya, Sarah’s research has focused mainly on prosecution of transnational crimes in Africa. She has been involved in public interest litigation regarding environmental law and human rights at Kenyan courts as well as the East Africa Court of Justice.

“I am excited to join the fellowship at a time when crucial developments and debates are taking place in the international justice field, including on the possibility of including ecocide as a crime under the Rome Statute, which may have a number of crucial human rights implications. I look forward to actively engaging with these developments and debates through the fellowship,” said Sarah who is based at the organizations’ East Africa Regional Office in Nairobi, Kenya.

“As the Rome Statute turns 20, it is evident that exclusion of stakeholders and professionals from certain regions, particularly the Global South, has served to reinforce structural inequalities and unequal power relations in the field of international justice. This fellowship will in the long term contribute, in a small way, towards enhancing diversity of representation in the field of international justice,” said Japhet Biegon, Amnesty International’s Africa Regional Advocacy Coordinator.

Distributed by APO Group for Amnesty International