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and International Courts

African Women

Click below to read our background paper:

African Women Judges on International Courts: Symbolic or Substantive Gains?

Sophie Sikwese

United Nations Dispute Tribunal (UNDT)

MALAWI

Rachel Sikwese made history by becoming the youngest judge to ever sit on the United Nations Dispute Tribunal (UNDT) panel. Born on February 9, 1970, Rachel Sikwese was appointed for a seven-year term in 2019. She holds an LLB (Hon.) from the University of Malawi and a Master of Laws Degree from Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.

Before she was appointed to the UNDT, Rachel served in various judicial capacities in Malawi for 21 years - from the magistracy, registrar, chairperson of the Industrial Relations Court to currently Judge of the High Court specializing in commercial law. She has been the editor of the Malawi Law Reports since 2002 and sits on the special Law Commission on the Review of the Supreme Court of Appeal Act as Deputy Chairperson.

Other enviable positions occupied by Judge Sikwese include Expert Contributor to the World Bank Group (Women, Business and the Law), UN Sustainable Development Goals- Goal 16, World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2017-2018 report, and ILO Bureau for Gender Equality. She has also served as an expert contributor on HIV & AIDS Digest for Judicial Application, the International Labour Organization, and as a Temporary Advisor to the World Health Organisation (Social Determinants of Health). Again, Judge Sikwese was an Executive Committee member of the International Labour and Employment Relations Association and serves in various capacities in both local and international associations.

Justice Sikwese is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Malawi and an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Development and Labour Law, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Her publication Labour Law in Malawi and her monograph in the International Encyclopaedia of Laws on Labour Law and Industrial Relations, are leading authorities on labor law in Malawi. Sikwese’s other publications include HIV and AIDS in the World of Work; Legal Instruments for Judicial Use, Sources and Institutions of Labour Law in Malawi, Access to Labour Justice, Unfair Labour Practices in Malawi: A Guide to Relevant Cases and Materials, Protection and Promotion of Labour Rights: A Judges’ Perspective, and Creating a more Conducive Legal Framework for the Industrial Relations Court of Malawi.

Sophia Ophilia Adjeibea Adinyira

United Nations Dispute Tribunal (UNDT)

GHANA

Sophia Adinyira was born on September 1, 1949, in Cape Coast, the Central Region of Ghana. She attended Fijai Senior High School and Wesley Girls' High School for her 'O' Level and 'A' Level certificates respectively. Sophia was appointed as an Assistant State Attorney in 1974 following her call to the Ghana bar in 1973. She rose through the ranks to become Principal State Attorney in 1986. Sophia Adinyira began her journey at the bench in 1989 when she was appointed as a High Court judge. Ten years after, she was promoted to the Court of Appeal and was eventually appointed to the Apex Court of the land in 2006. Justice Adinyira was a member of the nine-member panel that heard and decided the "Election Petition "case of 2013. She also served as a Judge of the United Nations Appeal Tribunal (UNAT) from 2007 to 2016, sitting in New York and Geneva. With over 30 years of legal experience, Judge Adinyira took up diverse roles including Chairperson of the Disciplinary Committee of the Ghana Legal Council, Chairperson of the Board of Judicial Training of the Judicial Service of Ghana, and Chairperson of the Council for Law Reporting amongst others.

Adinyira’s drive for excellence transcends her successes in the judiciary to her religious life. Sophia is a member of the Anglican Church and has been the Provincial Chancellor of the Church of the Province of West Africa since 1993. In 2019, she was appointed the first female and lay Canon of the Cathedral Church of St. Peter in the Anglican Diocese, Koforidua. Justice Adinyira’s passion for child protection, juvenile justice, and women empowerment led to an award for her contribution towards enhancing the destiny of the child by the Ministry of Women and Children in Ghana. She bid farewell to the bench in 2019 with the delivery of her valedictory judgment in Centre for Juvenile Delinquency v. Ghana Revenue Authority (J1/61/2018) [2019] GHASC 29 where the Court unanimously ruled that the requirement of quoting one’s Tax Identification Number before filing a case was unconstitutional and violates the right of access to law courts.

Memooda Ebrahim-Carstens

United Nations Dispute Tribunal (UNDT)

BOTSWANA

Memooda Ebrahim-Carstens was born in 1954 in Francistown, Botswana. She attended Crescent Primary School in Lobatse and Mater Spei College in Francistown where she obtained her “O” Levels with distinction. Memooda received her law degree (BA Hons. Business Law), from the then City of London Polytechnic Business Law School, and earned her Barristers Degree in 1983 from Lincoln’s Inn, London.

Judge Ebrahim-Carstens became the first female and citizen of Botswana to be appointed to the Industrial Court of Botswana where she served from 1999 to 2009 after she had returned to Botswana from London to run her own legal practice from 1987 to 1998. Thereafter, she was appointed to the High Court of Botswana. Memooda’s tenure at the Industrial Court afforded her considerable experience in the fields of labor law, administrative law, adjudication, and mediation. Her depth of knowledge and experience helped in developing the Court’s jurisprudence particularly in the area of employment law. Her judgments have been reported in the Botswana Law Reports, ILO publications, and the African Human Rights Law Reports.

In 2009, Justice Ebrahim-Carstens was appointed to the United Nations Dispute Tribunal (UNDT) in New York after she garnered 122 out of 183 votes. She eventually became president of UNDT in 2011 and ended her tenure with the Tribunal finally in 2019. Justice Ebrahim-Carstens has held several positions and appointments in both social and public spheres including Membership Secretary of the Mansfield Law Club (London); Executive and founding member of both the Francistown Consumer Action Group and Area A Neighbourhood Watch; Executive Member of the Francistown Golf Club; Executive Officer of the Pupillage and Legal Education Committee of the Law Society of Botswana; Former Board Member of Botswana Water Utilities Corporation; Trustee of the Supa Ngwao Museum Francistown; Trustee of Y Care Charitable Trust; and Member of the Botswana Law Reporting Committee. Judge Ebrahim-Cartens is credited with the paper, “Gender Representation on the Tribunals of the United Nations Internal Justice System: A Response to Nienke Grossman.”

Margaret Tibulya

United Nations Dispute Tribunal (UNDT)

UGANDA

Margaret Tibulya is a Ugandan judge born on August 14, 1966. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Law from Makerere University, Kampala, a Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Centre, a Master's Degree in Law and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), and a Master of Business Administration Degree from the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI). Margaret became a Pupil State Attorney in 1992 and rose through the ranks to become a Grade 1 Magistrate at the Chief Magistrates courts/Buganda Road and Mengo Courts. Between 2000 and 2008, she was the Chief Magistrate at the Chief Magistrates courts/Iganga, Masaka, Mbarara, and Buganda road courts. Following that, she served as the Deputy Registrar in Commercial and Criminal Divisions of the High Court from 2009 to 2013.

In 2013. Judge Margaret Tibulya became a Judge of the High Court of Uganda and is currently serving as the Deputy Head of the Anti-Corruption Court in Uganda. With over 25 years of judicial experience in labor and administrative matters, Margaret has served in other capacities, including a member of the Judiciary Terms and Reference Committee responsible for overseeing the operationalization of the Administration of Judiciary Act in Uganda. Justice Tibulya was appointed to the United Nations Dispute Tribunal for a non-renewable term of seven years in 2019 to fill one of four new half- time judicial positions at the Tribunal after garnering a resounding 110 votes out of 170.

Justice Tibulya is an ardent member of The Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association, The International Association of Women Judges, The East African Judges and Magistrates Association, The Association of Women Lawyers, The Association of Women Judges, and the Uganda Judicial Officers Association. She is the author of The Guide Book on Domestic Violence in Uganda.

Nkemdilim Amelia Izuako

United Nations Dispute Tribunal (UNDT)

NIGERIA

Nkemdilim Izuako is a Nigerian judge who was appointed to the bench in 1998. She earned her law degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State, and started her journey at the bench with an appointment to the Court of Anambra State. She was later appointed to the High Court of Nigeria, where she served until 2003. During her two decades in the Nigerian judiciary, she lectured at Nnamdi Azikwe University and also worked with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to draft a Judicial Ethics Training Manual for the Nigerian judiciary.

Between 2004 and 2006, Justice Izuako served as a judge of the High Court and Court of Appeal of The Gambia and taught law at Gambia Technical Institute. She made history by being appointed the first female judge to the High Court of Solomon Islands in 2006. As an advocate for women’s rights and development, she assisted in mentoring legal professionals and further mobilized local women to form the Honiara Women’s Initiative which undertakes micro-projects for the economic and social empowerment of women and girls. In 2009, Justice Izuako was appointed as an ad litem judge of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal in Nairobi. The tribunal, which is located in Nairobi, New York, and Geneva, works to improve the United Nation’s system of dealing with internal grievances and disciplinary cases. In May 2017, she was elected as President of the tribunal for one year, from 1 January to 31 December 2018.

Having overcome overwhelming odds in her professional career, Nkemdilim has authored several articles including: “Judicial Independence and The Gambian Judiciary”, “Walking the Line of Judicial Independence: The Case of Gambian Government and Moral Integrity”, “Human and People's Rights and the Administration of Justice in Africa.” One of her remarkable pieces of advice to other women in law is that “although it becomes difficultly uncomfortable and even dangerous to give decisions against your conscience; you earn respect, you stand tall and fulfill the oath of your office to work with integrity.” (IAWL, n.d.). Justice Izuako was awarded the McArthur Funds for Leadership Development.

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