Abdul Tejan-Cole is a

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

an Oku people (Sierra Leone), Oku legal practitioner and former Commissioner of Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commission. He was awarded the 2001

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

award.

Biography

Tejan-Cole holds a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

(Hons) degree from Fourah Bay College,

University of Sierra Leone The University of Sierra Leone is the name of the former unitary public university system in Sierra Leone. Established in February 1827, it is the oldest university in Africa. As of May 2005, the University of Sierra Leone was reconstituted int ...

, a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

and a post-graduate diploma in

International Trade Law International trade law includes the appropriate rules and customs for handling trade between countries. However, it is also used in legal writings as trade between private sectors. This branch of law is now an independent field of study as mo ...

from the

European University Institute The European University Institute (EUI) is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral teaching and research institute and an independent body of the European Union with juridical personality, established by the member states to contribu ...

. He was awarded a Teaching Fellowship in

Human Rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York, in addition to a Yale World Fellowship. He worked as a trial attorney and appellate counsel in the Special Court for Sierra Leone and taught law at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. He was the Deputy Director at the

International Center for Transitional Justice The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) was founded in 2001 as a non-profit organization dedicated to pursuing accountability for mass atrocity and human rights abuse through transitional justice mechanisms. ICTJ officially ope ...

’s (ICTJ) Cape Town Office and worked as Adviser and Component Manager Law Justice and Human Rights - Justice Sector Development Programme. He served as Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Bar Association, and later as Vice President and then as President. He was Board Chair of the

Open Society Initiative for West Africa The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) is an organization in West Africa. OSIWA was established in 2000 as a part of the global network of Soros Foundations. OSIWA claims to promote "open societies where democracy, good governance, t ...

(OSIWA) (2002–07) and is former Chair of

West Africa Democracy Radio West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR) is a trans-territorial, sub-regional broadcaster based in Dakar, Senegal. WADR is a project of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) set up in 2003 to protect and defend the ideals of democratic and ...

(WADR) and a board member of the

Open Society Justice Initiative Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with a sta ...

(OSJI), Timap for Justice, and West Africa Civil Society Institute. He was appointed Commissioner of the Anti Corruption Commission in December 2007 and resigned in 2010. He served as the Executive Director of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa from 2011 until Feb 6th, 2018. Tejan-Cole started playing cricket back at the

Prince of Wales Secondary School Prince of Wales Secondary School is a public secondary school located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. History Prince of Wales is named in honour of the Prince of Wales, the heir apparent to the Canadian throne. The ostrich feather and ...

and was later selected to the Sierra Leone national cricket team, where he remained until his retirement. He currently owns a junior club in Sierra Leone, called the Abdul Tejan-Cole Cricket Team, which is an affiliate of the

Sierra Leone Cricket Association Sierra Leone Cricket Association is the official Sport governing body, governing body of cricket in Sierra Leone. Its headquarters is currently located in Brookfields National Stadium. The association represents Sierra Leone at the International ...

(SLCA).

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century Sierra Leonean lawyers Fourah Bay College alumni Alumni of University College London Columbia University faculty Oku people 21st-century Sierra Leonean lawyers {{africa-law-bio-stub