Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi is a Nigerian

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and

civil rights activist Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

. She is the founding Director o
Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center
(WARDC), a

non-governmental A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

maternal and reproductive health advocacy organization which major objective is to promote

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

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 ...

governance Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, social norm, norms, power (social and political), power or language of an organized society over a social system (family, tribe, formal organization, formal or informal organization, a ...

and

rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...

. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi is an executive board member of

West Africa Network for Peacebuilding The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) is a leading Regional Peacebuilding organisation founded in 1998 in response to civil wars that plagued West Africa in the 1990s. Over the years, WANEP has succeeded in establishing strong national n ...

and the Nigerian Women's Trust Fund. She teaches International Humanitarian Law at the

University of Lagos The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in th ...

. In 2016, She was elected the chairman o
The Monitoring Group
(TMG), the coalition of 400 civil society organizations.

Early life and education

Akiyode-Afolabi was born in

Kwara State Kwara State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Kwárà), is a state in Western Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kogi State, to the north by Niger state, and to the south by Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states, while its western border makes up part of the internation ...

but she grew up in

Osogbo Osogbo (also ''Oṣogbo'', rarely ''Oshogbo'') is a city in Nigeria. It became the capital city of Osun State in 1991. Osogbo city seats the Headquarters of both Osogbo Local Government Area (situated at Oke Baale Area of the city) and Olorund ...

Osun State Osun State (; yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Ọ̀ṣun), occasionally known as the State of Osun by the state government, is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states, to the north by Kwara State, to the south by Ogun S ...

, Nigeria. She studied

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

from the

Obafemi Awolowo University Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is a federal government-owned university that is located in the ancient city of Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1961 and classes commenced in October 1962 as the University of Ife ...

Ile Ife Ile may refer to: * iLe, a Puerto Rican singer * Ile District (disambiguation), multiple places * Ilé-Ifẹ̀, an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria * Interlingue (ISO 639:ile), a planned language * Isoleucine, an amino acid * Another ...

, where she started her journey in human right activism as the first female

public relations officer The public relations officer (PRO) or chief communications officer (CCO) or corporate communications officer is a C-suite level officer responsible for communications, public relations, and/or public affairs in an organization. Typically, the CCO ...

. She earned her master's degree at the

Notre Dame Law School Notre Dame Law School is the professional graduate law school of the University of Notre Dame. Established in 1869, it is the oldest continuously operating Catholic law school in the United States. ND Law is ranked 22nd among the nation's "Top 1 ...

, Indiana, USA and her

Doctoral Degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

from

SOAS University of London SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

with a specialization in women's peace and security.

Career

Upon returning to Nigeria after her studies at the

University of Notre Dame Law School Notre Dame Law School is the professional graduate law school of the University of Notre Dame. Established in 1869, it is the oldest continuously operating Catholic Church, Catholic law school in the United States. ND Law is ranked 22nd among th ...

, she founded Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC) in 2002, a company focused on addressing issues relating to gender-based violence and policy advocacy. In August 2016, she was appointed the Chairperson of Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a collection of 400 civil society organizations. She is the second woman to lead TMG, after Ayo Obe of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) in the '90s. She is a member of the Bring Back our Girls (BBOG) movement and leads the campaign for safe and secure schools in the North East Nigeria. She also led the Gender and Constitution Reform Network (GECORN) founded in 2003. In 2018, Abiola acting as the Executive Director of Women Advocate Research and Documentation Center (WARDC), obtained favorable judgement against Nigeria in the domestic violence case of Mary Sunday v. Nigeria which was before the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS Court). She successfully represented Monica Osagie, a student at the

who was sexually harassed by Prof. Richard Iyiola Akindele, a lecturer at the department of accounting in 2018. Abiola teaches International Humanitarian Law at the

Awards

The

International League for Human Rights The International League for Human Rights (ILHR) is a human rights organization with headquarters in New York City. Claiming to be the oldest human rights organization in the United States, the ILHR defines its mission as "defending human right ...

, USA named Akiyode-Afolabi a recipient of the 1999 Defenders’ Day Awards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akiyode-Afolabi, Abiola Living people Civil rights activists Women civil rights activists Nigerian women lawyers People from Kwara State People from Osogbo Obafemi Awolowo University alumni Notre Dame Law School alumni Alumni of SOAS University of London Academic staff of the University of Lagos Year of birth missing (living people)