Alice Bahumi Mogwe (born 14 February 1961) is a Motswana activist and lawyer. She is the founder and director of the human rights organization Ditshwanelo. In 2019, she was elected to a three-year term as president of the

International Federation for Human Rights The International Federation for Human Rights (french: Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme; FIDH) is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the third oldest international h ...

. Mogwe's work focuses on protecting political freedoms, abolishing the death penalty, and ensuring rights for minorities, women, children, LGBTQ people, domestic workers, and refugees and other migrants.

Early life and education

Alice Mogwe was born in 1961 in

Molepolole Molepolole is a large village in Kweneng District, Botswana. The people who reside in Molepolole are called Bakwena, who are one of the eight major tribes in Botswana. The Bakwena Kgosi (Chief), Sebele I was among the three chiefs who went to En ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

. She began university in South Africa during apartheid at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1982 and then 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 ...

in 1985, she moved to England to obtain 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 the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

in 1990.

Career

After returning to Botswana, Mogwe began her career as a human rights lawyer, becoming a founding member of the organization Women and Law in Southern Africa. In 1993, she established the human rights organization Ditshwanelo, which she has continued to direct. The organization, also known as the Botswana Centre for Human Rights, provides legal aid and otherwise advocates for human rights causes. Her human rights work with Ditshwanelo included supporting the rights of indigenous groups in Botswana such as the

Basarwa The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are members of various Khoe, Tuu, or Kxʼa-speaking indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures that are the first cultures of Southern Africa, and whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, ...

. She is also known for having organized legal fights against death penalty cases and against the deportation of refugees. Mogwe founded and worked with various other civil society organizations in Botswana, including the Domestic Workers’ Foundation and the Botswana Labor Migrants Association. She has also worked as an election observer in Botswana and as co-chair of Tanzania Elections Watch. A practicing

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

, she is a member of the Anglican Peace and Justice Network. Early in her career, she served as a delegate for the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

. In 2019, Mogwe was elected president of the

(FIDH), a major nongovernmental human rights federation and watchdog group. Her three-year term is scheduled to end in 2022. She had previously served as deputy secretary-general, then secretary-general of the organization. Mogwe has also served two terms on the board of

International Service for Human Rights The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) is an independent, non-profit organization with offices in Geneva and New York which promotes and protects human rights by supporting human rights defenders, strengthening human rights standards ...

Awards and recognition

*FES Human Rights Award 2021 * Human Rights Prize of the Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de l’Homme (CNCDH) (2012) * David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award (2010) * Recognition of Contribution as a Vanguard Women's Leader of Botswana (2005) * Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Merite awarded by the Government of the Republic of France (2005)

Publications

* Mogwe, A. (1994). Human Rights in Botswana: Feminism, Oppression, and “Integration”. ''Alternatives'', ''19''(2), 189-193. * Mogwe, A. L. I. C. E., & Melville, I. N. G. R. I. D. (2012). Human dignity and democracy. ''A Fine Balance: Assessing the Quality of Governance in Botswana'', 83-99. * Mogwe, A. (1992). Botswana: Abortion ‘debate’dynamics. ''Agenda'', ''8''(12), 41-43.

External link

Alice Mogwe
at

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mogwe, Alice 1961 births Botswana human rights activists Botswana women activists Women lawyers Botswana Anglicans University of Cape Town alumni Alumni of the University of Kent Living people Kweneng District