Haja Zainab Hawa Bangura (; born 18 December 1959) is a

Sierra Leonean 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 ...

politician and social activist who has been serving as the Director-General of the

United Nations Office at Nairobi United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON, sw, Ofisi ya Umoja wa Mataifa Nairobi) in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, is one of four major United Nations office sites where numerous different UN agencies have a joint presence. Established in 1996, ...

(UNON) since 2018, appointed by

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

Secretary-General António Guterres. She served as the second United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict with the rank of

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations An under-secretary-general of the United Nations (USG) is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the secretary-general for a renewable term of four years. Under ...

from 2012 to 2017, in succession to the first holder of the post,

Margot Wallström Margot Elisabeth Wallström (; born 28 September 1954) is a Swedish politician of the Swedish Social Democratic Party who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2019 and Minister for Nordic Coope ...

. In 2017 she was succeeded by

Pramila Patten Pramila Patten (; born 29 June 1958) is a Mauritian barrister, women's rights activist, and United Nations official, who currently serves as the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Under-Secretary-General of ...

."Secretary-General Appoints Zainab Hawa Bangura of Sierra Leone Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict"
UN.org, Secretary-General, SG/A/1354, BIO/4378, 22 June 2012. In 2007, Bangura became Sierra Leone's foreign minister in the government of President

Ernest Bai Koroma Ernest Bai Koroma (born 2 October 1953) is a Sierra Leonean politician who served as the fourth President of Sierra Leone from 17 September 2007 to 4 April 2018. Born and raised in Makeni in northern Sierra Leone, Koroma spent more than 24 ...

of the

All People's Congress The All People's Congress (APC) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, the other being its main political rival the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). The APC has been the main opposition party in Sierra Leone since 4 Ap ...

(APC) Party. She was the second woman to serve in that post, following

Shirley Gbujama Madam Shirley Yema Gbujama (born 1936, as Shirley Macaulay) is a Sierra Leonean politician who served in a number of cabinet positions, including minister for foreign affairs, minister of social welfare, minister of tourism and culture, and min ...

who held that position from 1996 to 1997. She served as Minister of Health and Sanitation from 2010 to 2012.

Early life

The daughter of an imam, Zainab Hawa Bangura was born "Zainab Hawa Sesay" in the small rural town of Yonibana,

Tonkolili District Tonkolili District is a district in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Magburaka. The other major towns include Masingbi, Yele, Mile 91, Bumbuna, Yonibana, Matotoka. Mathora, Magbass and Masanga. Ton ...

in the Northern Province of

British Sierra Leone The Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone (informally British Sierra Leone) was the British colonial administration in Sierra Leone from 1808 to 1961, part of the British Empire from the abolitionism era until the decolonisation era. The Crow ...

. She hails from the Temne ethnic group. She was born into a family of limited means, and she attended secondary school on a scholarship that was awarded to her by the Mathora Girls Secondary School near

Magburaka Magburaka is the capital and largest city of Tonkolili District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Its population was 16,313 in the 2004 census. and a current estimate of 40,313. It is located at around , along the Rokel River. Magburaka ...

. She later attended the Annie Walsh Girls Secondary School in the capital city of

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and po ...

. Then, after graduating from Sierra Leone's

Fourah Bay College Fourah Bay College is a public university in the neighbourhood of Mount Aureol in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Founded on 18 February 1827, it is the first western-style university built in Sub-Saharan Africa and, furthermore, the first university-l ...

, Bangura moved to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

for advanced diplomas in Insurance Management at the City University Business School of London and the

University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...

. While in her early 30s, she became vice-president of one of her country's largest insurance companies. Bangura speaks three languages: Temne, Krio, and English.

Public life

Early activism

Bangura became a social activist during the difficult period when Sierra Leone was ruled by the NPRC

military junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...

. She began with consciousness-raising efforts among urban market women, reminding her followers that her own mother was a market woman. In 1994 she founded Women Organized for a Morally Enlightened Nation (W.O.M.E.N.), the first non-partisan

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, ...

group in the country. The following year she co-founded the

Campaign for Good Governance The Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) is democracy-supporting NGO in Sierra Leone. CGG promotes the building of democratic institutions, transparency and accountability in government, active citizen participation in the political process, voter edu ...

(CGG). Then, using CGG as her platform, she campaigned for the holding of national elections that finally drove the NPRC from power in 1996 and restored democratic government. This was Sierra Leone's first democratic election in 25 years, and the Sierra Leonean media and the general public attributed that success largely to her efforts. During Sierra Leone's civil war (1991–2002) Bangura spoke out forcefully against the atrocities committed against the civilian population by the

Revolutionary United Front The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel group that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later transformed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surv ...

(RUF) and was targeted for assassination several times by that group. She also spoke against the corruption in the civilian government of President

Ahmad Tejan Kabbah Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah (February 16, 1932 – March 13, 2014) was a Sierra Leonean politician who served twice as the 3rd President of Sierra Leone, from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007. An economist and attorney by profession, K ...

and the atrocities committed against civilians by government soldiers. In June 1997, as fighting engulfed the country, Bangura fled on a fishing boat to neighboring Guinea.

Political career

In the 2002 elections, Bangura ran against Kabbah for the presidency of Sierra Leone, departing for the first time from her accustomed role as a non-partisan

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.Sierra Leone's parliament. Bangura claimed that her party's low vote count resulted from corruption in the voting system. After the 2002 elections Bangura founded the National Accountability Group (NAG) whose mission was to fight against official corruption and to promote transparency and accountability in government. In 2006 she left Sierra Leone for neighbouring Liberia where she was appointed Director of the Civil Affairs Office in the

United Nations Mission in Liberia The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was a peacekeeping operation established in September 2003 to monitor a ceasefire agreement in Liberia following the resignation of President Charles Taylor and the conclusion of the Second Liberia ...

(UNMIL) and given responsibility for the reconstruction of 16 Liberian ministries and 30 government agencies following that country's devastating

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Bangura returned to Sierra Leone in 2007 after Ernest Bai Koroma won the presidency in a hard-fought

national election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

and was named foreign minister shortly thereafter. At the time, many Sierra Leoneans believed that the new president elevated this well known critic of government to such a high position to demonstrate his good faith in promising reform. As a devoted Muslim, Bangura took time off politics in 2009 to travel to the

Holy city A holy city is a city important to the history or faith of a specific religion. Such cities may also contain at least one headquarters complex (often containing a religious edifice, seminary, shrine, residence of the leading cleric of the religi ...

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

to participate in the 2009 Hajj

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

ceremony.

Career in international politics

In 2012, Bangura served on the

Commission on Life-Saving Commodities, which was jointly chaired by

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

and

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to ...

, and issued recommendations to increase access to and use of 13 essential commodities for women’s and children’s health. Bangura subsequently assumed her next position as Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict at the level of Under-Secretary-General on 4 September 2012. In this capacity, she also chaired the interagency network

UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict United Nations Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action) a cross-UN initiative that unites the work of 24 United Nations entities with the goal of ending sexual violence in conflict. The inter-agency network is composed of 24 UN entiti ...

. During her time in office, she helped launch an international protocol in 2014 for dealing with rape and sexual violence in conflict, providing guidelines on the investigation of sex crimes and the collection of evidence for future prosecutions. She notably negotiated a June 2015 deal with military commanders in Ivory Coast to prosecute soldiers accused of sexual violence. That same year, she visited

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

and Syria and worked on an action plan to address the sexual violence being waged by

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

(ISIS) fighters. From 2018 until 2019, Bangura co-chaired (alongside Katherine Sierra) an Independent Commission on Sexual Misconduct, Accountability and Culture Change at Oxfam. In 2019, Guterres appointed her as Director-General of the

, succeeding

Maimunah Mohd Sharif Dato' Seri Paduka Maimunah binti Mohd Sharif (born 26 August 1961) is the Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). She assumed office in January 2018, becoming the first Asian woman to serve as Executive ...

Other activities

International Gender Champions International Gender Champions (IGC) is a network of female and male leaders of member states, international organizations, and civil society working for gender equality. It is an initiative of Women@TheTable, and was founded in 2015 by Caitlin Kr ...

(IGC), Member * Africa Group for Justice and Accountability, Member *

Interpeace Interpeace is an international organization for peacebuilding which advances sustainable peace in two mutually reinforcing ways: (1) strengthening the capacities of societies to manage conflict themselves in non-violent and non-coercive ways; and ...

, Member of the Governing Board *

United Nations Institute for Training and Research The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is a dedicated training arm of the United Nations system. UNITAR provides training and capacity development activities to assist mainly developing countries with special attention ...

(UNITAR), Member of the Division for Peace Advisory Board * Women Political Leaders Global Forum (WPL), Member of the Global Advisory Board *

World Movement for Democracy World Movement for Democracy is an international network of individuals and organizations who share the common goal of promoting democracy. The World Movement was launched in February 1999 when the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and two n ...

, Chair of the Steering Committee

Recognition

Bangura has won several international awards for her promotion of democracy and human rights in Africa, including: the African International Award of Merit for Leadership (Nigeria, 1999); the Human Rights Award given by the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (New York, 2000); the Bayard Rustin Humanitarian Award given by the A. Philip Randolph Institute (Washington, DC, ); and the Democracy Award given by the

National Endowment for Democracy The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is an organization in the United States that was founded in 1983 for promoting democracy in other countries by promoting political and economic institutions such as political groups, trade unions, ...

(Washington, DC, 2006). In November 2013, Bangura received an award from Project 1808 Inc, an organisation in partnership with

University of Wisconsin Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

African Studies, Division of International Studies. The award recognised Bangura for her effectiveness in bringing attention to the issues surrounding sexual violence throughout the world by engaging fellow world leaders, rebels, militants, victims and communities. In the same year, she was also recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women.

References

Sources

UN brief official biography BBC television interview on "Hardtalk", May 10, 2013 Letter from Zainab Bangura to Britain's Commission for Africa, ca. 2002

Profile of Zainab Bangura's Performance as Foreign Minister

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bangura, Zainab Hawa 1959 births Living people All People's Congress politicians Alumni of the University of Nottingham Annie Walsh Memorial School alumni Female foreign ministers Foreign Ministers of Sierra Leone Health ministers of Sierra Leone Fourah Bay College alumni People from Tonkolili District Sierra Leonean activists Sierra Leonean women activists Sierra Leonean women diplomats Sierra Leonean Muslims Women government ministers of Sierra Leone Temne people BBC 100 Women 20th-century Sierra Leonean women politicians 20th-century Sierra Leonean politicians 21st-century Sierra Leonean women politicians 21st-century Sierra Leonean politicians Special Representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nations