Clément Nyaletsossi Voule is a

Togolese The demographics of Togo include Ethnic group, ethnicity, population density, age, education level, health, economic status and Religion in Togo, religious affiliations. Togo’s population is estimated to have grown to four times its size betwe ...

diplomat and jurist. Voule served as the

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association The United Nations special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association works independently to inform and advise the United Nations Human Rights Council. The special rapporteur examines, monitors, advises and publi ...

from 2018 to 2024. Prior to this, Voule served as African Advocacy Director

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 ...

(ISHR).

Early life and education

Born and raised in Togo, Voule received his degree in fundamental rights from

Nantes University Nantes University () is a public university located in the city of Nantes, France. In addition to the several campuses scattered in the city of Nantes, there are two satellite campuses located in Saint-Nazaire and La Roche-sur-Yon. The university ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Voule went on to receive his master's degree in international law from the

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (, abbreviated IHEID), commonly referred to as Geneva Graduate Institute, is a graduate-level research university in Geneva, Switzerland dedicated to international relations, dev ...

Human rights career

Voule served as Secretary-General of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

's Togo branch. Voule also served as Secretary-General of the Togolese Coalition of Human Rights Defenders. In 2011, he became an advisor to the

African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) is a quasi-judicial body tasked with promoting and protecting human rights and collective (peoples') rights throughout the African continent as well as interpreting the African Char ...

. Voule joined the

(ISHR) in 2006, and served as the organization's African Advocacy Director. In this capacity, Voule pushed the government of

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

Cote d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

to enshrine

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

protections.

United Nations

In 2018, Voule was selected to serve as

, replacing Annalisa Ciampi. Voule is the second African to serve in this position, after inaugural holder Maina Kiai, a

Kenyan The Demographics of Kenya is monitored by the Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics. Kenya is a multi-ethnic state in East Africa. Its total population was at 47,558,296 as of the 2019 census. A national census was conducted in 1999, although t ...

national. Voule's appointment was praised by the

Community of Democracies The Community of Democracies (C.O.D), established in 2000, is an intergovernmental coalition of states. Its aim is to bring together governments, civil society and the private sector in the pursuit of the common goal of supporting democratic rul ...

(CoD), which stated it "look dforward to supporting him in his mandate". In his first report to the

U.N. Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

, Voule identified the oppression of

LGBTI Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (such as genitals, gonads, and chromosome patterns) that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexua ...

people as a top human rights concern. Voule has endorsed new civil liberties protections for internet users, arguing that

freedom of assembly Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right or ability of individuals to peaceably assemble and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend their ideas. The right to free ...

should apply in digital spaces. In office, Voule joined a group of experts condemning the

Hong Kong national security law Hong Kong national security legislation may refer to one of the following laws/bills: Laws in force * Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2020 national law of C ...

as "incompatible" with international human rights law. In the run-up to the 2021 Nicaraguan election, Voule urged the country's leaders to cease violations of human rights. While in his UN post, Voule remains a researcher at the

Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights () is a postgraduate joint center (between the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) founded in 2006 and located in Geneva, ...

. He was succeeded in 2024 as the Special Rapporteur by

Gina Romero Gina Paola Romero Rodríguez (born 1980) is a Colombian activist who co-founded the Latin American and Caribbean Network for Democracy. In 2024, she became the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Associatio ...

from Colombia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voule, Clément Nyaletsossi United Nations special rapporteurs Togolese politicians Togolese human rights activists University of Geneva alumni Nantes University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies alumni Amnesty International people Living people