Alice Mogwe

Last updated
Alice Mogwe
Alice Mogwe 2010-1.jpg
Alice Mogwe in 2010
Born (1961-02-14) 14 February 1961 (age 62)
Occupation(s)President of the International Federation for Human Rights; Director of Ditshwanelo

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.

Contents

In 2019, she was elected to a three-year term as president of the International Federation for Human Rights, and she was reelected in 2022.

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, Botswana. She began university in South Africa during apartheid at the University of Cape Town. [1] After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1982 and then a bachelor of laws in 1985, she moved to England to obtain a master of laws from the University of Kent in 1990. [2] [1]

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. [2] [3]

In 1993, she established the human rights organization Ditshwanelo, which she has continued to direct. [2] [3] [4] The organization, also known as the Botswana Centre for Human Rights, provides legal aid and otherwise advocates for human rights causes. [5]

Her human rights work with Ditshwanelo included supporting the rights of indigenous groups in Botswana such as the Basarwa. [2] [6] [7] She is also known for having organized legal fights against death penalty cases and against the deportation of refugees. [2] [4] [8]

Mogwe founded and worked with various other civil society organizations in Botswana, including the Domestic Workers’ Foundation and the Botswana Labor Migrants Association. [2] She has also worked as an election observer in Botswana and as co-chair of Tanzania Elections Watch. [1] [9] [10]

A practicing Anglican, she is a member of the Anglican Peace and Justice Network. [11] Early in her career, she served as a delegate for the World Council of Churches. [12]

In 2019, Mogwe was elected president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), a major nongovernmental human rights federation and watchdog group. [4] [13] After her first three-year term, she was reelected in 2022. [14] She had previously served as deputy secretary-general, then secretary-general of the organization. [15] [16] Mogwe has also served two terms on the board of International Service for Human Rights. [17]

Awards and recognition

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Botswana</span> Country in Southern Africa

Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It is connected by the Kazungula Bridge to Zambia, across the world's shortest border between two countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanzania</span> Country in East Africa

Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to the south; Zambia to the southwest; and Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, is in northeastern Tanzania. According to the 2022 national census, Tanzania has a population of nearly 62 million, making it the most populous country located entirely south of the equator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Organization for Migration</span> Intergovernmental organization

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dodoma</span> Capital of Tanzania

Dodoma, officially Dodoma City, is the capital of Tanzania and is the administrative capital of both Dodoma Municipal Council and the entire Dodoma Region, with a population of 765,179. In 1974, the Tanzanian government announced that Tanzania's federal capital would be moved from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma for social and economic reasons and to centralise the capital within the country. It became the official capital in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eritrea national football team</span> Mens association football team representing Eritrea

The Eritrea national football team represents Eritrea in men's international football and it is controlled by the Eritrean National Football Federation (ENFF). It is nicknamed the Red Sea Boys. It has never qualified for the finals of the FIFA World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations. Local side Red Sea FC are the main supplier for the national team and the team represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights</span> International court

The African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, also known simply as the African Court, is an international court established by member states of the African Union (AU) to implement provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. Seated in Arusha, Tanzania, it is the judicial arm of the AU and one of three regional human rights courts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Western Sahara</span> Contested sovereignty and other issues

The Government of Morocco sees Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces. The Moroccan government considers the Polisario Front as a separatist movement given the alleged Moroccan origins of some of its leaders.

The International Federation for Human Rights is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the third oldest international human rights organization worldwide after Anti-Slavery International and Save the Children. As of 2020, the organization is made up of a federation of 192 organizations from 112 countries, including Israel and Palestine, including Ligue des droits de l'homme in over 100 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unity Dow</span> Motswana politician, writer, and human rights activist (born 1959)

Unity Dow is a Motswana lawyer, human rights activist, specially elected member of parliament, and a writer. She formerly served as a judge on the High Court of Botswana and in various Botswana government ministries. Born in the Bechuanaland Protectorate to a seamstress and a farmer, who insisted on their children obtaining an education, Dow grew up in a traditional rural village before modernisation. She earned a law degree in 1983 from the University of Botswana and Swaziland, though her studies were completed in Swaziland and University of Edinburgh, Scotland, as Botswana had no law school at the time. After her graduation, Dow opened the first all-woman law firm in Botswana and in 1997 became the first woman to be appointed as a judge to the country's High Court.

People's Army for the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy or PARRD is a rebel group operating in the Central African Republic (CAR). PARRD wants to overthrow current CAR President François Bozizé. PARRD has claimed responsibility for two major attacks, contributing to the influx of Central African refugees in southern Chad. During mid-October 2006, fighting between PARRD and government troops escalated, and on October 15, the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) reported that 70,000 refugees have fled the CAR to Chad and Cameroon. FIDH official, Marceau Sivieudehe, stated that: "It's obvious that the civilian population is the main victim of such a chaotic situation ... [they] are living in an absolutely precarious situation." S/he criticized the lack of attention the crisis in the CAR has been receiving from the international community and warned of a subregional collapse that could impact the CAR, Chad, and Cameroon.

Association Malienne des Droits de l'Homme (AMDH) is a Malian non-profit human rights non-governmental organization founded in Bamako, Mali on 11 December 1988.

Walter Paul Khotso Makhulu is an emeritus South African-born Anglican archbishop of Central Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevor Mwamba</span>

Musonda Trevor Selwyn Mwamba, known as Trevor Mwamba, is an Anglican bishop. He was consecrated Bishop of Botswana on 6 February 2005. He tendered his resignation as Bishop of Botswana on 30 September 2012 – the day on which Botswana marks the anniversary of its independence from Britain. His successor was consecrated on 14 July 2013. On 4 April 2021, he was elected President of the United National Independence Party in Zambia.

Capital punishment in Botswana is a legal penalty, and is usually applied for murder under aggravated circumstances. Executions are carried out by hanging. There is on average one execution per year, and the execution usually takes place some years after the trial. One execution was carried out in 2016, two in 2018, one in 2019, and one in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mariette Bosch</span>

Mariëtte Sonjaleen Bosch was a South African woman who was executed in Botswana on 31 March 2001. Bosch was convicted for the murder of Maria Magdalene "Ria" Wolmarans, both members of the white expatriate community in Gaborone, in June 1996. She was the first white woman to be executed in Botswana, and was the fourth woman to be hanged since the country's independence. Due to these two factors, the murder case received significant attention outside the country and was referred to as "Botswana's White Mischief".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidiki Kaba</span> Senegalese politician

Sidiki Kaba, is a Senegalese politician currently serving in the fourth Sall government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helena Maleno</span> Spanish-Moroccan human rights defender

Helena Maleno Garzón is a Spanish-Moroccan human rights defender, journalist, researcher, documentalist and writer. She is specialist in the migration and trafficking in human beings, Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Illes Balears. She is the Founder & CEO of Caminando Fronteras / Walking Borders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Aloys Henga</span> Tanzanian lawyer and activist

Anna Aloys Henga is a Tanzanian lawyer and human rights activist who is known for her social services including women empowerment initiatives such as coordinating anti-female genital mutilation in Tanzania. She became the executive director of Legal and Human Rights Center in 2018.

Ditshwanelo, or the Botswana Centre for Human Rights, is a human rights organisation founded in 1993 in Botswana. It aims to improve human rights through education and governance. The group has campaigned against capital punishment and for LGBT rights. For its advocacy it has received awards from the Commission nationale consultative des droits de l'homme and OutRight Action International.

Serara Segarona Selelo-Mogwe, also known as Serara Kupe-Mogwe, was a pioneering nurse and academic in Botswana. After serving as the country's first black, female chief nursing officer, she became the first Motswana woman to earn a doctorate and become a professor.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Alice Mogwe". International Center for Not-for-Profit Law. Archived from the original on 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "MOGWE Alice Bahumi". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 2018-01-21. Archived from the original on 2018-02-05.
  3. 1 2 The governance of legal pluralism : empirical studies from Africa and beyond. Zips, Werner, 1958-, Weilenmann, Markus, 1954-. Wien. ISBN   978-3-7000-0517-9. OCLC   706409713. Archived from the original on 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2020-12-02.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. 1 2 3 "La militante botswanaise Alice Mogwe élue présidente de la FIDH". Le Monde (in French). 2019-10-25. Archived from the original on 2020-11-16.
  5. "Ditshwanelo - the Botswana Centre for Human Rights". Eldis. Archived from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  6. Meldrum, Andrew (2004-03-05). "San fight to keep Kalahari hunting grounds". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2019-10-25. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  7. Kenyon, Paul (2005-11-06). "Row over Bushmen 'genocide'". BBC Radio 4. Archived from the original on 2018-10-03. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  8. Tebele, Mpho (2019-09-02). "Bots gives Nam refugees ultimatum to return home". The Southern Times. Archived from the original on 2019-10-25. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  9. "Tanzania Election Watch Panel of Eminent Persons Calls for Release of Arrested Opposition Leaders". AllAfrica. 2020-11-03. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  10. Mutambo, Aggrey (2020-10-30). "Magufuli takes wide lead over Lissu in Tanzania presidential election". The East African. Archived from the original on 2020-11-20. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  11. "Alice Mogwe is elected President of the International Federation for Human Rights". Anglican Peace and Justice Network. 2019-10-29. Archived from the original on 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  12. Anderson, David E. (1993-06-26). "Making human rights a universal objective". St. Petersburg Times.
  13. Lynch, Justin (2020-02-12). "Will Sudan's Bashir Be Handed to the ICC at Last?". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 2020-11-30. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  14. "Alice Mogwe re-elected President of FIDH for a second three-year term !". International Federation for Human Rights. 2022-10-27. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  15. "FIDH opens an office in South Africa". Fédération internationale pour les droits humains. 2015-05-27. Archived from the original on 2020-09-30. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  16. "Botswana activist Alice Mogwe, new FIDH President:"The universality of human rights is under attack - we must fight back!"". International Federation for Human Rights. 2019-10-24. Archived from the original on 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  17. "SOAS PhD scholar wins prestigious human rights award". SOAS University of London. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  18. "DITSHWANELO receives human rights award". Sunday Standard. 2012-12-13. Archived from the original on 2020-09-19. Retrieved 2020-12-02.