“Being able to influence important women’s rights issues is a unique experience”

Interview: Miriam Hoffmeyer

Dr Akia, when did you start thinking about human rights and women’s rights?

At the age of seven or eight. Back then I did not know what human rights entailed, but certain events and experiences shaped my interest: on television, I saw images of the atrocities committed by the “Lord’s Resistance Army” in northern Uganda and of bodies washed up into Lake Victoria during the Rwandan genocide. As a teenager I was also disturbed by everyday injustices like some girls not being able to complete their education because they married early or classmates being expelled from school because they were pregnant. I thought that was unfair and it made me interested in being part of the solution to bring justice. That is why during my studies at Makerere University in Kampala I specialised in human rights law, international law and international environmental law. My uncle, who adopted my siblings and me when my mother passed, also inspired me greatly because he was prosecuting gross human rights violations at an international level. My mother was also a great inspiration for me and remains my role model to this day.

“During the DAAD-funded programme, I learnt exactly what I needed to make a real difference in the field of human rights and international criminal law.”

What did you learn from her?

After the death of my father she raised us four children alone. My mother was very determined, had a positive attitude to life and always encouraged us to dream big and pursue our dreams with one hundred percent commitment. Because education played such an important role in our family, I applied for the DAAD-funded postgraduate programme “Transnational Criminal Justice and Crime Prevention – An International and African Perspective” at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, which has meanwhile given rise to a research network, and graduated with a Master of Laws (LLM). It was an opportunity of a lifetime! During the one-year programme in 2011, I learnt exactly what I needed to make a real difference in the field of human rights and international criminal law.

What happened next in your life?

As a legal researcher at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, I supported the Office of the Prosecutor and later the Appeals Chamber at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Both roles helped me understand the critical role judges play in developing jurisprudence in international criminal law and why it is important for the prosecution and defence teams to do their job thoroughly. These experiences also informed my doctoral thesis on how command responsibility can be effectively applied to prosecute conflict-related sexual violence crimes under international criminal law.
These days I provide legal and human rights advice to the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA Uganda), and in 2022 I was elected to the CEDAW Committee of the United Nations, where I apply my knowledge in formulating international women’s rights jurisprudence. My work reinforces for me why promoting gender equality, ensuring accountability and ending impunity for international crimes and human rights abuses is critical for achieving sustainable peace and inclusive development.

What exactly does the CEDAW Committee do?

As a United Nations treaty body mechanism, the committee monitors how member states implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which came into force in 1979. It obliges the 189 member states to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women in all areas of life and to ensure the full development and advancement of women so that they can enjoy all human rights and freedoms on an equal footing with men. The committee also investigates cases in which women’s rights are seriously or systematically violated.

That sounds somewhat theoretical …

Maybe so, but to date countless legislative changes have been achieved and discriminatory provisions removed on the basis of the Convention. All of this has improved the everyday lives of women around the world. In the committee, I have been country rapporteur for Rwanda, Niger and Benin, and am also the alternate focal point for questions relating to climate change. Being able to influence important women’s rights issues within a multilateral system is a unique experience. –