Benson Olugbuo
CLEEN Foundation (Nigeria)
I have more than a decade experience as a researcher on the activities of the International Criminal Court in Africa. In 2002, I was instrumental in setting up the Nigerian Coalition for the International Criminal Court while working as a Research Intern with Global Rights Partners for Justice (formerly International Human Rights Law Group). He also worked as an Intern with the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association in London, United Kingdom from January – March 2004. From April 2004 to February 2009, I was the Anglophone Africa Regional Coordinator for the NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) and led the campaign for the ratification and domestic implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Court in sub-Saharan Africa.
I was the advisor for the University of Cape Town’s Jessup team that won the South Africa Rounds of the 2011 Phillip Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition and represented South Africa in the international rounds in Washington, DC, USA in March 2011. I was subsequently awarded a Research Associateship by the University of Cape Town in August 2011 in recognition of my contribution as an emerging researcher in Public Law.
I was also awarded the prestigious Fox International Fellowship at Yale University in the United States where I spent the 2012 academic year working on my PhD thesis. I collaborated with Professor Kamari Clarke to establish the Working Group Initiative on the Future of International Law in Africa at the Council on African Studies, Yale University. I hold a doctorate in law and currently the Executive Director of CLEEN Foundation. I am motivated by the desire to live in a world with equality and respect for the rights of others.
