UCD Centre for Human Rights co-sponsors annual Frontline Defenders Lecture 2017
Saturday, 1 July, 2017
The UCD Centre for Human Rights is delighted to co-sponsor the annual Frontline Defenders Lecture.
This event was established in 2013 to provoke discussion and debate about the range of issues affecting human rights defenders in their work to bring about changes and build robust civil societies. The lecture is broadly accessible to a general audience with an interest in philosophy, law, human rights or politics.
The 2017 Annual lecture was delivered by Hauwa Ibrahim who spoke about her current work "Mothers Without Borders: Steering Youth Away from Violent Extremism" and will also take questions about her work as a prosecutor, defense lawyer and human rights defender.
A well-respected lawyer and author, Hauwa is best known for her work using Sharia Law to defend women convicted unjustly under the Sharia legal system. In 2005, she was honoured with the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Ten years later, on 9 May 2015, she again addressed the European Parliament on the pursuit of a lifetime education.
In May 2014, Hauwa was appointed a member of the fact-finding commission regarding the 219 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram from Chibok. She has served as a consultant to the United Nations Development Program, the European Union’s Commission and Ambassadors in Nigeria, and the NGO Lawyers without Borders. In 2000, Hauwa became, through election, the first female National Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association and in 2002 she authored the first draft of the constitution for the Pan African Lawyers Union.
- You can view a video of the 2017 lecture(opens in a new window) here.
- Further information on the annual lecture series is available (opens in a new window)here.