Akua Kuenyehia (born 1947) is a

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian academic and lawyer who served as judge of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals f ...

(ICC) from 2003 to 2015. She also served as First Vice-president of the Court. She was one of the three female African judges at the ICC. Kuenyehia represented Ghana on the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

' Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

in 2003 and worked hard to contribute to its reputation and influence. Kuenyehia is an Honorary Fellow of

Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, ...

. She is a member of the

Crimes Against Humanity Initiative The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative is a rule of law research and advocacy project of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. Started in 2008 by Professor Leila Nadya Sadat, the Initiative has as its goals the study of the need for a compre ...

Advisory Council, a project of the

Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute The Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University School of Law, established in 2000 as the Institute for Global Legal Studies, serves as a center for instruction and research in international and comparative law. Background ...

at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis to establish the world's first treaty on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity.

Education and early career

Kuenyehia was educated at Achimota School,

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

and Somerville College, Oxford. She has spent most of her professional career teaching at the University of Ghana, as Dean of Law, and as a visiting professor at other institutions including Leiden University and

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

. She is the President of Mountcrest University College, Ghana. The Law Faculty Building at the University of Ghana,

Legon Legon , a suburb of the Ghanaian city Accra, is situated about north-east of the city center in the Accra Metropolis District, a district in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Legon is home to the main campus of the University of Ghana. ...

, was named in joint honour of President

John Atta Mills John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills (21 July 1944 – 24 July 2012) was a Ghanaian politician and legal scholar who served as President of Ghana from 2009 until his death in 2012. He was inaugurated on 7 January 2009, having defeated the governing party ...

and Professor Kuenyehia.

Judge of the International Criminal Court, 2003–2015

In March 2009, judges chose Kuenyehia as well as

Anita Ušacka Anita Ušacka (born 26 April 1952) is a Latvian and international judge and legal academic. She has been a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia and of the Trial and Appeals Divisions of the International Criminal Court (I ...

of Latvia for appeals positions. Three months later, both of them had to step down from an appeal in the case of

Germain Katanga Germain Katanga (; born 28 April 1978), also known as Simba (), is a former leader of the Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri (FRPI), an armed group in the Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).International Criminal Court ( ...

of the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, because they had previously issued his arrest warrant.

Books

* ''Women and Law in West Africa'' (2003). Accra, Ghana, WaLWA. * With Butegwa, F., & S. Nduna (2000). ''Legal Rights Organizing for Women in Africa: A Trainer's Manual''. Harare, Zimbabwe, WiLDAF. * With Bowman, C. G. (2003). ''Women and Law in Sub-Saharan Africa''. Accra, Ghana: Sedco. .

Recognition

In 2013, the University of Ghana named a newly constructed faculty of law building after Kuenyehia.UG names new Faculty of Law building
''Vibe Ghana'', July 3, 2013.

References

External links

"Prof Akua Kuenyehia Re-Elected"
''Graphic Ghana'', 30 January 2006.
"Interview with Prof Akua Kuenyehia"
April 2003 newsletter, WiLDAF/FeDDAF.
"Prof. Kuenyehia Speaks Out Against Polygamy"
GhanaWeb, 19 February 2003. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuenyehia, Akua 20th-century Ghanaian lawyers Alumni of Achimota School International Criminal Court judges 1947 births Living people Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford University of Ghana alumni Ghanaian women judges Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford Ghanaian judges of international courts and tribunals 21st-century Ghanaian judges 21st-century women judges