Brigitte Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson (born 26 December 1958) is a

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

lese politician, lawyer and human rights activist, and the first woman to stand as a candidate in a presidential election in her country.

Early life

Adjamagbo-Johnson was born on 26 December 1958 in

Bassar Bassar is a town in Bassar Prefecture, Kara Region in Togo, situated west of Kara. The town borders Tatale which is in Ghana. The town has a population of 64,888. Culture Bassar was originally a centre for iron Iron is a chemical element ...

, Togo, the daughter of Cornélie, a

midwife A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and Infant, newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughou ...

, and Paul Adjamagbo, a physician.

Education

Adjamagbo-Johnson earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in law in 1983 from the

University of Lomé The University of Lomé (; abbreviated UL) is a public university in Togo, located in the capital Lomé. It is the country's largest university. It was founded in 1970 as the University of Benin () and adopted its current name in 2001. 2011 s ...

, followed by a DEA in private law at the

University of Paris V Paris Descartes University (), also known as Paris V, was a French public university located in Paris. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Descartes completely merg ...

, Malakoff, and a second DEA in private law and comparative law, African rights option and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1986 at the

University of Paris I A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, Panthéon Sorbonne. She later worked as a lecturer at the

Career

Adjamagbo-Johnson was a founding member of the Convention démocratique des peuples africains (CDPA), and was the general rapporteur for its 1991 its National Conference. She held several senior positions in government, rising to be a minister, and became known for her "outspokenness and political commitment", and has been nicknamed "The Iron Lady". Since April 1997, Adjamagbo-Johnson has been the co-ordinator of the West Africa sub-regional office of WiLDAF (Law and Development in Africa). In 2010, Adjamagbo-Johnson was the head of the opposition

Democratic Convention of African Peoples The Democratic Convention of African Peoples (, CDPA) is a political party in Togo. It is a consultative member of Socialist International. History The party was based in Ivory Coast until 1989 when it was forced to leave by President Félix H ...

party, and the first woman to stand as a candidate in a presidential election in her country. However, in February 2010, Adjamagbo-Johnson and two other main opposition candidates in the presidential elections withdrew as a protest against they believed would be a rigged result. Writing on the African Feminist Forum, Adjamagbo-Johnson says, "My journey with feminism began quite early in life as my awareness increased of the inequalities and oppression of women in my family environment, my neighborhood and in society in general". In November 2020 Adjamagbo-Johnson was arrested at her home in Togo's capital

Lomé Lomé ( , ) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Togo, largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437

. In a televised address, the prosecutor Essolissam Poyodi claimed to have uncovered opposition "documents that contained a plan to destabilise the country". After international protest, she was released from detention on 17 December 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adjamagbo-Johnson, Kafui 1958 births Living people 20th-century Togolese women 21st-century Togolese women politicians 21st-century Togolese politicians University of Lomé alumni Paris Descartes University alumni Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University alumni Democratic Convention of African Peoples politicians People from Kara Region