The Fletcher School has announced the appointment of human rights law expert, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, to a Professor of Practice faculty position.
The appointment is for three-year term beginning in the Fall of 2021 (September 2021).
The Academic Dean at The Fletcher School, Kelly Sims Gallagher, described Professor Odinkalu as a “renowned human rights activist with a distinguished record of public service who has spent more than three decades working at the front line of human rights law and research, development advocacy, international institutional law and governmental policy.
“His profound contributions to the advancement of human rights intersect with Fletcher’s mission and core values.
Gallagher added “We are delighted to welcome him to the Fletcher community.”
Profiling Professor Odinkalu’s over three decades involvment as a frontline activist on human rights law and development advocacy on its website, the school revealed that he will join Fletcher’s multi-disciplinary faculty focused on preparing tomorrow’s leaders to use the latest legal, political, economic, and business thinking to generate policies and inform decisions that shape global events.
“Odinkalu’s background reflects an extensive record of research, publishing and teaching in the areas of human rights, development law and public policy throughout Africa, Europe and the US.
“Most recently, he was part of a three-member team that mediated the readmission of The Gambia into the Commonwealth, where he litigated human rights before national and regional courts as well as in transnational contexts.
“From 2011 to 2015, he chaired Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, the country’s lead institution for the protection of human rights and promotion of human rights policy. He also worked within human rights philanthropy.
“For 10 years prior, he was involved in drafting the Protocol for the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights through to adoption by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1998.
“In 2004, he led the advocacy effort for its entry into force with the creation of the Coalition for the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. For more than three years, until 1993, Odinkalu was head of legal services for the Civil Liberties Organization in Lagos, where he was responsible for litigation, advocacy and constituent building strategies, as well as managing relationships with the military government and its institutions.”
Reacting to the appointment, Professor Odinkalu enthused that “I am honoured to join the Fletcher community and look forward to working with Fletcher’s students, faculty and administration to apply intellectual and strategic innovation to the most pressing challenges in governance and international human rights law.”
Professor Chidi Odinkalu is a native of Nigeria born into internal displacement during the country’s civil war some 53 years ago.
He received his PhD in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
