Events

The Center for International Human Rights is honored to present Justice Grace Mumbi Ngugi, Judge of the High Court of Kenya, with the Fifth Annual Global Jurist of the Year Award. Justice Ngugi is a long-time advocate of human rights in Kenya, and a leading architect of its emerging human rights jurisprudence. Her career at the bar and on the bench has been dedicated to the rights of women and children; the housing rights of the urban poor; and the rights of persons with albinism in Kenya.

As part of her virtual visit to Northwestern Law, Justice Ngugi will speak via zoom at two sessions that all are warmly invited to attend. The first, on February 16 at noon (register here), will be a conversation about Justice Ngugi’s life and work moderated by her friend the Honorable Ann Williams, retired judge of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The second, on February 18 at noon (register here), will be a conversation about the role of U.S. law schools in supporting human rights at home and around the world.

The Global Jurist of the Year Award is designed to honor a sitting judge, whether in an international or national court, who has demonstrated in his or her career courage in the face of adversity to uphold and defend fundamental human rights or the principles of international criminal justice. Past recipients include Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, president of the International Criminal Court and a national of Argentina; the Honorable Gloria Patricia Porras Escobar, president of the Guatemalan Constitutional Court; Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella of the Supreme Court of Canada; and Justice Shireen Avis Fisher, president of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Acting chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke of South Africa’s Constitutional Court received the award in 2013 as the first recipient of the Global Jurist Award.

The Global Jurist of the Year Award is supported by a Buffett Institute Virtual Visitors Grant and external partners KELIN, the Near East Foundation, and the Justice and Empowerment Initiative.