Members

Michael Donald Kirby practised as a solicitor, and as a barrister, before his appointment in 1974 as Deputy President of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission. At the age of 35, he was the youngest to be appointed to federal judicial office in Australia. In the following year, he was appointed to serve concurrently as the inaugural Chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission. In 1983, he was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, and in 1984 as President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal. In 1995, he was concurrently appointed as President of the Court of Appeal of the Solomon Islands. In 1996, he was appointed as one of the seven Justices of the High Court of Australia, and soon became the longest serving judge in his country. His judgments have been regarded as liberal in their approach, as well as exhibiting compassion and thoughtfulness. In 2004, he delivered a dissenting opinion on nearly 40% of the matters in which he participated, almost twice as many as any of his colleagues; in constitutional cases, his rate of dissent was more than 50%. He has explained that "there have always been divisions, reflecting the different philosophies and perspectives of the office-holders", and that throughout the Court's history many dissenting opinions have ultimately been adopted as good law.

Justice Kirby has been involved in a large number of international activities. He chaired two expert groups of the OECD on privacy and data security, and served on the International Bioethics Committee of UNESCO, chairing the drafting group that prepared the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (2005). He also served on the Ethics Committee of the Human Genome Organization, London, chaired the expert group convened by UNAIDS and the High Commissioner for Human Rights on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights. He was appointed by ILO as a member of the Commission on Freedom of Association, and was Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Human Rights in Cambodia. In 1994, he was the independent Chairman of the Constitutional Conference of Malawi. In 1995, he was elected President of the International Commission of Jurists, Geneva.

The honours he has received include the appointment in 1983 as a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG) and as a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1991. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Newcastle (NSW), the University of Ulster, and James Cook University; the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Macquarie University, the University of Sydney, the National Law School of India, Buckingham University, the Australian National University, and the University of Colombo. He was also awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of the University by the University of South Australia. In 1991, he was awarded the Australian Human Rights Medal, and in 1997, The Bulletin magazine included him amongst Australia's "Ten Most Creative Minds". In 1998, he was named Laureate of the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education, and in 2005, the Sydney Morning Herald named him as one of Australia's "Top Ten Public Intellectuals". He is an Honorary Member of the American Law Institute and a Honorary Bencher of the Inner Temple in London.

Muhammad Lawal Uwais was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple, London, in 1963 after graduating from the University of London. He served as a State Counsel and Senior State Counsel (1966-1970), before his appointment as a Judge of the High Court, and later Chief Judge, of Kaduna State (1973-1976). In 1977, he was appointed a Justice of the Court of Appeal, and in 1979 as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. In 1995, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council.

Justice Uwais has served as Chairman, Nigerian Body of Benchers (1993-1994), and as Chairman, Board of Governors of the National Judicial Institute of Nigeria (1995- 2006). He was Chairman of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Awards of Contracts by the Military Government of North Central State (1976); Chairman of the Jimeta Disturbances Tribunal, Gongola State of Nigeria (1984); and a Commonwealth Member of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the deaths of senior army personnel, Sri Lanka (1993).

He is the Honorary President of the World Jurist Association, Washington D.C; Honorary Fellow of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies, London; and a Member of the Board of Trustees, Global Legal Information Network Foundation (GLIN), Washington D.C. He was Chairman of the Nigerian Electoral Reform Committee (2007-2008); and was appointed Chancellor of Umaru Musa Yaradua University, Katsina, Katsina State in 2011.

Benjamin Odoki was educated at Kings College Budo and at the University College Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1969. He was enrolled as an Advocate of the High Court of Uganda in 1970. Appointed a State Attorney in 1969 and Senior State Attorney a few years later, he also served as Director of the Uganda Law Development Centre. His judicial career began at the age of 35, with his appointment in 1978 as a Judge of the High Court of Uganda, at a difficult period in his country's history. From 1981 to 1984, he served as Director of Public Prosecutions on secondment from the Judiciary. In 1986, he was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court. From 1996 to 2000, he served as Chairman of the Judicial Service Commission. In 2001, he was appointed Chief Justice of Uganda. He is also a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, and a Judge of the Administrative Tribunal of the African Development Bank.

In 1989, he was appointed Chairman of the Uganda Constitutional Commission which collected the views of the public and prepared a Draft Constitution for Uganda which was debated and adopted by an elected Constituent Assembly in 1995. He also served as consultant on constitution-making processes in Kenya, Swaziland and Rwanda.

Justice Odoki is the Chairperson of the Editorial Board of the Uganda Law Reports, and is also a member of the honorary editorial board of the Commonwealth Law Bulletin. He has published several books and articles on subjects ranging from criminal justice and human rights to constitutional development. In 2005, he published "The Search for A National Constitution: The Making of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda." He has taught law at Makerere University where he later served as a Member of the University Council. For many years he was Chairman of the Uganda Law Council which is responsible for the regulation and disciplinary control of the legal profession. He later chaired a Committee to review Legal Education, Training and Accreditation in Uganda.

He is the recipient of several awards, including the Uganda Independence Medal, the Lucknow Peace Award, the Order of Merit of the old Budonians, the Distinguished Jurist Award of the Uganda Law Society, and the Distinguished Jurist Award by the Nigerian Association of Democratic Lawyers.

Chief Justice of the United Republic of Tanzania and Chairman of the Judicial Service Commission (2000-2007)

Barnabas Samatta graduated from the University of East Africa in 1966 with an honours degree in Law. In the same year, he was appointed a State Attorney, rising rapidly to become Senior State Attorney in 1971, and Director of Public Prosecutions in 1972 at the age of 32. He was appointed to the High Court of Tanzania in 1976, and served as a Judge of that Court until 1989. He was also a Judge of the High Court of Zimbabwe from 1984 to 1987. From 1989 he served as Principal Judge of the High Court of Tanzania, until his appointment in 1997 as a Justice of Appeal of Tanzania. He was a Member of the Judicial Service Commission from 1989. In 2000, he was appointed Chief Justice of the United Republic of Tanzania and Chairman of the Judicial Service Commission.

Justice Samatta was a member of the Judicial System Review Commission (1974-1977), member of the Legal Task Force (1993-1996), Chairperson of the Appointments Committee (2000-2007), and Vice Chairperson of the Southern African Judges Commission (2005-2007). He is the Chancellor of Mzumbe University, Tanzania.

In 2011, a felicitation volume, Rule of Law vs. Rulers of Law: Justice Barnabas Albert Samatta's Road to Justice, was published by the School of Law, University of Dar es Salaam, "to celebrate him as an example of an ethical lawyer whose integrity cannot be questioned, making him a worthy model for the younger generation to emulate and draw inspiration from". The editors add:

"This book reproduces some of the leading judgements written by Justice Samatta. It highlights, in a critical fashion, some of his beliefs and observations as embedded in his decisions and speeches. Justice Samatta's decisions touched on key areas of: Rule of Law and the Consitution, where he emphasised that the Constitution crystallises a consensus among citizens as to the nature and character of their polity and governance; Access to Justice, about which he believed that the doors to justice should be opened to all regardless of their station in life or economic position; Ethics, Integrity and Professionalism where he frequently quoted Nyerere 'There are some jobs in our society that can be done by unethical people...Being a judge or a magistrate is not one of these jobs...'; and Environmental Law where he argued 'The vulnerability of our planet has reached such a depressing degree that there is no greater service judges can render to mankind than playing their role in the protection of the environment...' He summarised his life-long conviction by saying: 'Let everyone in our society give justice a chance to prevail'."

Prior to becoming a member of the Judicial Integrity Group, Justice Adel Omar Sherif participated in the Round Table Conference held at the Peace Palace at The Hague in November 2001 at which the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct were finalized.

Adel Omar Sherif is, since 2022, the First Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt. He holds several law degrees and diplomas from the Cairo and Ain Shams Universities in Egypt, including LL.B in Law and Economics, Advanced Diploma in Public Law, Advanced Diploma in Administrative Law, and Ph.D. in Constitutional Law. He was engaged in private practice for a short period before his appointment to the Council of State, Egypt’s administrative judiciary, where he served in various capacities between 1980 and 1992. In 1993, he moved to the Supreme Constitutional Court as Assistant Counsellor and, after a series of promotions, was appointed Deputy Chief Justice in 2002.

Prior to his appointment as a DCJ in 2002, Justice Sherif, had occasionally been delegated to serve, in addition to his main judicial mandate, as a part-time Legal Adviser to several governmental agencies, including the Prime Minister’s Office, the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, the Cultural Palaces Organization, the Real-Estate Bank of Egypt, and the Cairo Regional Center for International Commercial Arbitration. He also served as a member of the Specialized National Councils, Administrative Development Sector. Following his appointment to the Bench, he has continued to being a member of the board in a number of academic institutions, including the law school at Helwan University in Cairo, the law school at Cairo University and many other legal associations and academic institutions, both inside Egypt and outside. At the international level, Justice Sherif served as Vice- President of the International Judicial Academy in Washington DC. He is a Council Member of the Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law (CIMEL) at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London, a Member of the International Board of Judicial Advisers for the Judges Newsletter of The Hague Conference on Private International Law and a Member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Judicial Reference Group.

In the Environment and Sustainable Development area, Justice Sherif was a Member of both the Judicial Advisory Board to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); a Member of the Specialist Judicial Group and the Soil Specialist Group at the International Union for Conservation of the Nature (IUCN). In addition, Justice Sherif served as Secretary General for the Arab Supreme Courts Union for the Protection of the Environment, and was also a Member of the Executive Planning Committee of the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement, INECE, Washington, DC, USA. He also served for four years as a Member of the Steering Committee of the Commission on Environmental Law at the IUCN.

Justice Sherif was a Visiting Fellow at the Human Rights Law Centre of the College of Law, DePaul University in Chicago, IL in 1992; the Human Rights Centre of the University of Essex from 1993–94; the Federal Judicial Center in Washington D.C. in 1996; a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law, McGill University from 1998-99. He also taught Islamic Law and Comparative Law as a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Comparative Law at Dedman School of Law, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, USA, from 2008-2016.

Justice Sherif often represents the Egyptian judicial community in international events, conferences, and seminars. He has served as the Rapporteur of a series of international human rights conferences known collectively as “The Cairo Conference” and for a number of regional and international conferences’ in collaboration with UNEP, on Capacity Building of Judges on Environmental Law. He founded and acted as Secretary General and Rapporteur of the annual gatherings of the African Chief Justices, known as 'Cairo High Level Meeting for the Chief Justice and Presidents of African Constitutional Courts and Supreme Courts & Constitutional Councils' since its beginning in 2017 until 2022.

Justice Sherif has recently been officially seconded to the Government of Qatar to help rendering legal advice to the Ministry of Justice.

In 2005, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan awarded Justice Sherif 'The Medal of the Constitution of Kazakhstan'. In 2007, the Ateneo de Davao University in the Philippines conferred upon him an 'Honorary Doctorate Degree in Laws'. In 2014, he was awarded 'The Key of the City of Lucknow' by the State of Uttar Pradesh, India. In 2020, the 21st International Conference of Chief Justices of the World (The World Judiciary Summit 2020) convened at City Montessori School, Lucknow, India, awarded Justice Sherif 'The Hope of Humanity Award'. In 2020, Justice Sherif received for the second time, 'The Medal of the Constitution of Kazakhstan', awarded to him by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Justice Sherif has written and published widely on various legal aspects including human rights, constitutional issues, Islamic law, and environmental law.

Prior to becoming a member of the Judicial Integrity Group, the Hon. Christine Chanet participated in the Round Table Conference held at the Peace Palace at The Hague in November 2001 at which the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct were finalized. Thereafter, she represented the UN Human Rights Committee (of which she was chairperson) and participated at the meeting in Vienna in March 2007 of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts, convened at the request of ECOSOC, that examined and agreed upon the text of the Commentary on the Bangalore Principles.

Christine Chanet holds a Laureate of the Faculty of Law and Economics in Paris and two advanced diplomas in private law and criminology. She held several positions in government, including Junior Magistrate at the Ecole Nationale de la Magistrature (1968); Magistrate at the Central Administration of the French Ministry of Justice (1970); Technical Adviser, and subsequently Special Assistant at the Secretariat of State for Women's Affairs (1974); Special Assistant at the Secretariat of State for Culture (1976); Special Assistant in the Legal Affairs Directorate at the French Ministry of External Relations (1981); Head of International Civil and Criminal Affairs and Human Rights Department at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1983); Technical Adviser in the Office of the French Minister of Justice (1988); and Advocate-General at the Court of Appeal (1992-1996). She has been a Counsellor of the Court of Cassation of France since 1996, and is the Section President and Dean of the Criminal Division.

Judge Chanet has been a Member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee since 1996, and has served twice as its Chairperson. She was a Member of the United Nations Committee against Torture (1988-1990), and is the Personal Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for examining the situation in Cuba. In 2003, she was elected a member of the International Commission of Jurists.

Judge Chanet is the Chairperson of the Committee in charge of reviewing criminal law decisions following the delivery of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, and a Member of the French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights. She is a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour and the National Order of Merit.

Prior to becoming a member of the Judicial Integrity Group, the then Lord Justice Mance chaired the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCEJ) that reviewed the Bangalore Draft Code of Judicial Conduct and recommended several amendments following a meeting in Strasbourg in June 2002. Later, he represented the CCJE and participated at the meeting in Vienna in March 2007 of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts, convened at the request of ECOSOC, that examined and agreed upon the text of the Commentary on the Bangalore Principles.

Jonathan Hugh Mance read law at University College Oxford and was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1965. He worked in a Hamburg law firm and then practised at the commercial Bar. In 1982, at the age of 39, he became a Queen's Counsel. In 1990, he was appointed a Recorder, and was Chairman of the Banking Appeals Tribunal from 1992-1993. In 1993 he was appointed a Judge of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court, receiving the traditional knighthood at the same time. In 1999, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal as a Lord Justice of Appeal, and appointed to the Privy Council. In 2005, he was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and raised to the Peerage as Baron Mance of Frognal in the London Borough of Camden. On 1 October 2009 he and nine other Lords of Appeal became Justices of the Supreme Court upon the inauguration of that Court.

Lord Mance represents the United Kingdom on the Council of Europe's Consultative Council of European Judges, being elected its first chair from 2000 to 2003. He currently chairs the International Law Association and the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Private International Law. He is a member of the seven person panel set up under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (article 255) to give an opinion on candidates' suitability to perform the duties of Judge and Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice and General Court. He was President of the British Insurance Law Association (2000-2002), and Trustee of the European Law Academy (2003).

He served from 2007 to 2009 on the House of Lords European Union Select Committee, chairing sub-committee E which scrutinises proposals concerning European law and institutions. In 2006 he chaired a working group under the auspices of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region, recommending changes in the procedures for enforcement of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; and in 2008 he led an international delegation for the same Group and the Swedish Foundation for Human Rights, reporting on the problems of impunity in relation to violence against women in the Congo.

Rudolf Mellinghoff studied at the University of Munster and served his traineeship in Baden-Wuerttemberg. He was appointed a Judge at the Finance Court in 1989. Thereafter, he was Head of Unit, Ministry of Justice of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1991-1992); Judge and Presiding Judge of the Finance Court of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1992-1996), and, as a second full-time office, Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1992-1996); Member of the Constitutional Court of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1995-1996), Judge of the Federal Tax Court of Germany - IX Senate (1997-2001); and Judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (2001-2011). From November 2011 – July 2020, he was President of the Federal Supreme Tax Court of Germany. He retired in August 2020 on reaching the age limit.

Since 2021, he leads the Centre for the Digitalization of Tax Law at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He is also the Scientific Director of the Institut Finanzen und Steuern e.V. (ifst) in Berlin. He has been appointed to several commissions, such as the Electoral Law Commission of the German Parliament and the reform commission on income tax reform at the Federal Ministry of Finance.

He was President of the German Section of the International Commission of Jurists (2009 – 2012). He is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, and is an Honorary Professor at the Eberhard Karis University of Tubingen and since 2021 at the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich.

The Honourable Mr. Justice Adrian Dudley Saunders, a native of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, holds a Bachelor of Laws degree attained in 1975 from the University of the West Indies (Cave Hill) and a Legal Education Certificate attained in 1977 from the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad. He began his legal career in 1977 as an Attorney in private practice in his home country before being appointed as a Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) High Court Bench in 1996. On May 1^st 2003 Mr. Justice Saunders was appointed to the ECSC’s Court of Appeal and served as acting Chief Justice between 2004 and 2005.

While at the ECSC, Mr. Justice Saunders developed a passion for and was deeply involved in various judicial reform efforts. These included the introduction of court-connected mediation in the Eastern Caribbean and the development of that Court’s first Judicial Code of Ethics. He also served as Chairman of the ECSC’s Judicial Education Institute from 2001 to 2004. His work in judicial education continued with The Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute (CJEI). He earned a Fellowship of the CJEI in 1998 and, for several years was the Course Director of The CJEI’s Intensive Study Programme. He is also one of the Institute’s Vice Presidents.

In 2005, Mr. Justice Saunders was among the first cohort of judges to be appointed to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Mr. Justice Saunders has contributed greatly to regional judicial outreach and judicial education efforts. He is a founding member of the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers (CAJO) and served as the organization’s Chairman from its inception in 2009 to 2019. During his tenure as Chairman, in collaboration with UN Women, he played a leading role in developing and promoting the adoption of Gender Sensitive Protocols for Judicial Officers for various Caribbean judiciaries. Due to his active engagement in advancing judicial integrity, Mr. Justice Saunders was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Global Judicial Integrity Network by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration.

Mr. Justice Saunders’ interests also extend to the area of court administration where he has adopted an active role in the CCJ’s public education and strategy development initiatives. He led the development of the Court’s first Strategic Plan in 2012 and chaired the project to develop the CCJ’s Strategic Plan for 2019-2024.

Mr. Justice Saunders has written many legal articles and publications. He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Caribbean Civil Court Practice and a co-author of Fundamentals of Caribbean Constitutional Law. He also lectures part time at the University of the West Indies (St Augustine) Faculty of Law on Constitutional Law. He holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the West Indies.

At its 29th Intersessional Meeting in Port au Prince, Haiti, in February 2018, the Caribbean Community Heads of Government agreed to the recommendation of the Regional and Judicial Legal Services Commission (RJLSC) that Mr. Justice Saunders be appointed President of the Caribbean Court of Justice.  He assumed the office of President on July 4, 2018. 

Justice Tilakawardane was the first female State Counsel in Sri Lanka in 1978, the first female Judge of the High Court, first woman Admiralty Court Judge, first woman Justice of the Court of Appeal and the first woman President of the Court of Appeal. In 2003, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, and served also Acting Chief Justice.

She holds two honorary doctorates in Law from Smith College and William’s College in the USA. She also has a diploma in Forensic Medicine from the University of Sri Lanka. She has received many awards, including the Sakshi of India Award and the International Zonta Award for achievement and contributions to the field of Law. In 2000, she received the Shakti Award from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), recognizing her contribution to equality rights and law, and was awarded a fellowship in ‘Human Rights, International Law and Intervention’ from Brandeis University, USA. She has also received a Fellowship in Judicial Education and has undergone an Intensive Study Programme for Judicial Educators conducted by the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute in Halifax, Canada.

Justice Tilakawardane is currently the Consultant to the Sri Lanka Judges Institute, an International and National Arbitrator and an international accredited Mediator to the Singapore International, Mediation Institute. She serves as a consultant to UNDP, UNODC, ILO, and the International Commission of Jurists, and continues to work as a Consultant, Expert Advisor, and Panelist with organizations such as Law Legal Action worldwide and is presently on the Advisory Board of the ASEAN Judicial Integrity Network. She was an International Consultant to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on ‘Strengthening Transparency and Code of Ethics for Enhanced Public Confidence in the Court of Cassation of Turkey’ Project.

Justice Tilakawardane has served as an Attorney in the District Attorney’s Office of Colorado in Fort Collins and Greeley in the United States. She was an Advisory Board Member for the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life of Brandeis University, U. S.A, and a Member of the International Panel of Jurists of the International Bureau for Child Rights, with UN affiliation. She has helped draft the SAARC protocol on trafficking of men, women and children and the initial guidelines for child witness testimony for adoption in the ICC. She has worked with the Council of Europe on cybercrimes against Children in terms of the Budapest Convention and Lanzarote Conventions.

Mathilda Twomey-Woods is a native of Seychelles. She speaks and writes in three languages: English, French and Creole. She holds a BA in English and French Law from the University of Kent at Canterbury and a Diplôme de Droit Français from the Université de Paris-Sud at Sceaux. She was admitted to the Bar of England and Wales in 1987 and practised in Seychelles as a barrister. She is a bencher of the Middle Temple. She later graduated with an LLM in Public Law and, subsequently, a PhD in comparative law from the University of Galway, Ireland, where she also tutored and lectured in tort law.

She was a member of the Seychelles Constitutional Commission in 1993, which was charged with drafting the third constitution of Seychelles. She was appointed to the Seychelles Court of Appeal in 2011 and as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Seychelles in 2015. She ended her tenure as Chief Justice in 2020 to pursue her academic interests but continues to serve in the Seychelles’ apex court as a sessional Justice of Appeal.

She was Chair of both the Civil Code Revision Commission and of the Child Law Reform Committee in Seychelles. In these roles, she was tasked with proposing a draft Civil Code that was passed by the National Assembly in 2020; and a Sexual Offences Bill, which was presented to the President in June 2021. She has been a member of the advisory board of the Global Judicial Integrity Network of the UNODC since 2017. She also chaired and continues to be a member of the Seychelles Legal Information Institute, which reports judgments of courts in Seychelles and its laws based on the principle of free access to law (See www.seylii.org).

She is the Academic Director of the Judicial Institute for Africa based at the University of Cape Town and an Adjunct Professor both at the University of Cape Town and of the School of Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway. She is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Seychelles and is a member of its Council. She was one of the initiators of the Post Grad Diploma in Judicial Studies at the University of Cape Town and teaches one of its mandatory components: Judicial Skills and Practical Jurisprudence.

She has devised and taught courses for the continuous professional development of judicial officers, lawyers and prosecutors in Angola, Cayman Islands, E-Swatini, Indonesia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mozambique, Namibia, Philippines, Tanzania, South Africa, Seychelles, Thailand, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Vietnam.

She is the secretary of the African Judicial Training Network, which brings collaboration between anglophone, francophone and lusophone training institutes across the whole of Africa. The Network recognises that the rule of law and democracy requires the establishment of an effective and credible judiciary and that the efficiency and credibility of the judiciary depend on the training of competent judicial officers. The Network's main aim is to harmonise the teaching programs of judges across Africa, with the Bangalore Principles being its mainstay.

She has published widely, including her monograph, “Legal Métissage in a Micro jurisdiction: the Mixing of Common Law and Civil Law in Seychelles.”

Daniela Salazar Marín has been a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ecuador since February, 2019. She served as Vice President of the Court between 2019 and 2022. She is also a law professor at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) in Quito, Ecuador and a lecturer at graduate level in Universities in Ecuador, Colombia and Argentina.

Before being appointed as a judge, Daniela Salazar Marín was Vice Dean of the USFQ Law School’s and Co-Director of the USFQ's Legal Clinic. She received her law degree from USFQ and a master's degree (LL.M) from Columbia University in New York. She obtained a Fulbright scholarship in relation to her studies at Columbia University.

Daniela Salazar Marín has worked as a human rights specialist for the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, for which she received a Rómulo Gallegos scholarship. She also worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In addition, she has been a consultant for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNESCO, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the International Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, and the Center for Studies in Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, among others.

She has published articles on the relationship between international human rights law and constitutional law; the impact of constitutional design on the rule of law; criminalization of social protest; freedom of expression on the internet; rights of migrants and refugees; and rights of indigenous peoples, among others.

Daniela Salazar Marín was named Distinguished Senior Research Fellow in the Constitutional Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of the Academic Section of Legal Sciences of the Ecuadorian House of Culture Benjamin Carrión. She won the Alumni Awards 2023 in the “public sector” category awarded by USFQ University, as well as the Honorable Mention “Dolores Cacuango” in the “public sphere” category in commemoration of International Women's Day, awarded by UTE University.

Born in 1941, Param Cumaraswamy received his early education in Kuala Lunpur. He is a Barrister-at-law of the Inner Temple, London, and an Advocate and Solicitor in Kuala Lumpur since 1967. He was the President of the Malaysian Bar Council between 1986-1988, and was also one of the founding members of the Bar Council's Human Rights and Legal Aid Committees. In 1977, a public protest made by him over the death sentence imposed on a 14-year old boy by the High Court of Malaysia on a firearms possession charge, led to the threat of prosecution for sedition. In 1985, he was charged with sedition when he called on the Pardons Board of Kuala Lumpur not to discriminate against a poor labourer's petition for commutation of a death sentence. Regional and international Bar Associations sent representatives to observe his trial. His acquittal was hailed as a landmark victory for freedom of expression in Malaysia.

In 1994, Dato Param Cumaraswamy was appointed by the UN Commission on Human Rights as the first United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. He served on that mandate until 2003. As the UN Special Rapporteur, he intervened in more than 100 countries and conducted numerous fact-finding missions to investigate attacks on the independence of judges and lawyers and on the rule of law. He reported annually, for nine years, to the Commission on Human Rights. Having been associated with the drafting of the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct from the inception, he presented the final draft to the Commission in April 2003.

In 1995, he was sued in four defamation suits for over US$100 million damages over statements made by him to a London-based magazine – International Commercial Litigation. After several years of legal proceedings in both original and appellate courts, the Malaysian Government dropped the case after the International Court of Justice, upon a reference by ECOSOC, handed down an advisory opinion that, under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, the Special Rapporteur was "entitled to immunity from legal process of every kind for the words spoken by him".

Betweeen 1986-89 Dato' Param Cumaraswamy was the Chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the International Bar Association. He is a life member of the Law Association of Asia and the Pacific (LAWASIA), having served as its President from 1993-1995. Between 1990 and 2005 he served as a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists, of which he was Vice-President from 2004-2005. He is a member of the International Board of the London based Article 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression. He is also a member of the Working Group for the establishment of an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism.

In 1987 he was conferred Honorary Membership of the Law Society of New Zealand. In 1999, he received the International Peace and Justice Award from the Irish American Unity Conference, and in 2002 the "Justice in the World Award" of the International Association of Judges. In 2003 he was called to the Bench of the Honorable Society of the Middle Temple in London as an Honorary Bencher. In the same year he was conferred Honorary Membership of the Law Society of England and Wales. On September 19, 2005 he received the 2005 Gruber Justice Prize at the Columbia University Law School, New York.

Nihal Jayawickrama graduated in law from the University of Ceylon and was admitted as an Advocate of the Supreme Court in August 1962. He practised in both original and appellate courts, and was elected to the Bar Council in 1968. In 1970, at the age of 32, he was appointed Attorney General, and shortly thereafter as Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Justice, an office he held for the next seven years. This period saw the establishment of a new court structure and new civil, criminal and appellate procedures. He was a member of the Judicial Service Advisory Board, the Council of Legal Education, the Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee, New Delhi, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. He was Vice-Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, and a member of the Committee that drafted the Constitution of the Republic of Sri Lanka.

In 1978, he was appointed a Research Fellow at King's College London to research the emerging body of international human rights law under Prof James Fawcett, President of the European Commission of Human Rights. His research was incorporated in Paul Sieghart's pioneering work, The International Law of Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 1983). In 1983, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies) for his research on the application of international human rights law. From 1985 to 1997, he was Associate Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong where, in addition to teaching Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law, he introduced a new course on Human Rights Law. In 1992/1993 he occupied the Ariel F. Sallows Chair of Human Rights at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, an award made for "distinguished contribution to research in or practice of human rights". As President of the Hong Kong Section of the International Commission of Jurists, he was the principal commentator on constitutional, judicial and human rights issues in the territory in the period preceding the transfer of sovereignty. He was intimately involved in the processes that led to the drafting and enactment of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights and the establishment of Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal. In 1989 and 1990, he accompanied student leaders from Beijing to brief the UN Sub-Commission and Commission on Human Rights on the Tiananmen massacre.

From 1997 to 2000, Nihal Jayawickrama was an Executive Director of Transparency International at its secretariat in Berlin. Since 2000, he has been an independent consultant on governance, judicial reform, and anti-corruption strategies. His work has involved collaboration with several governments, legislatures and/or judiciaries including those of Libya, China, the Russian Federation, Lebanon, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, the Seychelles, Turkey, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Indonesia, the Pacific Island States, the Philippines, Egypt and Armenia. For the Court of Cassation of Turkey, he led the development of the Istanbul Declaration on Transparency in the Judicial Process, its Implementation Procedures, Resource Guide and Evaluative Framework. He coordinated a pilot survey of court users and stakeholders in Sri Lanka to identify the nature and extent of corruption in the judicial system and prepared a judicial ethics curriculum and manual and conducted training sessions for judges in Nigeria. He has served on expert groups that developed a UN Technical Guide on Strengthening Judicial Integrity and Capacity; a UN anti-corruption toolkit; a UN Technical Guide to Promote the Implementation of UNCAC; and a framework for preventing and eliminating corruption in judicial systems. He was a member of the advisory group on the project on corruption and human rights of the International Council on Human Rights Policy, Geneva.

He is the author of The Judicial Application of Human Rights Law: National, Regional and International Jurisprudence (Cambridge University Press, 2002, 2nd ed 2017, 1275 pp). He has published widely in refereed books and journals and made presentations in over 40 countries on a range of issues relating to human rights, constitutional law, judicial integrity and governance. In 2004, he gave expert evidence on the impact of judicial corruption on the reciprocal enforcement of foreign judgments before the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario, Canada. He was President of the United Nations Association of Sri Lanka, Vice President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations, Geneva, Chair of the Trustees of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, London, and a member of the Legal Advisory Board of the US-based Genetics Policy Institute.