On 15 March 2024, the Presidentof the Human Rights Council appointed judge Akua Kuenyehia as new member and Chairperson. She is a former judge who served as first vice-president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from 2003-2015 and as member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2003. Ms. Kuenyehia is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana and has extensive experience as a solicitor, advocate, and law teacher. She was the first female law lecturer and first female Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ghana, where she taught criminal law, gender and the law, international human rights law and public international law. Her research and advocacy have focused on the rights of women and gender equality in Africa and globally. She has been visiting professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands, Imo State University in Nigeria, and at Temple Law School, Northwestern University and Pennsylvania State University in the United States of America. She holds law degrees from the University of Ghana and Oxford University.
