Fatou Bensouda’s Profile: the First African and Woman to serve as the ICC Chief prosecutor

Introduction:

Fatou was born on 31 January 1961 and raised in Banjul, Gambia, and is fluent in English and French. Fatou is known for her intellect, soft-spoken thoughtfulness, determined and forceful pursuit of justice, and leadership in pressing governments to support the rule of law.

Legal Education:

She holds both a Barrister-at-Law from Nigeria Law School, as well as a Bachelor of Laws-LLB from the University of IFE (Now OAU University) in Nigeria. She became Gambia's first maritime law expert upon receipt of her Master's degree in International Maritime Law and Law of The Sea from UN/IMO International Maritime Law Institute.

Career:

(a) Local

Fatou was the General Manager of a leading commercial bank in Gambia. Between 1987 and 2000, she was successively Senior State Counsel, Principal State Counsel, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Solicitor General and Legal Secretary of the Republic, then Attorney General and Minister of Justice, in which capacity she served as Chief Legal Advisor to the President and Cabinet of the Republic of Gambia.

(b) International:

Mrs. Bensouda worked as a Legal Adviser and Trial Attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, rising to the position of Senior Legal Advisor and Head of The Legal Advisory Unit. Mrs. Bensouda also took part in negotiations on the treaty of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the West African Parliament and the ECOWAS Tribunal. She has been a delegate at United Nations' conferences on crime prevention, the Organization of African Unity's Ministerial Meetings on Human Rights, and the delegate of Gambia to the meetings of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court.

On 8 September 2004, Mrs. Fatou Bensouda was elected Deputy Prosecutor (assistant to Luis Moreno-Ocampo) by the Assembly of States Parties. She was in charge of the Prosecution Division of the Office of the Prosecutor. On June 16, 2012, Fatou Bensouda became the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal (replacing Luis Moreno-Ocampo). As Chief Prosecutor, Fatou is the ICC's second elected prosecutor and the first African woman to hold this esteemed position. She remained the only one in a race that was contested by 52 candidates, when no member from the 120 countries nominated a candidate to challenge her by December 9, 2011 following Tanzania Chief Justice Mohamed Chande Othman's withdrawal of his candidacy after it became clear that African nations were in support of Fatou Bensouda.

Awards and Recognition:

In 2012, TIME Magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2011 she received the World Peace Through Law Award by The Whitney Harris World Law Institute, Washington University. In 2010, she was named the 4th most influential personality in Africa in the Civil Society Category by Jeune Afrique Magazine. In 2009, Fatou was presented with the ICJ International Jurist Award for her contributions to national and international criminal law. Finally, in 2008, she was selected as one of the 100 most influential African personalities by Jeune Afrique Magazine.

NOTE:

The Office of the Prosecutor is responsible for receiving referrals and any substantiated information on crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court, for examining them and for conducting investigations and prosecutions before the Court. The Office is headed by the Prosecutor who is elected by the States Parties for a term of nine years, and assisted by Deputy Prosecutor who is in charge of the Prosecution Division of the Office of the Prosecutor.

Source: ICC, WORLD JUSTICE FORUM, and

http://www.wisemuslimwomen.org/muslimwomen/bio/fatou_bensouda/