On February 26, the Vance Center and international partners hosted a virtual panel discussion on “Internet Shutdowns in Africa: Implications for Democracy, Human Rights, and Fundamental Freedoms.” The panel, part of a series examining rule of law issues in Africa, drew more than 100 attendees for a discussion of governments’ growing use of internet, communications, and social media shutdowns in countries across Africa, especially around elections. The conversation was co-sponsored by the New York City Bar Association’s African Affairs and International Human Rights Committees, the Pan African Lawyers Union, and the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center. Vance Center... read more
Post tagged in "Africa"
Vance Center Promotes Pro Bono in Africa in Events with Bar Association Leaders in Kenya and Nigeria
Posted on October 20, 2025Ramadhan Abubakar, President of the East Africa Law Society, offers opening remarks at a meeting of bar association leaders in Nairobi, Kenya, October 9, 2025. Photo credit: Bowmans Kenya While in Kenya to attend the African Bar Association Presidents’ Summit in October, Adaobi Egboka, the Vance Center’s Director, Africa Initiatives, hosted a constructive meeting with leaders of bar organizations from half a dozen countries. The conversation, held on on October 9, 2025, highlighted the Vance Center’s existing pro bono efforts in Africa and offered a space to discuss collaborative ideas to advance pro bono in the bar leaders’ respective jurisdictions.... read more
Vance Center Supports Law Society of Kenya Initiative to Document Human Rights Violations
Posted on May 12, 2025Participants at one of the LSK’s Justice Centers. After completing the training sessions, including the one led by the Vance Center, the trained advocates, rapporteurs, and paralegals were stationed at various court stations and justice centers to apply their knowledge to documenting cases of human rights violations, May 7-9, 2025. Photo credit: Law Society of Kenya The Vance Center and partner organizations in Kenya provided an in-depth two-day training session that instructed 60 advocates, rapporteurs, and paralegals deployed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) on methods to document human rights violations that arose from national protests last year. ... read more
Vance Center Hosts Discussion on Military Trials, Rule of Law and Human Rights in Uganda
Posted on May 20, 2025On May 7, the Vance Center, along with international partners, hosted a virtual panel discussion on “Principles of justice and military trials in Uganda.” The panel, the first in a planned series delving into rule of law concerns in Africa, drew more than 100 attendees over the course of the wide-ranging conversation, which covered human rights violations and the use of military trials against civilians in Uganda as well as concerning legal trends in East Africa. read more
Vance Center Participates in UC Berkeley Law Panel on Sexual Harassment in Africa
Posted on January 27, 2025Vance Center Africa Program Director Adaobi Egboka joined panelists for a conversation on Sexual Harassment in Africa at the annual Continuing Legal Education (CLE) conference hosted on January 23-24 by the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law. The discussion, chaired by University of Chicago JD candidate Megan Cistulli, featured Furaha-Joy Sekai Saungweme, founder and regional coordinator of Africa End Sexual Harassment Initiative (AESHI), and included contributions from Joelle Nwabueze, Associate Professor at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology. The panel explored the widespread issue of workplace sexual harassment across Africa, identifying its origins and emphasizing the... read more
Vance Center Helps Train Lawyers Across Southern Africa on Environmental Law
Posted on December 15, 2024Participants in the environmental litigation training workshop in Cape Town, December 2024. Photo credit: Natural Justice. More than 50 lawyers from 10 southern African countries convened in Cape Town from December 5-8 for an environmental and climate litigation training, covering topics ranging from climate change to critical minerals to carbon markets. The Vance Center co-organized the workshop with African legal empowerment organization Natural Justice and the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights. The workshop was designed to provide generalists and human rights litigators with the tools to take on environmental cases across the continent. It is a pilot project... read more