Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou

Biography

Judge as of 11 March 2018, for a term of nine years. 

Prior to joining the ICC in 2018, Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou spent 12 years at the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), as Chair of the Commission (2009-2012), and as Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in Africa (2005- 2009 and 2012 -2017).

She has been a member of several United Nations commissions of inquiries on human rights violations, and chaired the joint working group on special procedures of the United Nations and the African Commission on human and people's rights. In 2011, she was appointed as judge at the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Author or co-author of several publications, she has been a professor at the University of Abomey - Calavi, in Benin. She holds a joint post-graduate degree (DEA) from the Universities of Maastricht (Netherlands), Lomé (Togo) and Bhutan as well as a university degree in Common Law from the University of Lyon 3 (France). She also obtained a Master's Degree in Business Law and Judicial Careers from the National University of Benin.

She has also obtained several diplomas in the area of international human rights law (1993-2002) at the African Institute of Human Rights in Banjul, René Cassin Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France; and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) in Rome.

Judge Alapini-Gansou was admitted to the Benin Bar in 1986. She worked for the Association Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF) Belgium on the project "Justice for all in Rwanda" in 2001. She is also member of the International Criminal Bar.