Law Profiles
Commissioner Twea is the Chairperson of Women and Gender Directorate. Commissioner Stella Twea is a gender specialist and women rights activist with over 15 years’ experience of promoting gender equality and human rights in her capacity as an international civil servant in the United Nations system, national civil servant, NGO and consultant. She has previously worked with UNFPA (Malawi and Liberia country offices) holding several positions such as GBV Coordinator, Gender Advisor and international Gender consultant; Centre for Alternatives for Victimized Women and Children as Executive Director; CIDA-COMWASH Project as Gender and Community Development consultant; Concern Universal Malawi as Gender Coordinator; and Ministry of Education as Secondary School Teacher.
A holder of a Masters in Women’s Law (University of Zimbabwe) and a Bachelor of Education from University of Malawi, Commissioner Twea played a key role while at UNFPA in ensuring that gender was mainstreamed in the UN Development Assistant Framework (UNDAF) for Malawi (2008-2011), and has also provided technical support in the development of key national policies and programs for the enhancement of women’s participation in socio-economic and political life. These include the development of National Gender Policy (2000), Gender responsive budgeting guidelines (2006), the National Plan of Action for Gender Based Violence (2008) just to mention a few. She has also been involved at SADC level in the development of the SADC Gender Mainstreaming Strategy for Open and Distance Education.
Commissioner Chijozi is a member of Child Rights Directorate and Civil and Political Rights Directorate. Commissioner Chikondi Chijozi is a passionate human rights lawyer with 17 years’ experience in human rights work. She has been a human rights activist since 2004 when she joined Centre for Human Rights Education Advice and Assistance (CHREAA) as a paralegal officer. She rose up the ladder in the organisation and became the Deputy Executive Director and Litigation Manager. She is a strong advocate for rights of marginalised groups including women, children, sex workers, LGBTIQ and prisoners. She has been involved in strategic litigation challenging laws that oppress the marginalised groups. The notable cases that she has been involved in, include, the laws on rogue and vagabond, laws that target and criminalise sex workers, challenging the policy that prevent Rastafari children from being enrolled and admitted into government schools and protecting children from unlawful and arbitrary arrests and detentions. Ms. Chijozi holds a Master of Laws (International Human Rights Law) from University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Malawi, Chancellor College.
Ms. Chijozi is currently working for the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) and she heads the Criminal Justice Program. She is also a board member of IPAS Malawi, Youth and Society (YAS). In 2006 she was awarded at the first African Young Women Summit for outstanding work in human rights. She is also an active member of the Women Lawyers Association in Malawi. In 2020 she was awarded by the Women Lawyers Association as the best female lawyer in NGO sector. She is a member of the Malawi Law Society and serves as a member of the Public Interest Litigation Committee. She also has published some articles and research work on various human rights issues.
Apart from her day-to-day role as the current Law Commissioner at the Malawi Law Commission, and by virtue of being Law Commissioner, Rosemary Kanyuka is an ex-officio Human Rights Commissioner in the 7th Cohort. She is a Commissioner responsible for Corporate Services, Civil and Political Rights. Commissioner Rosemary Kanyuka is a seasoned Legal Practitioner and Corporate Lawyer of about 30 years of experience in both private practice and the public sector. Commissioner Kanyuka holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honors) Degree from University of Malawi, Chancellor College. She has vast experience in advising corporate clients, including drafting of legal instruments. She has also sat on a number of boards, such as the Reserve Bank of Malawi, First Merchant Bank, Continental Discount House, Securicor Malawi Limited and Vanguard Insurance. Besides, Commissioner Kanyuka has vast experience in company secretarial work, including drafting of legal instruments, including incorporation of companies such as Continental Discount House, Nascomex Ltd, Malawi Environmental Endowment Trust, Commodity Exchange Ltd, among others. Commissioner Kanyuka – a former diplomat having served as Malawi’s Deputy Ambassador to Japan between 2012 and 2017 – rejoined the Malawi Public Service, Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and rose to the position of Director of Public Prosecution (DPP in 2010– in the process becoming the first female DPP in the history of Malawi).
A Commonwealth fellow, Commissioner Kanyuka has also previously served as an Executive member of the Malawi Law Society’s Board of Executives. Commissioner Kanyuka is a Managing Partner of Messrs. Lilley, Wills &Company Legal Firm.
Ms. Musukwa is an Attorney with 7 years of experience in law firms and academia. She is specially trained in Intellectual property law in Africa and Europe and has an LLM and a first level law degree from University of Malawi.
She is a member of Swiss based Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle(AIPPI) where she sits on several committees including Commercialization of IP, IP and Alternative Dispute Resolution as well as Information Technology and IP.
She is naturally curious, has excellent analytical skills, a creative mind and is a multilingual.
Ms. Habiba Osman
Ms. Habiba Osman was appointed as Executive Secretary of Malawi Human Rights Commission on 1st November 2020. She brings to the Commission vast experience in the protection and promotion of human rights, political rights, civil rights and democracy. She is a well-versed professional in gender and human rights; and is a renowned human rights defender and activist in the country. She has worked in various capacities in human rights, gender and law programs with several organisations, including Civil Liberties Committee and Norwegian Church Aid, spearheading human rights projects and the advocacy of the anti-human trafficking campaign.
Ms Osman has served at UN Women Malawi office in senior positions as thematic leader for Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) program heading the Human Rights portfolio, the Gender Based Governance (GBG) team and advising the UN Human Rights Group on international treaty obligations and mechanisms in 2019. She also served as Acting Deputy in the UN Women Kenya Country Office. In her former roles, she contributed to the enactment and adoption of several gender-related laws and policies in Malawi through her work in the UN System, including contributing to the drafting of key gender policies and national action plans on albinism and gender-based violence. In addition, she was tasked with oversight of the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative in Malawi on behalf of UN Women.
Nationally and internationally, she has been recognized for her advocacy and spearheading efforts. Highlights of her awards include the following: –
- Appointed as a Special Law Commissioner on the Trafficking in Persons Act 2015.
- Awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship (2010-11). As a Fellow, she obtained an LLM in International Human Rights Law at the Centre for Civil and Human Rights, Notre Dame Law School, USA.
- Achievement Award by the Malawi Government, through the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security, as one of the key pioneers in changing the face of trafficking in persons in Malawi (2017).
- Awarded the 2018 International Visitors Leadership Exchange to the US for Women and economic leaders’ program.
- Recognized as 100 vital voices women in the world (2016).
- Awarded a fellowship by Hilton Hotels for fighting against sex trafficking under Vital Voices in 2017.
- Appointment as Mentor for HiiL Justice Accelerator Mentor Network (The Hague, Netherlands) for her role in supervising local human rights activists and start-ups.
Ms. Osman graduated from Keele University (UK) with a dual honours degree in Law (LLB), International History and an LLM (magna cum laude) from Notre Dame Law School, USA. The Executive Secretary is responsible for the day to day management of the Commission and is answerable and accountable to the Commission. Among other duties, she provides overall leadership to the Secretariat; act as a bridge between the Secretariat and Commissioners and provide technical and operational advice to Commissioners.