By Chisomo Phiri
One of the country’s renowned law Professors, Professor Edge Kanyongolo has been elected as a member of the United Nations (UN) Committee on Enforced Disappearances(CED) during the Seventh Meeting of State Parties held in New York on Monday.
According to a statement in circulation and seen by 247 Malawi, Kanyongolo is among five elected members of the committee replacing those whose terms expire on June 30, 2023.
The other members elected are Matar Diop from Senegal, Barbara Lochbihler from Germany, Carmen Rosa Villa Quintana from Peru and Olivier De Frouville from France.
In brief,CED is a body of independent experts which monitors the implementation of the Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearance by the States parties.
Edge Kanyongolo is a Malawian national who has taught at the University of Malawi since 1986.
He obtained his LL.B (hons.), LL.M and Ph.D degrees from the Universities of Malawi, Cambridge and East Anglia.
He is Professor of Law specializing in constitutional law and legal theory.
His research interests focus on the interplay of law and politics, especially in the framework of constitutionalism, democratic governance and development.
Kanyongolo has also participated actively in human rights advocacy programmes in southern Africa, including in his capacity as a trustee of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, a member of the Advisory Board of the Africa Programme of Article 19 and a member of the Board of Directors of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA).
