Athaliah Molokomme
Athaliah Molokomme | |
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.jpg) Athaliah Molokomme (2011) | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 December 1959 Francistown Botswana |
| Nationality | Botswana |
| Alma mater | University of Botswana, Swaziland |
Athaliah Molokomme is the attorney general of Botswana and is the first woman to hold that position. Molokomme has been committed to advocacy for women's rights at conferences, workshops, and seminars around the world.
Early life and education
Athaliah Maoka Lesiba Molokomme was born on 4 December 1959 in Francistown, Botswana. She was the second of nine children born to teachers Imelda Mishodzi Molokomme and Rufus Oka Kabiwa.[1]
Molokomme holds degrees from the University of Botswana and Swaziland. In 1983, she obtained a Masters in Law from Yale Law School in the United States. She also obtained a PhD in Law from Leiden University. Her thesis, Children of the Fence: The maintenance of extra-marital children under law and practice in Botswana, was published soon after.[2]
Career
Molokomme has worked as a politician and a professor. She has taught law at the University of Botswana and has researched and published extensively in the fields of family law, women and law, customary law and employment law.
Since the 1990s Molokomme has been a regular speaker at national, regional and international conferences, workshops and seminars in her areas of expertise.
She is a founding member of several organisations, such as Emang Basadi, Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA), and Women, Law and Development International (WLDI).[3]
From July 1998, she was the founding head of the Gender Unit at the Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community, where she was an advisor on gender issues and developed policies and programmes on the empowerment of women and gender mainstreaming, until May 2003 when she was appointed a judge of the High Court of Botswana.
She became the first female attorney general of Botswana in 2005.
In April 2014 it was expected that Molokomme would resign from her position as attorney general to contest the presidency of the International Criminal Court Assembly of State Parties, but she did not resign.[4][5]
Molokomme is an active member of the Justice Leadership Initiative. Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Botswana to the UN and other International Organizations in Geneva.[3]
“In Setswana, we say ‘go ruta mosadi ke go ruta sechaba’ meaning that ‘to educate a woman is to educate a nation’.”– Athaliah Molokomme, Speech at the Embassy of France, The Hague, 10 March 2014 on International Womens Day.[3]
Honors and awards
Among the awards she has received are the Women’s Human Rights Award from Women, Law and Development International in 1993, and the Presidential Order of Meritorious Service for Exceptional Service to Botswana in 1999.[3]
See also
References
- ^ "Molokomme, Athaliah Maoka Lesiba". Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. 2012. p. 253. ISBN 9780195382075.
- ^ "Dr A. Molokomme". Debswana.com. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
- ^ a b c d "Athaliah Molokomme". Justice Leadership. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
- ^ "Molokomme to resign as Attorney General". Sunday Standard. 2014-04-07. Archived from the original on 2014-04-13. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
- ^ "Attorney General not resigning". Daily News. 2014-04-08. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
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