By: Foday Manneh
Notable Gambian lawyer and human rights champion Gaye Sowe has expressed delight over his appointment as the new Registrar responsible for Appeals, Arbitration, and Enforcement at the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja, Nigeria.
“Of course, I am happy to move on to a new challenge after spending 17 years at the IHRDA,” the top Human Rights Lawyer told Alkamba Times.
Gaye served as the Executive Director of The Gambian-based Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA), an Internationally recognized organization highly respected in human rights litigation.
The Registrar at the ECOWAS court was a member of the African Commission Working Group on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. In addition, he immensely contributed to developing jurisprudence of various African human rights mechanisms.
The Top Lawyer was also part of the steering committee that set up the law faculty at the University of The Gambia and has lectured law since its formation.
The former commissioner of the Constitutional Review Commission holds an LLM from the University of Essex, UK; an LLB from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria; and a BL (Hons) from the Nigeria Law School.
Lawyer Marie Saine, a former Minister of Justice, has also been appointed in the same institution alongside Gaye Sowe as Registrar for Judicial Records.
She served as Minister of Justice from 2007 to 2009 under former president Yahya Jammeh’s government.
She holds a BL degree from the International Islamic University, Malaysia, and an LLM in human rights from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.
The duo, who took their oath of office in Nigeria on Wednesday, 12 October 2022, become the first-ever Gambians to serve these positions at the ECOWAS Court.
