Board Member
The Peace Institute · Since 2024
Hauwa Ibrahim is an internationally acclaimed human rights lawyer and Sakharov Prize laureate who has dedicated her career to defending women and children facing capital punishment, diverting youth from extremism, and building bridges between governments, communities, and global institutions.
Hauwa Ibrahim is an internationally known human rights lawyer awarded the Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament in 2005 — the same honour conferred upon Nelson Mandela. She defended over 150 cases involving women sentenced to death by stoning and children sentenced to amputation of limbs under Shariah law. Prior to launching her practice in 1996, she served as a prosecutor in the Ministry of Justice in Bauchi State, Nigeria. She has taught at Harvard University, the University of Rome, and more than a dozen universities around the world, and has delivered speeches in over 30 cities globally as well as a TEDx talk at The Hague. She is the founder of Mothers Without Borders, a project focused on diverting youth from extremism by offering young people a meaningful alternative to violence.
In 2014, President Jonathan of Nigeria invited her to join efforts to rescue the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram. In 2015, she was invited by His Royal Highness Prince Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan, and in 2017 she was called upon by Nigeria’s acting President to address allegations of human rights abuses against the Nigerian Armed Forces. In 2018, Ms. Ibrahim convened over 70 dignitaries from around the globe for a Conversation at Harvard University on expanding strategies for diverting youth from violence. That same year, she organised the shipment of a 40-foot container of goods from Lincoln/Sudbury, Massachusetts to Abuja, Nigeria, meeting the needs of over 2,000 vulnerable men, women, and children.
Between July and August 2019, under her leadership, The Peace Institute collaborated with Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College to develop and implement Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) summer camps in Northern Nigeria. The initiative reached over 1,250 pupils from more than 100 elementary schools. Ms. Ibrahim also serves as a member of the groundbreaking Global Information and Democracy Commission — a panel of 25 prominent figures formed by Reporters Without Borders in September 2018 to draft an International Declaration on Information and Democracy. She continues to serve as a consultant to numerous human rights and non-governmental organisations worldwide.
