STAFF
Founder and Executive Director – Prof. Charles C. Jalloh
Charles C. Jalloh is Professor of International Law and the Richard A. Hausler Chair in Law at the University of Miami Law School and Founder of the Center for International Law and Policy in Africa (CILPA). He previously taught at Florida International University, where he was the first law faculty member to be honored as a Distinguished University Professor, and at the University of Pittsburgh Law School where he started his academic career in 2009 as an Assistant Professor of Law.
He is a member of the United Nations International Law Commission (ILC), where he has held several leadership positions. In May 2022, the ILC appointed him a special rapporteur for the topic Subsidiary Means for the Determination of Rules of International Law. Formerly a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Public International Law at Lund University (2018-2019), and the Kleh Distinguished Visiting Professor of International Law at Boston University Law School (2023-2024), he has published widely in the field of international law. Recent books include The International Criminal Court and Africa (Oxford, 2017, with Ilias Bantekas) and the monograph The Legal Legacy of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (Cambridge, 2020). He serves on the editorial boards of several scholarly journals, including the American Journal of International Law.
Before academia, Jalloh practiced law at the national and international levels as Counsel in the Canadian Department of Justice and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, a Legal Adviser in the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and an Associate Legal Officer in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. His education includes a B.A. from the University of Guelph, LL.B. and B.C.L. degrees from McGill University, a Master’s in International Human Rights Law, with distinction, from Oxford University, where he was a Chevening Scholar and a Ph.D. in International Law from the University of Amsterdam.
Director of Legal Training and Operations – Fatmata Bintu Seisay
As CILPA’s Director of Legal Training and Operations, Fatmata Bintu Seisay is responsible for managing and implementing CILPA’s legal training, supervises the daily activities of the Freetown office, and also ensures compliance with all regulatory regimes in her capacity as Corporate Secretary.
Before joining CILPA, she was a member of Tejan-Cole, Yillah & Partners, a general practice Law firm in Sierra Leone, where she worked in different capacities rising to Associate Partner and Manager. She has also served as a Corporate Secretary for various companies including Staco Insurance Company (SL) Limited, where she recently worked as the head of the Legal and Corporate Secretarial Department; and as a trainer to the Board of Directors of the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration, where she lectured on Shipping Law. While in active legal practice, in a range of areas of private, corporate, and commercial law, she represented clients in all the divisions of the High Court, and the Court of Appeal of Sierra Leone; and also, in mediations and negotiations.
She holds an LL.B. (Hons.) from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone; an Utter Barrister Certificate from the Sierra Leone Law School; an LL.M. in International Shipping Law from Queen Mary University of London; and a certificate from the Institute for Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) in London on Corporate Secretarial Practice.
Programs Manager – Yoko Mahiteh Reffell-Wyse
Yoko Mahiteh Refell-Wyse is the Programs Manager for CILPA as of September 2024. A Barrister and Solicitor and member of the Sierra Leone Bar Association (SLBA), she holds an LL.M. in Public International and European Law, University of Manchester, an LL.B. from the University of East Anglia, LPC, University of Law, London, BL from the Sierra Leone Law School and A-Level French, UK. Recently Project Manager under L.A.W.Y.E.R.S. for the Gender Equality and Rights in the Justice Sector project, part of Carter Center’s Rule of Law program funded by Democracy International and USAID. Project Manager, Defense Counsel for SLBA’s Juvenile Justice-DEMS Project. Private Legal Practitioner, Brewah & Co. International Law and practice experience, as Legal Intern at the African Development Bank, African Legal Support Facility. Ten years legal experience in the United Kingdom, including as Executive Officer, Government Legal Department; Witness and Case Officer, Central Justice Unit, British Transport Police; Freedom of Information Officer, Department for Culture, Media and Sports. Founder, Empire Arts Institute, Sierra Leone.
Administrative and Finance Assistant – Fatmata Jarieu Bangura
Fatmata Jarieu Bangura is CILPA’s Adminstrative and Finance Assistant responsible for providing administrative support to various departments and personnel within the organization. She is also responsible for helping the Finance and Administrative Officer in effectively and efficiently managing the funds of CILPA.
She previously worked as an intern at STACO Insurance Company (SL) Limited where she worked in the Finance and Administrative Department. In that capacity, she assisted with financial and administrative matters.
She holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Business Administration from the Institute of Public Administration and Management, University of Sierra Leone (IPAM, USL).
Interns
Climate Change Symposium
Building on the success of the all-day high-level hybrid symposium on African Perspectives on International Climate Change Law co-organised by the Center for International Law & Policy in Africa (CILPA), the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, and the Dullah Omar Institute at the University of the Western Cape at Harvard Law School on 29 March 2024, CILPA is in the process of organising a second symposium on the topic on the African continent, to further address the distinctive challenges African States and societies face in the global effort to address climate change including in relation to equitable access to financial resources, technology transfer, infrastructure for adaptation, mitigation and research, and representation and influence in decision-making processes. The date is to be confirmed. If you are interested in collaborating with us on this symposium please reach out to Prof. Charles Jalloh at [email protected].
ICC Colloquium
On 29 March 2021, CILPA launched the International Criminal Court Colloquium – a series dedicated specifically to advancing the scholarly debate on the work of the world’s only permanent international penal tribunal with responsibility to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. The series, which is part of our Africa-ICC Research Project, and co-sponsored by the American Society of International Law and the International Nuremberg Principles Academy, seeks to highlight issues of particular relevance to the future success of the ICC, especially from an African perspective. Three ICC Colloquium sessions were hosted in 2021, and two in 2022. We hope to relaunch the Colloquium this year.