Experts

On 16 December 2021, the President of the Human Rights Council appointed Justice Yvonne Mokgoro; Dr. Tracie Keesee and Professor Juan Méndez to serve as experts on the Expert Mechanism. Justice Mokgoro served as chairperson of the Expert Mechanism. On 15 March 2024, after Justice Mokgoro resignation, the President appointed judge Akua Kuenyehia as new member and Chairperson.

Akua Kuenyehia (Ghana) is a former judge who served as first vice-president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from 2003-2015 and as member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2003. Ms. Kuenyehia is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana and has extensive experience as a solicitor, advocate, and law teacher. She was the first female law lecturer and first female Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ghana, where she taught criminal law, gender and the law, international human rights law and public international law. Her research and advocacy have focused on the rights of women and gender equality in Africa and globally. She has been visiting professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands, Imo State University in Nigeria, and at Temple Law School, Northwestern University and Pennsylvania State University in the United States of America. She holds law degrees from the University of Ghana and Oxford University.

Tracie L. Keesee (United States of America) served for 25 years in the Denver Police Department (retired Jan 2015). She subsequently served as New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) Deputy Commissioner of Training (Feb 2016-Jan 2018) and as NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Equity and Inclusion (Jan 2018-Mar 2019). She served as Project Director of the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice - a Department of Justice project designed to improve relationships and increase trust between minority communities and the criminal justice system. (Jan 2015-Feb 2016). She was also Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado Denver, teaching courses on race, crime and justice. She is currently Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of Justice Initiatives of the Center For Policing Equity, which promotes police transparency and accountability. Additionally, she works closely with communities to ensure their voice and representation are centered in the co-production of public safety.

Juan E. Méndez (Argentina) is professor of human rights law in residence at the American University-Washington College of Law and member of the Board of Trustees of the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. He was the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment (2010-2016); former Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide (2004-2007) and concurrently President of the International Center for Transitional Justice (2004-2009), as well as former Commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2000-2003) and its President in 2002. Professor Méndez was elected commissioner to the International Commission of Jurists in January 2017 and has been a Special Advisor on Crime Prevention to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (2009-2011). He also worked with Human Rights Watch for 15 years and was the Executive Director of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (1996-1999).

Former member

Yvonne Mokgoro (South Africa) is a former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from its inception in 1994 until the end of her 15-year term in 2009. She also served simultaneously on the South African Law Reform Commission (1995-2011 – as its Chairperson from 2000-2011) and President of Africa Legal Aid (AFLA) (1995-2005). Justice Mokgoro is the current Chairperson of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and after her term on the South Africa Constitutional Court, she served as Acting Justice at the Lesotho Appeals Court and the Namibia Supreme Court. In November 2020, she completed her 4-year non-renewable term as Chairperson of the United Nations Internal Justice Council. She has held a number of academic positions, including at the University of Bophuthatswana, University of the Western Cape and University of Pretoria and has taught in the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands.