Biographies of the members of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Sudan

Mohamed Chande Othman, chair (Tanzania)

Mohamed Chande Othman served as Chief Justice of Tanzania (December 2010 to 17 January 2017). In 2017, he was appointed Eminent Person by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and charged with the examination of new information relating to the tragic death on 17-18th September 1961 of the second UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld and other members of his party (appointed in 2017). In 2015, he was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki-moon as Chairperson of the Independent Panel of Experts on the Dag Hammarskjöld Investigations. In 2019-2020, he served as a member of the Independent Expert Review of the International Criminal Court and the Rome Statute System, having been appointed by the Assembly of State Parties of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Mr. Othman’s previous experience includes that of Prosecutor General of East Timor (Timor Leste) (2000-2001), Chief of Prosecutions of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (1998-2000), and Senior Legal and Justice Sector Adviser for UNDP-Cambodia. He has also served as a member of the UN Human Rights Council’s High-Level Commission of Inquiry into the Situation in Lebanon following the Israel-Lebanon Armed Conflict in 2006, as the UN Human Rights Council’s Independent Expert on the human rights situation in the Sudan (2009-2010) and as the Chair of the Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (2022-2023).

Joy Ngozi Ezeilo (Nigeria)

Joy Ngozi Ezeilo is a distinguished Law Professor and Senior Advocate of Nigeria with expertise in international human rights, criminal law, comparative constitution and the rights of women and children in Africa. Dr. Ezeilo is Emeritus Dean of Law at the University of Nigeria, and a visiting professor at multiple universities. She is also the Founder and Director of Women Aid Collective (WACOL), a Nigerian NGO dedicated to advancing the human rights of women and young people. From 2008-2014, she served as the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons. She has received numerous national and international accolades, including the Nigerian Government's Officer of the Order of Niger (2006) and a place on the BBC's 2022 listing of 100 women of impact in the world.

Mona Rishmawi (Jordan/Switzerland)

Mona Rishmawi is a former senior official at the United Nations, where she last served in 2022/2023 as Head of Office for the UN Special Envoy for Syria based in Damascus, Syria. From 2004-2005, she was the Executive Director of the Secretariat of the UN International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, established by Security Council resolution 1564. From 2009-2022, she was Chief of the UN Human Rights Office’s Rule of Law, Equality, and Non-Discrimination Branch. From 2004 to 2009, she headed the Rule of Law and Democracy Unit and was the OHCHR Legal Advisor. Between 2000 and 2004, she was Senior Policy Adviser to two UN High Commissioners for Human Rights, including serving as the Senior Human Rights and Women’s Rights Adviser to Special Representative of the Secretary-General Sérgio Vieira de Mello in Iraq. From 1996 to 2000, she was the UN Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Somalia, and from 1996 to 2000. From 1991-2000, Ms. Rishmawi was the Director of the Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers at the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva. Prior to this, she practiced law from 1981-1991 in the West Bank, Occupied Palestinian Territory, and played a senior role within a main Palestinian human rights organization, al Haq. Her academic publications cover human rights, international human rights law and international criminal law.