The Vera Chirwa Award winners for 2025 were announced on International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2025, at the University of Pretoria Graduation and Awards Ceremony. Exceptionally, the Vera Chirwa Award was jointly awarded to three laureates. The careers of these three exceptional awardees, Abiola Idowu-Ojo, Ayalew Getachew and Horace Adjolohoun, brought them to currently serve at the helm of the three African Union (AU) human rights bodies. Abiola is the Executive Secretary of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (African Commission); Ayalew is the Acting Executive Secretary of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (African Children’s Committee); and Horace is the Head of the Legal Division at the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (African Court).
The Vera Chirwa Award recognises alumni of the Masters Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa (HRDA) who best embody the principles of the HRDA programme in their subsequent career by ‘making a difference’ to the protection of human rights or the strengthening of democratisation in Africa.
2025 Vera Chirwa Awardees
The Vera Chirwa Award goes to exceptional alumni in recognition of their contributions to the protection and promotion of human rights across Africa through judicial practice, institutional leadership, and advocacy. Prof Ebenezer Durojaye, Acting Director of the Centre, introduced the recipients of the Vera Chirwa Award.
Abiola Idowu-Ojo
Abiola Idowu-Ojo completed the HRDA in 2003 and has dedicated over fifteen years to human rights protection within the African Commission. On 25 June 2024, she was appointed Executive Secretary of the African Commission, the main human rights oversight body of the African Union. After graduating, Mme Idowu-Ojo joined the African Commission briefly before going into private legal practice, after which she returned to the African Commission as Senior Legal Researcher. In August 2023, she was appointed Acting Executive Secretary before her confirmation in 2024. In her career at the African Commission, Abiola Idowu-Ojo has led transformative institutional reforms. Her contributions include drafting strategic plans, reforming and improving the Commission's communications procedure, and providing ongoing technical support to strengthen the institution's capacity. Under her leadership, she has mentored numerous HRDA alumni who joined the Commission as legal experts, creating a pipeline of skilled human rights professionals across Africa. Her expertise spans human rights, governance, international law and development. As Executive Secretary, she continues to steer one of Africa's most critical human rights institutions, shaping policy and advancing the implementation of human rights norms at the continental level.
Ayalew Getachew Assefa
Ayalew Getachew Assefa currently serves as Acting Executive Secretary of the African Children’s Committee Secretariat. He completed the HRDA in 2011, after which he pursued doctoral studies and obtained his Doctor of Laws (LLD) in Human Rights from the University of the Western Cape. Prior to his current role, he served as Senior Child Protection Officer and Senior Legal Researcher at the African Children’s Committee. Dr Ayalew’s work has been central to strengthening the institutional capacity of the African Children’s Committee and advancing children's rights across the continent. His scholarship and advocacy have focused on critical areas, including birth registration and the prevention of statelessness, the protection of vulnerable children in conflict and crisis contexts, and the implementation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child across AU Member States. In his writings, Dr Ayalew has highlighted how birth registration under the African Children's Charter is foundational for granting children legal identity, preventing statelessness, and safeguarding their rights to nationality, education and protection. Through policy research, legal interpretation and advocacy, he has worked to ensure that the Charter's provisions are more widely understood and implemented across Africa. Dr Ayalew continues to produce legal research, commentary and normative guidance on birth registration, statelessness, harmful traditional practices, children in armed conflict, and implementation of the African Children's Charter. His work reflects a long-standing commitment to strengthening Africa's human rights and child-welfare architecture, elevating child rights protection within the broader human rights agenda and demonstrating that children's welfare and rights are central to democracy and social justice on the continent.
Sègnonna Horace Adjolohoun
Sègnonna Horace Adjolohoun completed the HRDA in 2013, after which he obtained a Doctor of Laws (LLD) in Public International Law/Human Rights, both from the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria. He currently serves as Head of the Legal Division at the African Court and is an Extraordinary Lecturer at the Centre for Human Rights. Dr Adjolohoun has made significant scholarly and institutional contributions to Africa's human rights architecture. His 2020 article ‘A crisis of design and judicial practice? Curbing state disengagement from the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights’ critically analysed structural flaws in the Court's design and proposed concrete reforms to strengthen its legitimacy and effectiveness. He plays an important role in strengthening the Court’s jurisprudence, procedures, and institutional development significantly through leading the Registry, drafting key judgments and legal instruments, and driving major institutional reforms, including rule amendments and compliance mechanisms. Additionally, he enhanced the Court’s visibility and cooperation across AU Member States and international courts, while coordinating flagship publications that shape African human rights jurisprudence. His dual role as scholar-practitioner bridges rigorous academic analysis with practical human rights work, making him a key figure in advancing judicial independence, constitutional law, and access to justice in Africa.
Who is Vera Chirwa?
Vera Mlangazua Chirwa is a Malawian-born lawyer and human and civil rights activist. The Vera Chirwa Award was established in recognition of her personal sacrifices and contributions to the protection and promotion of human rights in Africa. She fought for multiparty democratic rule in Malawi and was charged with treason, tried and sentenced to death by the authoritarian regime of Hastings Kamuzu Banda. She spent 12 years on death row with her husband, Orton Chirwa, a lawyer and once Malawian Minister of Justice and Attorney General. The Chirwa’s' execution date was set for 9 June 1983, but international pressure saved their lives. While in detention, they were tortured, often kept in leg irons, received inadequate food and were denied proper medical attention, which led to the death of Vera Chirwa’s husband, Orton. Vera Chirwa was eventually released in 1993, and a new constitution was adopted, which allowed for multiparty democracy. Vera Chirwa established herself as a leading voice for human rights in Malawi and started an NGO. She became a member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in 1999 and served as the Commission's Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa. She retired from the Commission in 2005 and continued to champion human rights in her home country, across the continent and the globe.
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