Former Commissioner at the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) Alice Wairimu Nderitu was on Tuesday, November 10 appointed to the United Nations as Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide.
Making the announcement, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres commended Nderitu for her work in peacebuilding and violence prevention, having led as a mediator and senior adviser in reconciliation processes among communities in Kenya, as well as in other African settings.
Nderitu will be taking over from Adama Dieng of Senegal and Navamanee Ratna (Pramila) Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, who has been serving as Acting Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide.
The Kenyan armed conflict analyst and mediator served in the NCIC from 2009 to 2013 and was one of three mediators of a peace agreement signed by 10 ethnic communities in Nakuru, Kenya.
Nderitu is a founding member and co-Chair of the Uwiano Platform for Peace, a prevention agency linking early warning to early response in Kenya.
She is also the founder of Community Voices for Peace and Pluralism, a network of African women professionals preventing, transforming and solving violent, ethnic, racial and religious conflicts worldwide.
Among her numerous accolades include awards from her peacebuilding initiatives as she was the recipient of the Diversity and Inclusion Peace and Cohesion Award, 2019, the 2018 Jack P. Blaney Award and was one of the Winners of the 2017 Global Pluralism Award which recognises pluralism in action.
She also served as the Director, Education for Social Justice at Fahamu (2007-2009) as well as Head of Human Rights Education and Capacity-Building Programme for the Kenya National Human Rights Commission and its predecessor body the Standing Committee on Human Rights (1999-2007).
She has also worked as a researcher and administrator for the Kenya Prisons Services, Ministry of Home Affairs (1992-1999).
She currently serves as a member of the Kenya National Committee on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and all Forms of Discrimination, the African Union’s Network of African Women in Conflict Prevention and Mediation (Fem-Wise), and the Women Waging Peace Network.
With a Masters of Armed Conflict and Peace Studies (2013), Nderitu is also a transitional justice fellow at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in South Africa.
