Grace Wakio Kaikai, a human rights lawyer, was appointed as Deputy Registrar of the African Court on Human and People's rights.
The African Court on Human and People's rights was established by African countries to protect human and people's rights in Africa.
Wakio boasts over 20 years of experience as a human rights lawyer and public international law specialist working with non-governmental and international organisations and international courts.
She is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and a Chevening Fellow.
The lawyer has worked as a Legal Expert in the Interim Registry of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights pending the operationalisation of the Registry. This was for the period from January 2007 to October 2008.
Between 2001 and 2005, she worked with the Secretariat of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) branch in Nairobi.
She has worked on research and advocacy programmes on human rights, the rule of law and access to justice with various civil society organisations in Kenya, including the Centre for Governance and Development, the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists and the International Foundation for Election Systems-Kenya Programme.
Wakio has experience in managing civil society campaigns, networks and coalitions at national, regional and continental levels. She is also exposed to a wide range of human rights issues focusing on Africa.
Among her accolades is publishing the book titled The African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council: An evaluation of its mandate in facilitating civil society participation in the African Union (March 2012).
She also published The role of continental and regional courts in peacebuilding through the judicial resolution of election-related disputes - in the African Human Rights Yearbook Volume 4 (2020).
Wakio has a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Relations from Kenyatta University.
The lawyer also holds a Master of Laws in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the University of Pretoria, South Africa (2006).
