Rashida Manjoo (South Africa)

Professor Rashida Manjoo is Professor Emeritus at the University of Cape Town, where she taught for many years in the Faculty of Law and convened the LLM program on human rights. From 2009 to 2015, she served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, a mandate that took her across the world to investigate, document, and report on systemic gender-based violence and state accountability.

In South Africa, Professor Manjoo also served as a parliamentary commissioner on the Commission for Gender Equality, a constitutional institution mandated to promote and protect gender equality and women’s rights. She was instrumental in developing and leading social context training for judges and lawyers, designing both the content and methodology to strengthen justice delivery in cases of gender-based violence.

Her scholarship, public service, and advocacy reflect decades of dedication to advancing women’s human rights globally and locally. She continues to be recognized as a leading authority on gender justice, shaping international and national debates on law, policy, and equality.