Human Rights Watch has appointed Mausi Segun as the Executive Director of the Africa division, effective July 1, 2017.
HRW said that Segun has worked at Human Rights Watch since 2013 as the Senior Researcher for Nigeria.
HRW stated that during that time, she conducted many field investigations and wrote numerous reports and articles.
Some of the topics she wrote include violence in North-Central Nigeria, killings by state security forces, muzzling of the news media, Boko Haram’s abduction of girls and women, and abuses by both sides in the Boko Haram conflict.
It further explained that Segun has also been a global representative for Human Rights Watch, presenting, analysing and advocating for compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law.
She has also written opinion articles for the New York Times, CNN, Al Jazeera and other media outlets on conflict-related abuses, religious freedom, women’s and children’s rights, and freedom of expression, among other topics.
Prior to Human Rights Watch, Segun worked with the Nigerian government in several capacities, most recently as Assistant Director and Zonal Coordinator at the National Human Rights Commission.
According to the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, “Mausi Segun brings a rich and varied background to the position of Africa division executive director. Mausi’s expertise and understanding of the complexity of human rights issues in Africa comes at a time of considerable turmoil on the continent.”
The Africa Division at Human Rights Watch works to advance human rights throughout the African sub-region and carries out work that includes investigations, reporting, advocacy, and media outreach.
The division’s 18 staff members cover over 30 countries on a wide range of human rights abuses, most recently conflict related-abuses in the Sahel, the recruitment and use of child soldiers in South Sudan, police killings and enforced disappearances in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the impact of climate change on the livelihoods of indigenous people in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Human Rights Watch is a nongovernmental organisation, established in 1978, that monitors, reports, and advocates on human rights issues in more than 90 countries around the world.
