Professor Akua Kuenyehia

Prof. Akua Kuenyehia
Board Member, Standard Chartered Bank Ghana

Professor Akua Kuenyehia is a Ghanaian academic and lawyer, who served as a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from 2003 to 2015, including as First Vice-President of the Court. Kuenyehia was one of the three female African judges at the ICC. She represented Ghana on the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) committee in 2003, where she worked hard to contribute to its reputation and influence.

Kuenyehia was educated at Achimota School, the University of Ghana, and Somerville College, Oxford. She has spent most of her professional career teaching at the University of Ghana, where she served as Dean of Law and as a visiting professor at other institutions such as Leiden University and Temple University. She is currently the President of Mountcrest University College, Ghana. The Law Faculty Building at the University of Ghana, Legon, was named in joint honour of President John Atta Mills and Professor Kuenyehia.

Kuenyehia is an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College and a member of the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative Advisory Council, a project of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis to establish the world’s first treaty on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity. In March 2009, judges chose Kuenyehia as well as Anita Ušacka of Latvia for appeals positions. Three months later, both of them had to step down from an appeal in the case of Germain Katanga of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, because they had previously issued his arrest warrant.

Kuenyehia’s contributions to law and her achievements as an academic and judge have earned her several accolades, including being an award recipient of the Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program at Georgetown University, and the honorary doctorate degree conferred on her by her alma mater, the University of Ghana.

Professor Akua Kuenyehia is ranked in Avance Media’s Inaugural list of Top 100 Ghana’s Women Board Directors collated in partnership with Acreaty Ghana.