Ugandan law professor considered expert on human rights, criminal law reform

A Seventh-day Adventist law professor was sworn in as one of the 18 judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), The Hague, Netherlands, on January 17.

Dr. Daniel D. Ntanda Nsereko, most recently a professor of law at the University of Botswana where he also headed up the Department of Law, was nominated to the ICC by the Ugandan government and endorsed by the African Union last year.

Nsereko and two other nominees, Bruno Cotte from France and the Japanese judge Fumiko Saiga, were elected by ICC member states from among 10 candidates in early December. Each will serve a 9-year term until March 2012.

Previously, Nsereko worked as a trial lawyer in Uganda, and was later named an ICC bar counsel, which allowed him to represent clients at The Hague.

The ICC, an independent court established in 2002 to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, currently has jurisdiction over citizens of its more than 100 member states.

Nsereko, a prolific writer on international and criminal law and human rights, has taught related subjects at the university level for more than 25 years. In 1996, the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law awarded Nsereko a medal recognizing his contributions to international human rights and criminal law reform. He has also served as visiting scholar to a number of universities and institutes.

Nsereko holds a Doctor of Juridical Science and a Master of Law degrees from New York University School of Law, a Master of Comparative Jurisprudence from the Howard University School of Law and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of East Africa, Dar Es Salaam.

Nsereko serves as an elder, Sabbath School teacher and director of Christian Education at the Broadhurst Seventh-day Adventist Church in Gaborone, Botswana. [Editor: Robert Nixon for ANN/APD]