The Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Samuel Mukira Mohochi as its Executive Director effective from 3rd December 2015.
Mr. Mohochi comes to ICJ Kenya from Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Nairobi, Kenya, where he most recently worked as an expert on transitional justice as a component leader for the Judicial and Non-Judicial Redress Governance Intergrity & Accountability Project-Kenya.
He is a fierce human rights defender, an ardent supporter of criminal prosecution for those that bear greatest responsibility as a methodology of bringing to closure historical violations and affording victims access to justice. Apart from working directly with survivors and families of victims of torture and related violations, he has extensively engaged in international advocacy on the subject before treaty monitoring bodies, UN special procedures and the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Currently, he serves as a member of the general assembly of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the main coalition of international non-governmental organisations (NGO) fighting against torture, summary executions, enforced disappearances and all other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. With 282 affiliated organisations in its SOS-Torture Network and many tens of thousands correspondents in every country.
Mr. Mohochi was one of the founder members of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EAHARD), a Kampala-based agency offering redress to defenders in distress in seven countries and the National Coalition for Human Rights Defenders in Kenya (NCHRD) where he still serves as the chair of the Board of Trustees.
Since his admission to the Bar in 2001, he has practised as a litigator in human rights issues in Kenya and the Eastern Africa region, initially while working as a programme coordinator of the Litigation Fund against Torture (LIFAT) 2001-2005 and subsequently in the Independent Medico Legal Unit (IMLU) 2006-2010 as the Executive Director.
Mr. Mohochi is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and holds a master’s degree in Human Rights (Transitional Justice) from the Ulster University, Belfast, in the United Kingdom. He is a member of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), East African Law Society (EALS), International Commission of Jurists (ICJ-Kenya), the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and the Chartered Public Secretaries of Kenya.
He takes over from Mr. George Kegoro who has been appointed to be the new ED for the Kenya Human Rights Commission. He served ICJ Kenya from 2007.
