Binaifer Nowrojee: A lawyer who became first Kenya female to head a global entity

“I grew up in a book-filled house, where books of all kinds were stored. We were encouraged to read,” she says.

“It was a really great place to grow up, and I think it prepared me well when I went out into the world. And that's not just me; when I see other Kenyans succeeding in other places in the world, you see that Kenya is producing leaders who can transcend boundaries to go out into the world and take office. Lifestyle.

But besides the good memories, she remembers how she was denied the opportunity to attend a Kenyan university because her last name was Noroji. Benifer is one of the three children of the famous lawyer Firoz Noroji.

Today, she lives in the United States and has just taken over the leadership of a multi-billion-dollar global civil society organization, and believes her upbringing prepared her for the future.

“I have been able to benefit in so many ways from everything Kenya has to offer: its diversity and its entrepreneurial spirit,” she says.

She left Kenya for the United States for higher education under difficult circumstances. She was denied the opportunity to attend university in Kenya because her father, Fairouz, was seen as anti-government.

At the time, Feroz was trying to stop the excesses of the Daniel arap Moi administration, which was seeking to crush the opposition.

“In one of his cases, he was able to act Nairobi Monthly Law The magazine was banned and the ban was cancelled. It was an important victory, and his action changed things. “I was not accepted into university in Kenya because of my father’s work. Eventually, I went to the United States where I studied and became a lawyer myself. I studied at Columbia University and Harvard Law School.

She says the refusal to recognize was not explicitly announced, but she has not received any responses.

“There was no response, but later the vice-chancellor apologized to my parents and said they were sorry they could not take me at that time. They had been instructed,” says Bennifer. life styleH.

“This was an experience, not only for me, but for many (Kenyans) at that time. There were people in Nyayo’s house being tortured, there were people detained without trial. Any dissent, any discussion, was dealt with very harshly,” she adds. “So that was a very dark moment in Kenya's history, and I'm glad we overcame that.”

Her failure to obtain a university education in Kenya may have been a blessing in disguise because Benifer ended up studying at Ivy League institutions.

“These kind of setbacks can overcome you or they can challenge you to fight back,” she says, noting that she has been inspired by lawyers like Jitubo Imanyara, John Khaminwa and Willy Mutunga to move forward.

“(They) put their necks down and suffered for it. These are the models I grew up with,” she says.

She even taught law at Harvard University.

“I stayed at Harvard after being a student. I taught at the law school, and co-taught a course on human rights advocacy at the law school for several years before things got too busy for me,” Bennifer says.

“At Harvard, even though I was not a full professor, I was the only Kenyan and the only Kenyan woman teaching in the law school,” she says.

From academia, she moved to civil society, and Human Rights Watch was her stop from 1993 until 2004 when she joined OSF.

Having worked at OSF for 20 years, she has held various roles. They are Executive Director of the organization's Open Society Initiative for East Africa for 10 years, Regional Director for Asia, for seven years, and Vice President for Regulatory Transition, for two years; Vice President for Programs (2023 until her appointment as President). With this experience, she feels well equipped to guide the organization into its next phase.

“In March, the Open Society Foundations board unanimously appointed me to become the new president,” Bennifer says.

OSF is a donor network that supports initiatives that advance justice, education, public health, and freedom of expression.

The organization spends about $1.5 billion (Sh196.5 billion) every year to fund various initiatives around the world. In Kenya, it supported talks led by Kofi Annan that stopped the 2008 post-election violence, funded programs that led to the 2010 constitution, and sponsored a campaign to push Nubians in Kibera for title, among other things.

This is the first time in OSF's history that a woman has served as president of the organization. It is also the first time that someone from the Global South (also called the “Third World”) has held the position.

“This is the first time in 45 years that a woman has been appointed to lead the Open Society Foundations,” Bennifer says. “I am proud and excited to be the first female president and the first from the Global South.”

OSF founder George Soros, the billionaire, has only tweeted once this year. His only tweet after a nine-month hiatus was posted on March 11, and was about Bennifer's appointment, in which he expressed confidence that she would strengthen the organization as a truly global body.

Soros, a Jew who escaped the Holocaust while living in Hungary, founded the organization out of compassion for people who were facing persecution. Soros was ranked 431st Forbes Ranking of the richest people in the world on Thursday. He has been seeking to fund initiatives that advocate for open societies since 1979.

“Soros’s philanthropy was shaped by the belief that open society values ​​underpin economic prosperity and political stability, and are the strongest defense against tyranny,” Bennifer says.

When asked to list some of the accomplishments of her career, Bennifer said one of her proudest moments was the role she played in the conviction of Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former Rwandan leader who was convicted of genocide under international law and whose conviction set a precedent. This was a huge win for women.

The win was that through her work at Human Rights Watch, Bennifer was able to integrate sexual violence into the prosecution of genocide.

“I worked with rape survivors throughout Rwanda after the genocide (1994) to advocate for the prosecution of sexual violence as an international crime. When the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was established, there was no legal recognition that rape could be a crime to be determined through the courts.” Therefore, I worked with many victims of sexual violence by pushing the court to help amend and add an explanation of the crimes that affected women.

“We successfully brought one of the major cases called Akayesu which recognized that sexual violence can be a crime of genocide, and this legal precedent is still very much present in international law, helping survivors of sexual violence obtain international justice.”

She participated in the Rwanda trials as an expert witness.

“Based on the documentary work I did at Human Rights Watch, the court asked me to serve as an expert witness. The goal was to look at patterns that demonstrated that sexual violence was widespread and systematic during the genocide. I appeared before the court as an expert witness to testify against Some of the 15 senior military and government officials who have been accused of committing genocide.

Her ascension to the presidency of the Open Society Foundations is a win for women, and she encourages women to gain confidence.

“Be confident in yourself. I have to thank my parents for instilling that confidence in me. She also says, while growing up in Kenya, I was able to get a good foundation in education and in terms of being able to move around the world.

“Over time, with practical experience, you start to find your feet. You start to know your purpose and find it. Also remember that even if you are the only person in the room who looks like you, Your voice still matters.

On the family side, Benifer is married to a man of Ethiopian-Eritrean descent, and given her lineage, she considers herself “very much a global citizen.”

Her lineage has chosen legal practice for three generations now. It started with Feroz's father, Ashru Ram Kapila. Then Fayrouz followed him. Later, two of Fayrouz's three sons, including Benifer, became lawyers.

The family came from India to East Africa to work on the Kenya-Uganda railway and ended up creating a legal dynasty.

Feroz's grandfather was a train driver between Nairobi and Voi. His son, Fayrouz's father, chose law.

In a 2020 interview with a local newspaper, Fairouz said that one of the cases his father filed related to defending victims of British colonial oppression. Firoz attended the court session with his father in 1953 and was convinced that defending people was the job for which he was hired.

Fairouz is also an avid reader, writer, and amateur illustrator. He wrote a book entitled Kenyan trip Documenting the stories of his extended family confronting key moments in Kenya's history.

“I haven't done it yet, but I still have some time to do it,” Bennifer says. I hope at some point I have time to write the way he did.

She says her father guided her a lot.

“Watching my father as a practicing lawyer, I learned that the law can be used to advance the goals of justice, and that by using the courts and the law, you can draw attention to things that are going wrong, even through judgments,” she says. “Make real change.”

Bennifer says that when she decided to pursue a career in law, her interest was in public law, international law and human rights.

“My thesis (at Harvard) was looking at peacekeeping forces; It refers to the interaction of regional peacekeepers and UN peacekeepers in the civil war in Liberia.

She adds: “I became a lawyer because I believe in justice, and I wanted to use this degree to work to help and support people struggling for basic human rights, and I have been able to do that throughout my career.” A tinge of pride.