Athaliah Molokomme

Athaliah Molokomme was the attorney general of Botswana until 2017 and is the first woman to hold that position. Molokomme has been committed to advocacy for women's rights at conferences, workshops, and seminars around the world. Dr. Athaliah Molokomme was appointed as Permanent Representative of Botswana to the UN in Geneva and Ambassador to Switzerland in May 2018.

Molokomme holds degrees from the University of Botswana and Swaziland. In 1983, she obtained a master's degree in law from Yale Law School in the United States. She also obtained a PhD in law from Leiden University. Her thesis, Children of the Fence: The maintenance of extra-marital children under law and practice in Botswana, was published soon after.

Education She has a Bachelor of Laws from the university of Botswana and Swaziland;

Career Molokomme has worked as a politician and a professor. Between 1981 and 1996, she taught law as a senior lecturer at the University of Botswana, and has researched and published extensively in the fields of family law, women and law, customary law and employment law.

From July 1998, she was the founding head of the Gender Unit at the Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community, where she was an advisor on gender issues and developed policies and programmes on the empowerment of women and gender mainstreaming, until May 2003 when she was appointed a judge of the High Court of Botswana.

She was the first female attorney general of Botswana in 2005.

Molokomme is an active member of the Justice Leadership Initiative. Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Botswana to the UN and other International Organizations in Geneva. Molokomme, A. (1991). " Children of the fence": the maintenance of extra-marital children under law and practice in Botswana (No. 46). African Studies Centre. Molokomme, A. (1990). Disseminating family law reforms: Some lessons from Botswana. The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 23(30-31), 303–329. Molokomme, A. (1989).The multi-party system in Botswana Molokomme, A. and Kethusegile B. M. Sadc Gender Monitor Molokomme, A. (1986). Custom, Law and Ethnicity: Effects on the Status of Women in Botswana. Canadian Woman Studies.

Honors and awards Among the awards she has received are the Women's Human Rights Award from Women, Law and Development International in 1993, and the Presidential Order of Meritorious Service for Exceptional Service to Botswana in 1999.