Ayesha Imam

Ayesha Imam is a Nigerian born human rights activist. She is a former Chief of the Culture, Gender and Human Rights department of the United Nations Population Fund and a founding member and pioneer national coordinating secretary of Women in Nigeria. She later became the coordinator of a BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights, a human rights advocacy group. From April 2017 to March 2023, she served as Chair of the Board of Directors of Greenpeace International.

Imam was involved in the successful appeal to overturn Amina Lawal's death conviction.

Life Imam earned a sociology bachelor's degree from Polytechnic of North London in 1980 and a master's from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in 1983. She completed her doctorate at University of Sussex. She joined the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in 1980. In 1983, she was the coordinating secretary, the highest official position of Women in Nigeria, a feminist organization based in Zaria. In 1996, she co-founded BAOBAB, a women's human rights group that provides legal protection for women who are charged under codified Sharia penal codes, customary or secular laws that involves women but were established without the consideration of the interests of women. Such codes deals with flogging or stoning of women. BAOBAB's mission is to increase progressive interpretations of Islamic texts and raise awareness to Nigerian women's rights.

In 2002, she was awarded the John Humphrey Freedom Award. Therefore, she believes not all laws of the Sharia criminal code in Nigeria, especially those concerning some aspects of zina and the control of sexuality, are immutable.

International Roles

Board Member of the International Council on Human Rights Policy. Gender Policy Advisor of the United Institute for Economic Development and Planning in Senegal. Chief of Department of Culture, Gender and Human Right at UNFPA in New York. First Chair of African Democracy Forum. Published extensively, including works like Engendering Africa Social Sciences and two Specific Issues of Human Development. Delivered multiple speeches and interviews over women's rights at Women's Learning Partnership events.