Grace d'Almeida

Grâce d'Almeida Adamon (1951–2005) was a Beninese lawyer, feminist, and human rights activist. She was included in a group of 1,000 women from around the world who were nominated as a group for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.

Biography Grace Antonia Almeida Benoite Adamon was born on 21 March 1951 in Dakar, Senegal. She attended primary school at the Sisters of Porto-Novo and then moved to Dahomey (now Benin) with her family where she attended secondary school. She enrolled in the College of Our Lady of the Apostles in Cotonou and in 1972 took the baccalaureate series A in Guebwiller, France. She earned her diploma and master's degree from Panthéon-Assas University in Paris. She studied law at Pantheon-Sorbonne University, specialising in maritime law and the civil and commercial rights of workers. After receiving her postgraduate DEA, she returned to Pantheon-Assas, where she earned her CAPA law degree. She related that, "in taking the initiative for making the judicial guide available to women, the Association of Women Lawyers' goal was to provide Benin's women with a few basic legal procedures based on the legal texts that govern the country to help them better their lives through legal means."

From 22 November 1995 to 9 April 1996 she was the Keeper of Seals and Minister of Justice Legislation for Benin's government. Her efforts contributed to the opening of the Women in Law and Development in Africa's Benin section in June 1999. She was the United Nations Development Programme's Chief Technical Advisor and headed up the UN's Justice Project in Haiti from 2000 to 2003. She served on several international human rights committees during her lifetime. She was a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and assisted in running the Institute for the League of Human rights in Benin. She was an international consultant in the areas of democracy, electoral assistance, human rights, good governance, and justice, human rights, democracy, good governance and electoral assistance. From October 2004, she was vice-president of the Network of Women Ministers and Parliamentarians of Benin.

D'Almeida Adamon died on 12 May 2005 in Paris. She was divorced and had three children.