Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh – Director
Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh is a South African lawyer. She joined the ICJ in October 2020. She holds the B.Proc LLB degrees from the University of Natal (now University of Kwa Zulu Natal). She was employed at Lawyers for Human Rights (South Africa) from 2002- 2014 where she initially headed the Immigration Detention Monitoring Unit from 2002-2007 and thereafter as Manager of the Refugee and Migrants Rights Programme from 2007- 2014. She was the Executive Director of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre from 2015 – 2020 where she led many strategic litigation cases those focussing on various human rights issues and in particular judicial independence, rule of law, international criminal justice, freedom of expression and association. Kaajal was employed at the International Organization for Migration from 2001-2002. She has significant experience and expertise in the fields of asylum and refugee protection, migration, citizenship, and statelessness. She also has experience in international criminal justice and freedom of expression. Kaajal sits probono on several boards of non-profit organisations. She was previously Board Chair of the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa from 2007-2011. She sat on the board of the Southern African Human Rights Defenders Network from 2017-2020. She currently sits on the boards of the Centre for Child Law, South African History Archive, Sonke Gender Justice and is the Board Chair of Freedom House’s Advancing Rights in Southern Africa Programme.
Mulesa Lumina – Legal and Communications Associate Officer
Mulesa joined the ICJ in March 2022 as a communications and legal consultant. Her work with the ICJ entails designing and implementing the communications strategy for the ICJ Africa Regional Programme, as well as the other ICJ teams as part of the global communications team. She also conducts substantive research on a wide range of human rights issues in support of the Africa office’s legal advocacy activities. She obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Cape Town and a Master of Laws in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the University of Pretoria. Before joining the ICJ, she had previously done work as a consultant for the Centre for Human Rights (University of Pretoria) and the International Youth Alliance for Family Planning, a social media strategist for Pomegranite Consulting Ltd, a blog and media editor for the Business and Human Rights Journal and an intern at Human Rights Network Uganda (HURINET-U). She is also a Women Deliver Young Leader Alumna and Mentor with the For Women in Law mentorship programme.
Timothy Fish Hodgson – Legal Adviser, ESC Rights
Tim joined the ICJ in October 2017. He is responsible for designing and implementing ICJ’s work around Economic, Social and Cultural rights in Africa and assists with ICJ’s global work on ESC rights and has worked in a range of countries including South Africa, Swaziland, India, Myanmar and Uzbekistan. Before joining the ICJ, he worked as a Senior Researcher at the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (2016-17); as a Legal Researcher at SECTION27 (2013-16); and as a law clerk for Justice Zakeria Yacoob at the Constitutional Court of South Africa (2011-12). Tim has published various opinion pieces, book chapters, research reports, submissions to state and institutions, and peer-reviewed journal articles. He holds a Bachelor of Business Science (Hons) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Cape Town. He also holds a Master of Laws from the University of Michigan (2013) and a Master of Studies in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford (2017, with Distinction). Tim’s Master’s dissertation for this programme is titled ‘The Right to Inclusive Education in South Africa: Recreating Disability Apartheid through Failed Inclusion Policies’’. Twitter: @TimFish42.
Nomah Zibengwa – International Finance Officer
Nomah joined ICJ in August 2018. She prepares financial reports for internal and external use and ensuring the accuracy between narrative and financial reports to faciliate smooth audits for the ICJ. She has extensive experience in financial monitoring and tracking during implementation of projects to ensure compliance with organizational policies and guidelines as well as contractual obligations as per agreements with donors. Prior to joining ICJ, she has committed over 15 years of her career in serving the NGO sector in different capacities in the financial and grants management roles. She has worked at the International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV /AIDS (INERELA+) Secretariat in South Africa from 2011 to 2018 where she rose to heading the network’s financial and compliance functions. Between 2002 and 2010 she worked in Zimbabwe for the UZ-UCSF Research Programme, RfH and SIRDC. A member of the Institute of Risk Management South Africa, she holds a Bachelor of Accountancy Honours Degree and is in the final stages of completing an international qualification in corporate governance and company secretaryship.