Florence Mumba

Her Excellency
Florence Mumba
Judge of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal
Personal details
Born1948 (age 75–76)
Mazabuka
NationalityZambian
Alma materUniversity of Zambia
(Bachelor of Laws)

Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba (born in Mazabuka, Zambia in 1948), commonly referred to as Florence Mumba, is a Zambian judge at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, also known as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal or the Cambodia Tribunal.[1] She has also previously served in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and as well as a Supreme Court Judge in Zambia.[2][3]

Background and education

She was born in Mazabuka District, in the Southern Province of Zambia, in 1948. She graduated from the University of Zambia, School of Law, in 1972, with a Bachelor of Laws.[4]

Work history in Zambia

In 1973 she went into private practice in Zambia, serving in that capacity until 1980. In October of that year, she was appointed as a High Court Judge in Zambia, being the first woman to serve in that capacity. She represented Zambia at the Conference on Women in 1985 and at the African Regional Conference on Women in 1994. She was appointed to ombudsman in 1989,[5] which she remained, until she was appointed to the Supreme Court in Zambia in 1997.[4][5]

Work history at the United Nations

In 1992, as a member of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, she participated in drafting a resolution to the UN General Assembly, to have rape included as a war crime in the jurisdiction of war crimes tribunals. She served as a member of the International Ombudsman Institute Board from 1992 to 1996. From 1994 until 1996, she served as vice-president of that board. From 1994 until 2003, she served as Commissioner on the International Commission of Jurists.[3][4]

In 1997, she was elected Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), serving as Vice President of The ICTY from 1999 to 2001. From 2003 to 2005, she served on the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTY/ICTR). In 2009, she was appointed to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, first as a Reserve Judge,[6] and later as a full-time judge of Supreme Court Chamber of ECCC.[3][4]

In November 2020, a panel of international lawyers chaired by Mumba and Philippe Sands drafted a proposed international law crimilalising ecocide, the destruction of ecosystems.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Definition of 'Ecocide'". JD Supra. Archived from the original on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  2. ^ ECCC (3 February 2012). "Judge Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba". Phnom Penh: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  3. ^ a b c UNAKRT (7 November 2017). "UNAKRT Officials". Phnom Penh: United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT). Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d SáCouto, Susana (25 May 2016). "Brandeis University: Ad Hoc Tribunals Oral History Project: Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba". Waltham: Brandeis University. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Judge Florence Mumba Sworn in as a member of the Appeals Chamber of the ICTR". The Hague. 19 November 2003. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  6. ^ Lusaka Times Reporter (5 May 2009). "Judge Florence Mumba clinches Cambodian job". Lusaka Times Quoting ZANIS. Lusaka. Archived from the original on 28 June 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  7. ^ "International lawyers draft plan to criminalise ecosystem destruction". The Guardian. 30 November 2020. Archived from the original on 20 April 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2020.