Meet Our Advisors
Dianah Msipa
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
Dianah Msipa is a Zimbabwean female lawyer based in Pretoria, South Africa. She is a Programme officer in the Disability Rights Unit at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. Dianah holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) degree from McGill University in Canada (2014), a Post-graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (LPC) from Northumbria University in the United Kingdom (2008), and a Bachelor of Laws degree (LL.B Hons) from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom (2006). She is currently completing a Doctor of Laws (LL.D) degree at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria.
Dianah began her legal career as a criminal prosecutor in her home country of Zimbabwe during which time she discovered her passion for human rights, specifically, the rights of persons with disabilities. In pursuit of this passion, Dianah furthered her studies and specialised in International Human Rights Law with expertise on the rights of persons with disabilities.
Her research interests include access to justice, legal capacity, sexual and reproductive health rights and the right to employment.
After completing her Master of Laws degree in 2014, Dianah interned with Inclusion International and then went on to advance the rights of persons with disabilities in Africa through her work as an independent consultant providing technical assistance to various disabled peoples’ organisations across the region. She has done work in various countries including South Africa, Zambia, Lesotho, Malawi, Zanzibar, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Namibia, Botswana and further afield in Indonesia. This work was carried out under contracts with various international organisations such as the Open Society Institute; the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa; Disability Rights Fund; Disabled Women in Africa; and the Iris Institute. Dianah has also worked under contracts with various national organisations such as the UK Prison Reform Trust; the Lesotho National Federation of Organisations of the Disabled; Malawi National Federation of the Deaf; UNABU Rwanda; and the National Organisation of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry in Rwanda (NOUSPR), amongst others.
Dianah also serves on the advisory panel on the Autism and Criminal Justice Project run by the AJ Drexel Autism Institute at Drexel University in the United States of America. She is also a member of the Access to Justice Knowledge Hub for Fair Participation, which is comprised of a group of access to justice experts from different parts of the globe working to develop knowledge on the right of persons with disabilities to access justice on an equal basis with others. In February 2020, Dianah was invited by the then UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Ms Catalina Devandas-Aguilar, to an expert convening to comment on the draft principles and guidelines on access to justice for persons with disabilities held in Geneva Switzerland. Dianah is also an author with several publications in accredited peer reviewed academic journals including the South African Journal on Human Rights and the African Disability Rights Yearbook.