Adebayo  Okeowo

Dr. Adebayo Okeowo is a human rights lawyer with over a decade’s experience working around issues of socio-economic rights, environmental justice, and international criminal accountability. His current focus is on exploring, through research and practice, the intersection between human rights and technology.

He is currently the Associate Director of Programs, Regional & Partner Engagement, at WITNESS - an international human rights organization that leverages video and technology to defend human rights. In his leadership role at WITNESS, Dr. Okeowo provides strategic insight and guidance on the day-to-day operational and programmatic work of WITNESS across six regions, ensuring that human rights impact is achieved for the most vulnerable communities. Previously, Dr. Okeowo led WITNESS’ work in Africa, where he implemented projects seeking to secure justice for victims of police brutality, war crimes, technology-facilitated violations, and environmental crimes.

In the course of his career, Dr. Okeowo has worked for the Centre for Human Rights in South Africa, Global Rights Nigeria, and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. He also served as the Manager of the Digital Verification Corps Project at the University of Pretoria – a collaborative initiative between Amnesty International and six universities around the world which uses digital tools to verify citizen media with the aim of advancing accountability for atrocities.

Though a self-taught photographer and filmmaker, he has used the power of visuals to tell compelling stories of human rights and bring attention to some of the most pressing issues in Africa such as migrants’ rights, the rights of persons with albinism, the rights of older women, to name just a few. He has won two human rights photography awards and had his work exhibited in Italy, Mauritius and South Africa.

Dr. Okeowo holds a doctorate in International Human Rights Law from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, an LLM from the same university, and an LLB from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria.