Young Researchers on GBV in Africa : Violence Against Women in the Great Lakes Region / Rethinking Informal Justice's role for GBV survivors / Tax and Women’s Rights

Peter Stephen Assaghle is a student at L'École des Avocats du Sud-Est in Marseille, France. He is pursuing a PhD in Law at the University of Toulon. His PhD research focuses on GBV in Africa and is titled: "Women's vulnerability and violence in Africa's Great Lakes region: a case study of violence against women in Kivu". During the French competition "My thesis in 180 seconds", Peter was awarded the first prize regionally and the third prize nationally. Peter is also currently an intern at the Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development (GFLJD).

Hortense is a French student studying International Humanitarian Action at NOHA (Network of Humanitarian Action). She is currently studying her semester at Chiang Mai University (Thailand) and has studied former semesters at Aix-Marseille University (France) and University College Dublin (Ireland). She holds a master’s degree in Public Business Law from the Montpellier University of Law and Political Sciences. She is writing her master’s thesis on “Rethinking Informal Justice Settlements’ Role for GBV survivors in Africa: A strategy transfer from Uganda’s successful story” and intend to specialize in gender-equality. She also is an intern at ARTconnects, a workshop-based project created by international artist and Human Rights activist Salma Zulfiqar to empower marginalized women and girls through artistic workshops.

Marie-Louise Fehun Aren is a Nigerian-trained attorney and a second-year doctoral candidate of International Tax Law at the University of Pretoria, South Africa focusing on African Regional Tax Treaties and Development. She completed her LLB- Law and earned a LLM in International Trade and Investment Law in Africa from the same university. Marie-Louise is also a Chartered Corporate Secretary/Administrator with the Chartered Governance Institute (Nigeria). Her research interests include International Development Law, International Tax Law and Business and Human Rights, among others. 

Prior to her doctoral studies Marie-Louise worked as a Principal Law Researcher/ Legislative Drafter at the Nigerian Law Reform Commission where she researched, analyzed, and advised on various legal and policy issues. Marie-Louise also worked in various research and legislative drafting teams such as the Nigerian Petroleum Industry Governance Laws Draft Team; Advocacy Committee for the Eradication of Female Genital Mutilation in Nigeria- leading to its outlawing in 2015; the Nigerian Justice Policy Development Team, and the National Law Review Team responsible for reviewing and revising the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2018. Marie-Louise is in the Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development, World Bank Group under Laurence Coste.