Esther Gyamfi

Esther Gyamfi

Disability Rights Associate Lawyer

Esther Akua Gyamfi is a woman with physical disability, whose disability has positively influenced and strategically crafted her profession. She was a player in Ghana’s formulation and passage of the Persons with Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715). She spearheaded advocacy events with organisations of and for persons with disabilities which compelled the Government of Ghana to sign and ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD).  

Esther is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana and the first International and Comparative Disability Law and Policy lawyer with disability in Ghana. She delights herself in using the law to breakdown systemic barriers, demystify the unfounded beliefs which misrepresent disability in society and relegates persons with disabilities to the background.  She spearheads the adoption of appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures for the systemic embrace of diversity in Ghana ­designed and conceptualized Digital Acceleration for Persons with Disabilities Project under the GDAP, the National Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Management Guidelines (to augment existing humanitarian response framework in Ghana) among others.

Esther was a legal Fellow with Women Enabled International (WEI) Washington, where her advocacy skills were sharpened, advocating the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in the implementation of UN policies.

The Commission on Human Rights & Administrative Justice -Ghana, Open Society Foundation (OSF), Law Firms, part -time engagements with the academia and ECOWAS offered Esther the opportunity to drive systemic change through the interplay of the UNCRPD with other human rights treaties and national laws.

To Esther, access to justice for persons with disabilities cannot be realized without litigating their human rights.

Esther enjoys travelling and hosting visitors.

About Us

Founded in 2014, the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) is a Pan-African and feminist initiative with a timely remit: to strengthen strategic human rights litigation across the African continent. Essentially, we aim to change the way that strategic litigation is used so as to enable broader access to justice and to support those who seek to hold states accountable for violations of women’s human rights and sexual rights.

Contact Details

Contact Number:

+27 11 338 9028

Fax: +27 11 338 9029

Address: 87 de Korte Street,
South Point Corner, 7th Floor Braamfontein, 2017 Gauteng, South Africa