Ms. Fatou Bintou Sallah is a human rights and transitional justice specialist with over a decade of experience advancing gender equality, justice, accountability, and reconciliation in Africa. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of The Gambia, a Master’s Degree (LLM) in Human Rights and Democratization in Africa from the University of Pretoria, and further training in Peace, Security & Development (African Leadership Centre/King’s College London) and Court-Connected Mediation (Edwards Mediation Academy, USA).

Fatou was recently engaged as a National Expert for a UN Peacebuilding Hub’s Impact Spotlight Study in The Gambia, co-leading research and facilitating stakeholder engagement to examine how transitional justice shapes public trust, institutional reform, national healing, and the experiences of women and marginalized groups.

She previously worked as Justice Sector Coordinator at the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, where she managed a multi-million-dollar USAID project that strengthened The Gambia’s justice sector within a transitional justice framework. She has also served with the National Democratic Institute, supporting democratic governance and political dialogue, and with UN Women Nigeria, focusing on gender-responsive peacebuilding in conflict-affected communities in the Nigeria’s North East.

Fatou has served the Gambian judiciary as a First-Class Magistrate and was Deputy Women’s Affairs Coordinator at the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), where she championed the inclusion of women’s voices and feminist perspectives in truth-seeking and accountability processes. Her work emphasized centering survivors of gender-based violence and addressing structural inequalities that perpetuate women’s marginalization.

Her other professional stints have included work with the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies and the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa, as well as consulting on gender and peacebuilding issues and conducting research on forced migration and transitional justice in The Gambia. Fatou has contributed significantly to the development of policies and initiatives that address sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), the rights of women and girls, and the intersection of human rights and justice system reform.

Across these roles, Fatou has consistently applied a feminist framework, interrogating power dynamics, amplifying women’s and girls’ voices, and pushing for systemic reforms that challenge patriarchal structures. She has contributed to the development of policies and initiatives addressing sexual and gender-based violence, advancing women’s rights, and linking justice reform to broader struggles for equality and social transformation.