Maina Kiai is a Kenyan lawyer and human rights activist focusing on the topics of democracy and constitutionalism, governance and anti-corruption at domestic and international levels. He has extensive experience in the conceptualization and implementation of strategies based on the human rights framework and in managing national and international human rights institutions and organizations, including organizational change and development.
He served as the director of the Human Rights Watch’s Alliances and Partnerships program from 2018 to 2024. From 2020 to 2023 he was a member of the Facebook and Instagram Oversight Board that issued final decisions on content issues. During 2019, he was a Scholar in Residence at the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice, City University of New York (CUNY) Law School, and, in 2018, Global Practitioner in Residence at Stanford Law School.
Prior to that, Maina Kiai served for six years (2011 to 2017) as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, while also holding the position of co-director at InformAction, a national CSO in Kenya working on community organization for social justice, and in addition writing a weekly column for Kenya’s bestselling newspaper. Previously, he served as the Executive Director of the International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP), Geneva.
Maina Kiai holds a diploma of the Kenya School of Law and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) of Harvard Law School.
Last update: 2025