Antoinette Ouédraogo
{{Short description|Burkinabé lawyer and women's rights and environmental activist}}
File:Antoinette Nongoba Ouédraogo.jpg
Antoinette Nongoba Ouédraogo is a Burkinabé lawyer and women's rights and environmental activist, and was the first woman in Burkina Faso to become a lawyer.
Early life
Ouédraogo was educated at the Young Girls' College of Loumbila, in Loumbila, the capital of the Loumbila Department in Oubritenga Province.{{cite book|author1=Keith Watson|author2=William I. Ozanne|title=Education and Religion: Global Pressures, Local Responses|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oaTdAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA138|accessdate=9 November 2017|date=13 September 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-75332-0|page=138}}
Career
On 17 June 2006, Ouédraogo was elected president of the bar in Burkina Faso.{{cite book|author1=Lawrence Rupley|author2=Lamissa Bangali|author3=Boureima Diamitani|title=Historical Dictionary of Burkina Faso|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PzXEKPYNXm8C&pg=PR69|accessdate=9 November 2017|date=7 February 2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-8010-8|page=69}} On International Women's Day in 2007, she spoke out against violence towards women, especially rape.{{cite web|url=http://lefaso.net/spip.php?article19954|title=Me Antoinette Nongoba Ouédraogo, bâtonnier de l’Ordre des avocats : "On ne m’a (...) - leFaso.net, l'actualité au Burkina Faso|author=|date=|website=lefaso.net|accessdate=9 November 2017}} Ouédraogo is the president of the women's development association, and a member of a national climate change experts' group.{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/en/africarenewal/newrels/coping-less-rain-burkina-faso.html|title=Coping with less rain in Burkina Faso|author=|date=|website=www.un.org|accessdate=9 November 2017}} She has stated that uncontrolled land clearances, poaching and the search for new grazing pastures are exacerbating climate change.
Ouédraogo is the Burkina Faso representative on the executive committee of the Global Shea Alliance.{{cite web|url=http://www.globalshea.com/about/governance/716/Antoinette_Ouedraogo|title=Ouedraogo Antoinette - GSA|author=|date=|website=www.globalshea.com|accessdate=9 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109192146/http://www.globalshea.com/about/governance/716/Antoinette_Ouedraogo|archive-date=9 November 2017|url-status=dead}} Ouédraogo is also representing the former government minister, General Djibrill Bassolé, who is suspected of leading a short-lived 2015 coup d’état, which destabilized Burkina Faso.{{cite web|url=http://www.wadr.org/mobile/home/index.php?p=stories&lang=en&auth_=1656|title=WADR|author=|date=|website=www.wadr.org|accessdate=9 November 2017|archive-date=9 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109191707/http://www.wadr.org/mobile/home/index.php?p=stories&lang=en&auth_=1656|url-status=dead}} In July 2017, the legal defence team had a "major victory", after a UN working group said that the detention of the former Minister was "arbitrary and illegal".
In May 2017, Ouédraogo was representing Burkina Faso's former President Blaise Compaore (in absentia) and his cabinet in a trial, after he fled the country to the Ivory Coast during a popular revolt in 2014, as he attempted to extend his 27-year-rule.{{cite web|url=https://www.channelstv.com/2017/05/09/trial-burkina-ex-leader-ministers-begin-delays/|title=Trial Of Ex-Burkina Faso leader, Ministers Begins After Delays • Channels Television|author=|date=9 May 2017|website=channelstv.com|accessdate=9 November 2017}} She led a walk out of the defence team, stating that the trial was in contravention of the country's constitution.
See also
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century Burkinabé people
Category:Women's rights in Burkina Faso
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