Biography for Pela Boker Wilson

 A human rights expert and former prosecutor, Ms. Pela Boker-Wilson is one of Seven (7) Commissioners at the INCHR with oversight on complaints, investigation, and monitoring. She is a Legal Practitioner called to the Supreme Court Bar of Liberia and an Associate Professor of Law at Liberia’s prestigious Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, University of Liberia. In July 2023, she was elected by state parties as an Independent Expert to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)—the first Liberian ever elected to one of the UN Human Rights Committee. She currently sits on the International Advisory Board of the University of Liberia, Center for  Diaspora and Migration Studies.

 Ms. Boker-Wilson completed her LLM Fellowship in Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa from the Georgetown University Law Center and holds an LLB, first place honors, from the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, Liberia. She is also a United Nations Public International Law Fellow—the Haque Academy of International Law. Her research work is available at HeinOnline, William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender and Social Justice, Scholastica, and Google Scholar.

 Her passion lies in the advancement of human rights, and in particular the rights of women to be free from all forms of discrimination. This quest has seen her contribute to addressing gender inequalities in Liberia through meaningful contributions such as law reform, increased accountability for sexual and gender-based violence, and capacity-building activities for various actors of the criminal justice system.

 Ms. Boker-Wilson has a track record of rendering pro bono services to indigent Liberian women in the areas of domestic violence, divorce, child custody, and property rights. In times past, she served as National Legal Advisor for the International Development Law Organization, State Prosecutor for the Ministry of Justice, Chief Legal Counsel for the Liberia National Investment Commission, and Legal Counsel for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Liberia.