Dr Usang Assim

Profile

Located within the Children's Rights Project of the Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights (DOI), Faculty of Law, UWC, her educational background includes an LLD from UWC, an LLM from the University of Pretoria, and an LLB from the Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria. As a children’s rights expert, she works in close collaboration with the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC/the Committee), the Committee’s partners and other civil society organisations involved with children’s rights in Africa and globally. Consequently, she has been involved in the drafting of the ACERWC’s General Comments and other research outputs. She is a member of the editorial boards of the African Human Rights Law Journal, Strathmore Law Journal, and the OAU Journal of Public Law, as well as a member of the Expert Group/Advisory Board of the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty. In 2021, she gained the distinction of recognition as UWC's 'Faculty of Law Top Achiever'.

Research

Publications

• Understanding kinship care of children in Africa: A family environment or an alternative care option? (2014) Eleven International Publishing: The Hague, Netherlands
• ‘Civil rights and freedoms of the child’ in U Kilkelly & T Liefard (eds) International Human Rights of Children (2019) 389-417 Springer Nature: Singapore
• ‘Boko Haram: On the road to Algiers?’ in J Strydom & J Iyi (eds) Boko Haram and International Law (2018) 179-204 Springer International Publishing: Cham, Switzerland (with AO Ogunfolu and O Adejumo)
  
• ‘Africa’s Democratic Deficit: The role of the Diaspora in bridging the gap between citizens and government’ (2019) 3 Global Campus Human Rights Journal 19-42 (with CK Tutlam, JG Akech, SC Mutambasere & T Ramakhula)
  
• ‘Child participation in family law matters affecting children in South Africa’ (2015) 17(2) European Journal of Law Reform 295-304 (with K Cleophas)
• ‘Islamic Kafalah as an alternative care option for children deprived of a family environment’ (2014) 14 African Human Rights Law Journal 322-345 (with J Sloth-Nielsen) 

Expertise