Maina Kiai, a human rights lawyer from Kenya with extensive experience in legislative advocacy and grassroots mobilization, joined the International Human Rights Law Group in July 2001. As Director of the IHRLG Africa Program, Mr. Kiai is responsible for the vision, leadership and management of IHRLG programs in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Prior to joining IHRLG, he was the Director of the Africa Program of Amnesty International (UK) for two years. Previously, he was Founder and Executive Director of the independent, non-profit Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), where he designed research, advocacy and campaigning strategies for Kenyan civil society groups and led the formation of the civil society initiative for constitutional reform in Kenya. Today, the KHRC is Kenya's leading human rights organization.

Mr. Kiai has taught law in Kenya and the United States and authored several publications on human rights in Africa. From 1995-97, he wrote a bi-weekly column on economic and social justice issues for Sunday Nation, Kenya's leading newspaper. He serves on the Board of several international and national civil society organizations and earned his LLM from Harvard Law School and his JD from the Kenya School of Law in Nairobi.