Conference Speakers
Dr. Obijiofor Aginam
Assistant Professor, Department of Law, Carleton University
Obi. Aginam holds an LL.B (University of Nigeria); an LL.M (Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada); and a Ph.D. in Law (University of British Columbia, Canada). Dr. Aginam is presently a professor of law at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada where he teaches and researches academic and policy issues that cut across international law and globalization, global governance of transnational health, environmental, and food security issues, environmental and natural resources law, human rights, South-North relations, multinational corporations and environmental justice in the “Third World”, international organizations, the United Nations system, emerging threats to global security, the interface of international trade and health, and Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL). He was Global Health Leadership Fellow & Legal Officer at the World Health Organization, Geneva (1999-2001), and Associate Attorney & Solicitor in the Law Firm of Olisa Agbakoba & Associates, Lagos, Nigeria (1994 -1996). He has held numerous fellowships including Global Security and Cooperation Fellow of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) of New York, and Fellow of the 21st Century Trust, UK. Dr. Aginam has been a visiting professor of international law at the United Nations – affiliated University for Peace, San Jose, Costa Rica, and the International University of Peoples’ Institutions for Peace, Rovereto, Italy. He has served as legal consultant to national, international, and civil society organizations on vast international legal topics. Dr. Aginam has published numerous book chapters, and peer-review articles in reputable international journals. He is an active member of the Canadian Council on International Law (CCIL), and the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS). He is the author of Global Health Governance: International Law and Public Health in a Divided World (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005), and co-author of Humanizing Our Global Order (University of Toronto Press, 2003); Legal Review of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) From a Public Health Perspective (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2006). He is currently working on a book on HIV/AIDS, International Law, and Human Security that explores the impact of global health policy on the HIV/AIDS crises in Nigeria and South Africa as part of a 3-year research award by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada (2005-2008).