Mrs Betty Mould IddrisuHon. Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu was born on 22nd March, 1953 at Accra, Ghana.
She obtained a Bachelors Degree in Law (L.L.B) from the University of Ghana, Legon between 1973 and 1976.
Hon. Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu is an accomplished lawyer and
versatile scholar with a graduate degree in law (L.L.M) from the London
School of Economics and Political Science, (LSE), University of London
in 1978 and a B.L from the Ghana School of Law.
She worked at Ghana�s Ministry of Justice from 1978 till 2003 in
several capacities, rising to the rank of Chief State Attorney. In
view of her expertise in Intellectual Property Law, she headed the
Administration of Intellectual Property Right (Copyright) in Ghana and
the Administration of Authors� Rights at the African regional level
between 1999 and 2000.
From 2000 to 2003, she was in charge of the Ministry�s International
Law Division where she spearheaded several cutting edge legal
initiatives. These included the implementation of Ghana�s
international legal obligations, some of which involved handling both
national and regional legal responses to global human rights issues and
others involving the rights of women and children, trafficking of
persons (ECOWAS), Terrorism, (African Union) the implementation of the
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, (Eminent persons
panel for a global NGO) and international humanitarian law
(International Committee of the Red Cross-ICRC).
She is also widely known in several English speaking African
countries for her work in international law, human rights and gender.
She chaired both the Ghanaian and African Regional groupings of the
International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in the 1990�s and
co-founded the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA) in 1999 and
chaired it till 2003.
Hon. Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu has written several articles and acted
as a resource person, chair and expert at numerous national, regional
and global fora on a wide array of legal and human rights issues. She
worked as a consultant for international and regional bodies in the
area of International Law, Intellectual Property Law (traditional
knowledge and community rights issue) and multi lateral trade issues
for the UN, its specialised bodies and other international and regional
based organisations. In this capacity, she traveled extensively both
in Africa and globally.
In 2003, she was appointed the Director of the Legal and
Constitutional Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, an
inter-governmental organisation comprising 53 member states based in
London.
Some of the highlights of her time at the Secretariat include
overseeing implementation of mandates in the area of transnational
crime, counter terrorism and international humanitarian law. She
oversaw the implementation of the Secretariats programmes on
anti-corruption, asset recovery and judicial ethics. In addition, she
implemented diverse legal programmes through judicial reforms,
legislative drafting and building capacity in the legal field in the
Commonwealth amongst others.
She has given advice to Heads of States, Ministers and she is
frequently called upon to give high level advice to governments,
politicians and civil society. She also advises member states in the
areas of international law, constitutional law and human rights and
organises high level ministerial and senior officials meetings. She
headed the Secretariat Team of the Electoral Observer Group to the 2006
Ugandan Elections.
She acts as In-house-Chief legal advisor to the Secretary General
and Secretariat. In that capacity she manages a team of lawyers from
diverse backgrounds and is responsible for managing her divisional
budget and sourcing for extra budgetary resources. She also assists
the Secretary General and his two Deputies in management of the
Secretariat and represents the secretariat at Tribunals and Courts.
Hon. Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu is married with three (3) children.
Her hobbies are Reading, Entertaining, Traveling and the Youth.
She was sworn-in in February, 2009 as the Minister of Justice and
Attorney General by H.E. Prof. J.E.A. Mills, President of the Republic
of Ghana.