About ACIL
The African Centre for International Law (ACIL) is an organisation dedicated to the study of public international law in Africa.
ACIL works from the belief that international law should not remain confined to universities, courts, diplomatic spaces, and expert circles. It should also be understood by the people and communities whose lives are shaped by it. Our work focuses on making public international law more accessible, practical, and connected to African realities.
Through research, public education, legal explainers, training, and community-centred engagement, ACIL seeks to bring international law closer to students, communities, activists, young lawyers, researchers, civil society actors, and grassroots organisations. We are interested not only in how international law is made and interpreted, but also in how it can be understood, challenged, claimed, and used from below.
Founder's Message
Welcome to the African Centre for International Law.
ACIL was founded from a conviction that international law should not be distant from the people whose lives it affects. It is often discussed in courts, universities, diplomatic conferences, and policy spaces, however many of the people who live closest to the questions international law addresses are left outside the conversation.
Across Africa, communities confront issues of dignity, equality, conflict, displacement, land, democracy, state power, corporate conduct, and accountability. These are not only political or social questions. They are also questions of international law. They are questions about human rights, state responsibility, justice, and the place of African peoples in the making and use of international law.
ACIL exists to help bring that conversation closer to the ground. Our work is rooted in the belief that people should not only be subjects of international law, but participants in understanding it, questioning it, shaping it, and using it. The law becomes more meaningful when it can be read by more than specialists, discussed beyond expert circles, and connected to the realities of communities.
Harry Mwesigwa
Founder, African Centre for International Law
Mission
ACIL works to make international law more accessible to the people and communities whose lives it affects, while preserving the seriousness, depth, and rigour of the field. We do this through research, public legal education, accessible explainers, training, community-centred engagement, and platforms for dialogue between scholars, students, lawyers, civil society actors, activists, and communities.
Our mission is to help build an African international law culture that is informed, critical, people-centred, and grounded in justice. We seek to connect international legal knowledge with African realities, so that international law can be studied, questioned, shaped, and used in the pursuit of dignity, equality, peace, accountability, and human freedom.
Our Values
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Accessibility
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Dignity
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Integrity
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Participation
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Accountability
Our Team
ACIL is made up of a team of researchers, contributors, advisors, and partners committed to advancing the study and public understanding of international law in Africa.
