Yah Vallah Parwon

Yah Parwon (@YahParwon) is an African feminist, women human rights professional, and girls’ rights champion. She is passionate about advancing the status of women and girls, using her professional experience to elevate the cause of gender equality in Liberia.

She was appointed director for medica Liberia after more than a decade in various roles in the organization. medica Liberia is a feminist organization providing legal, psychosocial, sexual reproductive health and advocacy services and support for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Liberia. She is also the co-founder of the Rising Youth Mentorship Initiative, a feminist community-based initiative advancing adolescent girls and young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Yah’s work involves supporting the development of programs and policies that seek transformation impact on the lives of women and girls. She is a Chevening scholar who obtained an LLM with distinction in Gender, Conflict and Human Rights at the University of Ulster. She is a member of Liberia Feminist Forum and Female Lawyers Association of Liberia.

As a woman human rights expert in 2019 she co-authored a submission to Northern Ireland’s government on A New Legal Framework for Abortion Services in Northern Ireland. In 2020, as a Chevening scholar, she was received the Transitional Justice Institute /Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission 2020 Dissertation Prize for her research titled Can the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice advance women’s rights through its interpretation of gender-discrimination? A Critical analysis of Women’s Rights Jurisprudence in the African Human Rights System.