Dr Christiane Isabelle Agboton Johnson, a French and West African
national, is currently the Deputy Director of UNIDIR.
Having worked as a Dental Surgeon both in the public and private
sectors, she holds a PhD in Odontological Studies. From 1982 to 1994 she
was Professor at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal.
Since 1998, she has committed herself to a wide array of church and
civil society activities, especially devoting herself to peacebuilding,
development and education, particularly with respect to women and
children. She was Founding President of MALAO (Movement against Small
Arms in West Africa), an organization that works through advocacy,
lobbying and education to encourage peace and security in Senegal and
throughout all of West Africa. MALAO participates in numerous seminars
and conferences in West Africa and across the entire African continent,
in Europe, in Asia, in the Pacific region and in the United States. It
additionally organizes trainings, writes publications, participates in
missions and works in collaboration with organizations as diverse as
UNESCO, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the
Francophonie, International Alert, Bonn International Center for
Conversion (BICC), Center for International Studies and Cooperation,
OXFAM, SaferAfrica. UNIFEM, the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre,
Parliamentarians Global Action, UNICEF, United Nations Office of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry
(CREAF), the GTZ, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the International
Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA),
the African-Canadian Forum, the Community of Churches in Mission (CEVAA
in French), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), etc.
For three years, Dr Agboton Johnson has served on the Secretary
General Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters and is currently a member
of the ECOWAS Advisory board on Small Arms Control. She was an active
member of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and a
founding member of IANSA Women’s Network and the West African Action
Network on Small Arms. Particularly interested by the role of youth in
conflict management on the ground, specifically in Senegal, she
initiated many activities for promoting peace education.
As a result of her years of university teaching and her experience in
teaching adults as well as her field work (surveying, studying women’s
gender roles and the link between security and development), and
networking, Dr Agboton Johnson remains interested in all research
activities pertaining to human security. |