Profile of Prof. Chris Maina Peter

Chris Maina Peter is a Professor of Law at the School of Law of the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He holds LLB and LLM from the University of Dar es Salaam and Dr Jur from the University of Konstanz, Germany.

Professor Peter has served as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) – 2008 – 2012 and is currently a Member of the United Nations International Law Commission (ILC) since 2012. He is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Zanzibar Legal Services Centre (ZLSC); and immediate former Chair of the Regional Board of Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa (OSIEA).

Professor Peter is the Managing Editor of the Zanzibar Yearbook of Law (ZYBL) published by Zanzibar Legal Services Centre (ZLSC); and Chairperson, Editorial Board, Tanganyika Law Society Law Reports (TLSLR); and a Consultant to a number of institutions nationally and internationally including: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the Department for International Development (DFID); the European Union (EU) and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

Professor Peter has been a Visiting Professor at various Universities including: Gujarat National Law University, Gujarat, India; China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) Beijing, China; Central European University (CEU), Budapest, Hungary; University of Bayreuth, Germany; University of Hamburg, Germany; University of Graz, Austria; and University of Lund, Sweden.

Professor Peter has written and edited several books and articles in scholarly journals. These include “The Human Rights Dimensions of Conservation and Climate Change Initiatives in Coastal Tanzania: Examples of Villagers’ Successful Struggles for Their Rights,” (With Betsy A. Beymer-Farris, Ian Bryceson) in YANDA, Pius Z. et al (eds.), Climate Change and Coastal Resources in Tanzania: Studies on Socio-Ecological Systems’ Vulnerability, Resilience and Governance, Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2019, p. 169; “Fighting Impunity: African States and the International Criminal Court,” in ANKUMAH, Evelyn (ed.), The International Criminal Court and Africa: One Decade On, Cambridge: Intersentia Ltd., 2016, p. 1; The Struggle for Human Rights in Tanzania: 20 Years of the Legal and Human Rights Centre (Edited with Helen Kijo-Bisimba), Dar es Salaam: Legal and Human Rights Centre, 2015; Sengondo Mvungi: Breathing the Constitution (Edited and Compiled with Elinaza Sendoro and Helen Kijo-Bisimba), Dar es Salaam: Legal and Human Rights Centre, 2014; “The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child,” (with Ummy Ally Mwalimu) in YUSUF, Abdulqawi A. and Fatsah Ouguergouz (eds.), The African Union: Legal and Institutional Framework – A Manual on the Pan-African Organization, Leiden and Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2012; and Zanzibar: The Development of the Constitution (Edited with Immi Sikand), Zanzibar: Zanzibar Legal Services Centre, 2011.