Amina Mohamed

Amina Chawahir Mohamed Jibril (Aamina Maxamed Jibriil; أمينة محمد جبريل), born 5 October 1961, is a former Kenyan cabinet secretary, lawyer and a diplomat of Somali descent.

She is the immediate former Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Heritage and Culture in Kenya.

She previously served as chairwoman of the International Organization for Migration and the World Trade Organization's General Council, as well as Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme.

Mohamed was born on 5 October 1961 in Kakamega, Kenya, to an ethnic Somali family.

She is the eighth of nine siblings.

Her family belongs to the Dhulbahante clan, and hails from the Sool region in Somalia.

Mohamed spent her childhood in a modest household in Amalemba, Kakamega, where she passed much of her time reading Sherlock Holmes stories and other detective fiction.

She later developed a taste for international affairs.

For her elementary studies, Mohamed attended the Township Primary School in Kakamega and later Butere Girls and Highlands Academy.

Her mother believed strongly in the importance of education, and would frequently drop by her classes to monitor her performance.

Upon graduation, Mohamed moved to Ukraine on a scholarship to study at the University of Kyiv.

She completed the institution's courses, earning a Master of Laws (LLM) in international law.

Mohamed later obtained a postgraduate diploma (PGDip) in international relations from the University of Oxford.

Through a Fellowship at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), she also followed several training courses on international law.

Mohamed began her career in 1985 as a legal officer at the Kenyan Ministry of Local Government.

Her duties included assessing World Bank projects and tabling municipal by-laws.

Between 1986 and 1990, Mohamed served as a Legal Advisor in Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she drafted and negotiated various bilateral and international treaties.

Among these were Bilateral Air Services Agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iran and the United Kingdom, as well as the African Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Although a number of job opportunities overseas were available, Mohamed chose to remain with her parents as her father was ailing.

From 1990 to 1993, Mohamed acted as a Legal Advisor to Kenya's mission at the UN head office in Geneva, Switzerland.

There, she worked alongside officials from the International Labour Organization, World Health Organization and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization.

She took a brief sabbatical to pursue higher studies in the UK, before returning to diplomatic service in Geneva.

In 1997, Mohamed began serving as Legal Advisor to the Kenyan delegation at the UN Security Council.

Between 2000 and 2006, Mohamed worked as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative for the Kenya diplomatic mission in Geneva.

She was also the chairperson, coordinator and spokesperson for the African Group in the WTO's Human Rights Commission.

She was also a Member of the Executive Boards and Committees of the WIPO, ILO, WHO, UNCTAD, UNHCR and UNAIDS from 2001 to 2005.

In 2002, Amina married Khalid Ahmed, a fellow Somali to whom she credits a lot of her success.

The couple have two children and also care for four orphans.

Mohamed is multilingual, speaking her native Somali as well as English, Russian and Swahili, with a working knowledge of French.

In 2002, Mohamed acted as president of the Conference on Disarmament and was appointed the first female chairperson of the International Organization for Migration.

At the time, Kenya was the only African country included in the organization.

When approached for the chairmanship, Mohamed agreed to accept the candidacy only if the organization opened up to more African countries.

She chaired the Trade Policy Review Body in 2003, and served as the chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body in 2004.

In 2005, Mohamed became the first woman to chair the WTO's General Council.

Between 2006 and 2007, Mohamed acted as Director for both Europe and Commonwealth Countries as well as Diaspora matters for Kenya.

She also chaired the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs' Committee on Strengthening and Restructuring.

She was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs of Kenya from 2008 to 2011.

She served as the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Kenya from May 2013 to February 2018, when President Uhuru Kenyatta, after re-election, moved her to the Education docket.

In March 2019, she was moved to the Sports Ministry replacing Rashid Echesa.

The KNEC Director, George Magoha replaced her in the Education docket.