Nyari is a human rights lawyer, peace and security scholar and anti-torture expert. She has successfully led regional anti-torture advocacy work on the African continent with an unwavering commitment to amplifying the voices of local actors.
Nyari’s leadership in policy advocacy has resulted in significant victories at the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights on torture prevention and she has in this capacity addressed the First Committee of the UN General Assembly on behalf of the Global Civil Society Network that is leading a global campaign for a Torture-Free Trade Treaty. She is currently a Board Member of the South African Coalition for Transitional Justice (SACTJ), which deals with the “unfinished business” of the South African TRC, where she sits on the Anti-torture Committee.
Nyari worked as an Advocacy Specialist for the Centre for The Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), a South African NGO with a regional footprint. There, she undertook evidence-based policy advocacy at national, regional and global levels. She also led multi-country projects working with the African Union to implement the African Union Transitional Justice Policy in countries emerging from conflict by offering technical assistance to governments’. She has worked with Human Rights Defenders from the Horn of Africa and trained civil society in transitional contexts to support their national Transitional Justice processes.
She was the Project Director of the Refugee Rights Project at the University of Cape Town Law Clinic and The Head of Office at Durban for Lawyers for Human Rights, both of which worked as implementing partners of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in South Africa. She was awarded the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship run by the African Leadership Institute, Oxford University. She was awarded a Peace and Security Research Fellowship at King’s College, London where she specialized in Women, Peace and Security (WPS). She has published work on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 on WPS in the SADC (Southern African Development Community) Region.
She has extensive experience related to international human rights and development in Africa. She has worked as an international research consultant for UN Women, for the International Commission of Jurists, Sonke Gender Justice, and for The UNHCR Regional Liaison Office for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, among others.
She holds a BA in Industrial Sociology and Private Law, an LLB (Hons), and an LLM in International Public Law, specialising in International Human Rights Law & International Refugee Law, from the University of Cape Town.