Florida Kabasinga

Ms. Kabasinga is the Founder and Executive Director of CERTA Foundation. As Managing Director of Certa Law Chambers, Florida and her team found themselves receiving and litigating cases of SRHR and gender-based violence pro bono. As a result of working closely with other national and international organisations in this field, including with Women’s Link Worldwide, Florida decided to start the Foundation to enable this work to be performed as part of the Law Firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility. Florida brings a wealth of experience both internationally and domestically. ‍

She has two-decade experience as a prosecutor and in private legal practice, including in strategic litigation and public interest litigation. She is also a certified mediator by the International Institute of Mediation and Conflict Resolution and a prolific arbitrator with Kigali International Arbitration Centre where she represented international and domestic clients, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Ms. Florida holds a Master of Laws (Magna cum Laude) in International Human Rights Law from the University of Notre Dame (Indiana, USA) and a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB Hons) from Makerere University (Kampala, Uganda). She has also received various trainings from prestigious institutions notably, the University of Pretoria, South Africa, Erasmus University, The Hague, Netherlands, and Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London. 

She has taught, at different times, International Criminal Law, Moot Courts and Common Law Litigation Principles and Techniques, among others, at different Universities in Rwanda and abroad, including at the Institute for Legal Practice & Development in Rwanda (ILPD). In addition to teaching, she is also a trainer where she regularly conducts training workshops for female advocates under the auspices of the Rwanda Bar Association aimed at inspiring and raising their capacity and profiles in the practice of law in Rwanda and in the East African Community. Ms. Florida has previously worked for the government of Rwanda as a Senior Legal Advisor to the Prosecutor General and the International Crimes Unit, National Public Prosecution Authority, Rwanda. 

Ms. Florida has extensive international experience as well, having worked at the Office of the Prosecutor, United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), as an Appeals Counsel, Assistant Appeals Counsel, and Case Manager. Ms. Florida is a member of the Rwanda Bar Association, the East African Law Society, the American Bar Association, the International Association of Prosecutors, and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators at the Kigali Arbitration Center. She speaks at various conferences on, among others, International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law all over the world, most recently in Washington DC, Michigan, Nairobi, and San Diego. She speaks three languages namely Kinyarwanda, English and Kiswahili.