Prof Luis Gabriel Franceschi, LLB, LL.M, LL.D is the immediate past Assistant Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations, an intergovernmental organisation of 56 countries, 2.7 billion people, one third of the world. He is a Kenyan Advocate and was the founding Dean of Strathmore University Law School, in Nairobi. As a thinker, educator and writer, he loves positive and disruptive innovation. His area of expertise focuses on innovation in legal education, judicial transformation, peace negotiations, and comparative constitutional law. He has published widely. He has been a legal advisor to several national and international government agencies, commissions and programmes, including international and regional courts, the United Nations and the World Bank. He co-drafted the UN Nairobi Declaration for the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme. Prof Franceschi likes cycling, running and mountain climbing and has reached Point Lenana, Mt Kenya (5000 Meters ASL) five times, Uhuru Peak on Kilimanjaro (5895 Meters ASL) and the Rwenzori Mountains circuit (Uganda-Congo).
-
(5 minutes) We ask Luis Franceschi, who has just stepped down as Assistant Secretary General of the Commonwealth, what this body actually does and whether it still has a meaningful purpose in the contemporary world. This is part one of a two-part article.