Research Interest
- International Human Rights Law
- International Criminal Law and transitional justice
- Justice and Security sectors reform
- Digital rights
- Gender based violence
Noël Kabeya Ilunga is a human rights researcher and practitioner from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He pursues a Ph.D. in Law program at the University of Ottawa, under the guidance of Prof. Pacifique Manirakiza. His Ph.D. project focuses on the access to justice for victims of international crimes in post conflict contexts.
Noël Kabeya holds Master’s degree in Human Rights Law from University Grenoble Alpes in France (2017), an Advanced Diploma in International Humanitarian Law from the University Côte d’Azur (ex Nice Sophia Antipolis) in France (2010) and an equivalent of Bachelor in Law degree from the University of Kinshasa (2000).
He has been awarded scholarships to participate in summer courses and trainings in International criminal law, Human Rights law and Public International Law in Ethiopia (Hague Academy of International Law Summer Programme, 2005), France (International Institute of Human Rights, René Cassin, 2008), the Netherlands ( Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden Law School 2009 and Hague Academy of International Law, 2010), Austria (Salzburg Law School on International Criminal Law, Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law ,2011) and Switzerland (The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, 2023).
Between 2002 and 2008, he lectured full time at the Faculty of law of the Université Libre de Kinshasa (ULK) where he represented the faculty and trained the winning team of the 16th African Human Rights Moot Court Competition organised in Dakar, Senegal, by the Centre for Human Rights of the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria, in collaboration with Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis, Senegal (2007). On the sidelines of the Moot Court Competition, he participated in the One day conference on human rights in Africa with a presentation on the evolution, limits and challenges of the protection of human rights in Africa. He was a member of the Kinshasa/Gombe Bar Association in DRC from 2005 to 2008.
Since March 2009, Noël Kabeya serves as Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Law of the University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN). In this capacity, Mr. Kabeya was involved in international and collaborative research projects. He took part in the Conference on International Law and Human Rights litigation in Africa organized by the University of Lagos, Nigeria (2009).His contribution was l’application des traités internationaux relatifs aux droits de l’homme en droit congolais : état des lieux et perspectives.
In 2019, He joined the African Group on International Criminal Law, as well as the Rule of Law in the Great Lakes Region of Africa (Burundi, The DRC and Rwanda) financially supported by The Rule of Law Program for Sub-Saharan African of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. At the same time, Mr. Noël Kabeya was invited by CEDIDAC to the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, to deliver a scientific conference on the respect of humanitarian law using the armed conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a case study CONFÉRENCE SCIENTIFIQUE - CEDIDAC UNIL. Furthermore, Mr. Noël Kabeya has an extensive experience in the human rights field.
He was the Executive Director of the Congolese Institute of Human Rights, ICDH, for more than 10 years. ICDH is both a Congolese national human rights NGO and a human rights research Centre. Under his leadership, ICDH managed in good standing a 4 years subgrant from Internews as a local implementing partner of the Greater Internet Freedom project (GIF) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2020-2024).
The Greater Internet Freedom (GIF) project, a four-year USAID-funded initiative, run by Internews, stands as the largest global effort dedicated to advancing Internet freedom. It brought together a wide network of actors to enhance digital security for civil society, media organizations and vulnerable groups to advance human rights online.
From 2008 to 2024, he has worked with development cooperation organizations (RCN Justice & Démocratie, Tetra Tech, Deutsche Gessellschaft fûr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Diakonia, Democracy Reporting International, MSI/Tetra Tech) managing projects and programs to protect human rights, support civil society and strengthen the capacity of the Police and Justice institutions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.