Nicholas Opiyo, the founder and long-serving Executive Director of Chapter Four Uganda, has stepped down from his leadership role. He will hand over leadership to Anthony Masake, a long-serving staff member at the organization.

The new changes were confirmed by the Chapter Four Board Chairman Zahara Nampewo on Friday, February 7, 2025.

She applauded Opiyo’s visionary leadership in building a preeminent and principled human rights organization.

“It has significantly impacted the intellectual and practice landscape in the country,” Nampewo said.

Opiyo’s legal and advocacy work extends beyond Chapter Four. He was a member of the Team of Experts to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Peaceful Assembly and Association until 2017.

He is also a visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Centre for African Studies and the University of San Francisco’s Global Health Program. Additionally, he serves as the board chair of Action Aid Uganda and is a member of the Human Rights Advisory Board of BENETECH, a Silicon Valley-based human rights and technology firm.

Opiyo’s passion for human rights advocacy is deeply personal. Growing up in Gulu during the conflict between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), he witnessed war atrocities. Many of his friends and family members, including his sister, were abducted by rebels. His sister spent eight years in captivity before escaping.

A lawyer by training, Opiyo earned his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Uganda Christian University in 2004 and a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Centre, Kampala, in 2005.

He has received several prestigious awards, including the Human Rights Tulip Award (2021) and the German Africa Prize (2017).

In his statement, Opiyo expressed gratitude to his colleagues, the legal fraternity, and development partners, pledging his commitment to continuity in the human rights field.

“Since founding this organization, I have done my utmost to defend the fundamental human rights of all without discrimination. My human rights work will continue at a different address, which will be announced in due course,” he said.

His successor, Anthony Masake, now takes on the responsibility of leading Chapter Four Uganda into the future.