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Geneva street renamed for Annie Jiagge

The city of Geneva plans to rename a street in honor of Annie Jiagge, the first African woman to serve as president of the World Council of Churches, which has its headquarters in the city.

Jiagge, a Presbyterian from Ghana, became president of the WCC in 1975. A lawyer, she was also the first woman in Ghana to become a judge. From 1962 to 1972, Jiagge served on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, where she wrote the first draft of what would become the UN’s Declaration on the Elimination of Dis­crim­ination against Women.