The Joyful mysteries

AGED two and barely able to walk, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo was on the run.

In 1968, civil war had plunged Nigeria into chaos. Ngozi Ezeilo has no memory of then, but her parents told her that she knew the sounds of shells and bombs and would scream when she heard incoming ones.

Ezeilo is one of her country’s most forceful advocates for the rights of women. At 47, she’s the mother of three children, a woman with a big, contagious laugh, but no time for nonsense: she looks at problems — and the people who create them — straight on. As the United Nations special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, with a focus on women and children, she has global reach in the fight against slavery. She’s a distinguished academic, but her firsthand experiences of suffering fuel her passion.