Adèle Kirsten

Adèle Kirsten Adèle Kirsten has been a non-violent, social justice activist for more than 40 years in South Africa starting with her opposition to the injustice of the apartheid system. She is the founding Director of Gun Free South Africa (GFSA) and together with the Gun Control Alliance, played an important role in the passing of the Firearms Control Act in 2000. After leaving GFSA in 2002 she was appointed to several advisory boards, including the OECD Advisory panel on armed violence reduction. She is a published author with several papers/book chapters on strategies to reduce gun violence including her book on the history of GFSA, A Nation without Guns? The Story of Gun Free South Africa. She joined GFSA again in 2016 as its Director until March 2025.

From 2008 to 2010 she was Director of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation. In 2016 she was appointed to the Marikana Panel of Experts (one of 6 civil society members) by the President to provide input into and guide the review of the use of less-lethal weapons by the Public Order Police (POP) units in South Africa.

Adèle is affiliated with the SA Medical Research Council as a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Global Gun Violence and Health. In May 2026 she was awarded the prestigious National Order of Luthuli (in Bronze) by the President for her contribution to democracy, peacebuilding and human rights in South Africa.