The government proposed ten candidates for the seven posts on the Commission. The candidates were then elected by the National Assembly.

Of the seven elected, one, the commission's president, previously served as head of a small human rights organization based in Belgium and another headed a women's association in Rwanda that did considerable work in human rights. The others came from governmental posts or positions linked to the Rwandan Patriotic Front. One commissioner was formerly a high ranking officer in the Rwandan Patriotic Army and served for sometime as its liaison to the foreign press before becoming editor of a semi-official newspaper.

The Commission's president has the rank of minister and the other commissioners are considered the equivalent of secretaries-generals of ministries. The head of the Commission secretariat will also enjoy the rank of secretary-general of a ministry. Although personally responsible for their acts, commissioners cannot be held in preventive detention and can appear in justice through proxies. They cannot be sued or prosecuted for opinions expressed in the exercise of their duties. They are subject to the Supreme Court, not to ordinary trial chambers. This last provision of the law drew criticism from some of the participants in the October conference who saw it as setting Commission members above other citizens in relation to the law. Commissioners may not hold any other post at the time of their service on the Commission and receive government salaries.

Each commissioner is charged with one of the divisions of the work of the Commission: civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development; legislation and conflicts; research and development; education and consciousness-raising; partnerships and liaisons with other institutions. The president oversees the work of all six divisions.

The Commission foresees providing each commissioner with three staff assistants in the immediate future and anticipates employing more than one hundred persons by the end of the year 2000.