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Protectors or Pretenders? - Government Human Rights Commissions in Africa, HRW Report 2001

Senegal








Overview

Summary

International Standards: The Paris Principles

Important Factors

Examining the Record in Africa

Innovative and Positive Contributions by Commissions

Regional Iniatives

The Role Of The International Community

Conclusion

Recommendations

Abbreviations

Acknowledgements




Staffing and Appointment Procedures

    The reform of the law stressed broad and pluralistic participation. The result is a committee of twenty-four voting members, the majority of whom come from civil society, in addition to five non-voting members named by the administration. There are no salaries for members. In addition, the CSDH may bring in outside figures at its discretion. The breakdown is as follows:

    147. eight representatives from human rights and humanitarian NGOs;
    148. three national assembly members;
    149. two representatives from women's organizations;
    150. two union representatives;
    151. one member from the economic and social council;
    152. one member from the conseil constitutionnel (constitutional court);
    153. one member from the conseil d'etat (council of state);
    154. one member from the cour de cassation (highest appeal's court);
    155. one member of the bar association;
    156. one member from the office of the mediator;
    157. one member from the high council of radio and television;
    158. one from the university;
    159. one from the university Institute for Human Rights and Peace;
    160. and five non-voting administration staff.

    Members are selected by the institutions or groups to which they belong. Though there exists no formal process for determining which NGOs will participate in choosing members, there were no major disputes in 1997. The possibility of problems remains, however, in the event that selection becomes more contentious in the future. Members are elected for a period of four years. The current members were elected in May 1997. If members lose the status that entitled them to election during their term, they are replaced. (Article 6)

    The president of the CSDH has insisted on a simple management structure for the CSDH. In addition to the president, who is named by decree, the members elected a "coordinator," Malik Sow, a sitting judge in Dakar, who was actually selected by an NGO. Judge Sow plays the primary role of overseeing the operations of the CSDH and the small secretariat. The CSDH has only recently acquired a permanent space and while it plans for a staff of ten, including three jurists and an office head, the current staff includes only two professionals, one jurist and a librarian/archivist

    In its internal regulations, the CSDH established three Working Commissions, covering "Organization," "Promotion," and "Protection." Each commission elected a "rapporteur" who presides over the commission and one or more deputies. The rapporteur for the Commission on Protection, Miereille Ndiaye, is a judge from the highest appeals court, the cour de cassation. Her deputies are from a human rights NGO and the public mediator's office.

Human Rights Watch World Report 2001

Africa: Current Events Focus Pages

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Countries


Benin

Cameroon

Chad

Ghana

Kenya

Liberia

Malawi

Mauritania

Nigeria

Rwanda

Senegal

Sierra Leone

South Africa

Sudan

Togo

Uganda

Zambia


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