Attafuah appointed to serve on Liberian Commission

Accra, Jan. 13, GNA - Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, a professor in governance and leadership has been appointed by the United Nations to serve as a technical advisor of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia.

He is also to serve as a member of the Commission for a two-year period with effect from January 2006.

A statement to this effect copied to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday said Professor Attafuah's initial responsibility would be to assist in the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission of Liberia.

Professor Attafuah, currently an Associate Professor with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, would also be involved in the setting up of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

The statement said the mandate of the TRC would be to investigate the causes, nature and effects of the human rights atrocities committed in Liberia before and during the 13-year war that had destroyed that West African State.

The TRC would also "make recommendations for healing, reconciliation and rebuilding of Liberia". Under the law establishing the TRC, the United Nation's appoints nine expert of international repute while the ECOWAS appoints two members.

The UN and ECOWAS appointees would constitute the International Advisory Committee while the Liberian President appoints other members to the Commission but the international appointees would have all the rights and privileges of the full commissioners except the right to vote.

Professor Attafuah has served as a chief investigator and a director of operations of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice and subsequently, as its director of the Public Education and Anti-Corruption.

He is a lawyer, a criminologist and a sociologist by training and has extensive experience in the creation and capacity building of national institutions and civil society organisations for the promotion and protection of human rights.

Prof. Attafuah has to his credit a number of achievements, which include; assisted in the drafting of the legislation that created the Tanzanian Commission on Human Rights and Good Governance, participated in the training of the commissioners and key staff, provided training services for the human rights commissions of Malawi, Zambia and Ghana. He was a former Commissioner of Human Rights in the Province of British Columbia, Canada and adjudicated complaints of human rights violations and developed and implemented policies to prevent discrimination and to promote respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms.

With an extensive experience in conflict resolution, Prof Attafuah recently served as the Executive Secretary of Ghana's National Reconciliation Commission and is a recipient of the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to race relations in Canada and the prestigious Vancouver Multicultural Society's Distinguished Public Service award for outstanding contributions to and dedicated service in the promotion of human rights education and multiculturalism in British Columbia, Canada. Prof. Attafuah is a product of Jachie-Pramso Secondary School in the Ashanti Region; St Peter's Secondary School in the Eastern Region, the University of Ghana, Legon, the Ghana School of Law, the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada and Simon Fraser University. He is married with three children.