Emile Short
Emile Short recounts his experiences establishing the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice in Ghana from 1993 to 2004. He goes into detail about the strategies put into place to establish the commission while avoiding any politicization and patronage within this process. He recalls how he and others set up the commission with a triple mandate encapsulating human rights, ombudsman and anti-corruption activities, and how cases were selected and prioritized. The need for effective recruitment was essential in the initial stages, as well as the training that staff would receive initially, and continue to receive. He details the character of the individuals sought for the commission and the particular skills set that was required. Throughout, he explains the challenges that were encountered and how these were overcome.
Emile Short served as commissioner of Ghana's Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice from 1993 to 2004. Before that, he was head of a Ghanaian law firm for 20 years. He also served as a justice on the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He earned an LLM degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1967. He also received an honorary doctorate from Northwestern University in Illinois.