JOSEPH AKANJOLENUR WHITTAL
COMMISSIONER
Mr. Joseph Akanjolenur Whittal, Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and Chair of the Governing Council with supervisory oversight of all functions of CHRAJ, was appointed Commissioner in December 2016.
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Whittal had since 2012 served as a Deputy Commissioner in charge of Legal and Investigations for the Commission. He first joined the Commission in 1994 as Upper East Regional Director, and was later appointed Director, Legal and Investigations at the Head Office between 2008 and 2012.
Commissioner Whittal who is currently the Chairman of the Working Group (WG) of the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the African Agenda 2063, is also the Vice Chairman of the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI), elected at the 13th Biennial Conference of the 44 Member Network of African Human Rights Institutions on the Continent.
Mr. Whittal is responsible for Coordinating International Co-operation with International Human Rights Organisations such as United Nations Special Procedures and Mechanisms: Special Rapporteur on thematic issues; Treaty-based Committees, Preparation of CHRAJ’s Independent Report on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to the Human Rights Council (HRC); and the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) of the National Human Rights Institutions; the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
His schedule also demands the Coordination of Regional Cooperation with the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR); African Court on Human Rights; ECOWAS Community Court; the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI), bilateral relations with other National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), International Cooperation with the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI); the African Ombudsman and Mediators Association (AOMA), and bilateral relations with other Ombudsman Institutions.
Mr. Whittal, a Doctoral Candidate at the Doctor of Business Leadership (DBL) of the prestigious Paris-based IPAG Business School/Nobel International Business School, has been elected Bureau Member (Member of the Governing Board) of the Geneva-based Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), representing the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions on the World Body.
Mr. Whittal has honoured speaking engagements within and outside Ghana on any of the triple mandates of the Commission: Human Rights, Administrative Justice and Anti-Corruption, as well as on general governance issues during conferences, workshops, seminars, among others.
He is a Member of the Board of the Data Protection Commission (DPC) of Ghana.
