Dr Joseph Akanjolenur Whittal is a lawyer, a human rights advocate and governance leader who serves as the Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and Chair of its Governing Council with supervisory oversight of all functions of CHRAJ.
He was appointed Commissioner in December 2016, and he provides strategic leadership to the Commission and oversees the implementation of its constitutional mandates. He brings 36 years of professional experience spanning law, human rights protection, investigations, administrative justice, anti-corruption, public-sector accountability and institutional governance.
Dr. Whittal is a pioneer staff of the Commission having been appointed in 1994 as Upper East Regional Director and in 2008 as Director Legal and Investigations before his appointment as a Deputy Commissioner in 2012.
Commissioner Whittal has represented CHRAJ in national, regional and international governance and human-rights forums and has also contributed to regional and international human-rights dialogue through his engagement with key institutions including United Nations human-rights mechanisms, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR), the African Commission on Human and Peoples Right(ACHPR), the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the ECOWAS Community Court and international Ombudsman and National Human Rights Institution networks.
Commissioner Whittal holds a Doctor of Business Leadership from the prestigious NiBS University
In 2023 Dr. Whittal received the Human Rights Prize of the De Sanctis Foundation Award in recognition of his contribution to the protection and promotion of human rights in Africa.
Dr. Whittal served as President of the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI) from 2023-2026. He continues to serve as Chairman of NANHRIs Working Group (WG) on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. He equally served as Bureau Member of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) from 2023-2025.
He is a Past President of the Network of National Human Rights Institutions in West Africa (NNHR-WA) having provided regional leadership within the network of National Human Rights Institutions across West Africa from 2019-2025.
He presently serves as a Member of the Board of the Data Protection Commission (DPC) of Ghana and the National African Peer Review Mechanism (NAPRM)