The newly appointed three-member National Human Rights Commission was sworn in before President James Michel in a short ceremony at State House yesterday morning.

This is in accordance with the Constitution of Seychelles whereby members of the Commission have to take the oath of allegiance and the oath of office before the President of the Republic.

Present at the ceremony were Vice-President Danny Faure, Chief Justice Fredrick Egonda-Ntende, President of the Court of Appeal Justice Francis MacGregor, deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Andre Pool, Attorney General Rony Govinden among other guests.

The National Human Rights Commission was first established in 2009 under the Protection of Human Rights Act for better protection and promotion of human rights in Seychelles. Its mandate is to investigate and act upon reports of human rights abuse in the country.

The Commission is chaired by the Ombudsman, with two other members of law and human rights’ background and experience appointed by the President, in consultation with the Chief Justice and the Speaker of the National Assembly.

As the current Ombudsman, Dora Zatte is automatically the National Rights Commission chairperson. The two other members are former Chief Justice Ranjan Perera and lawyer Farzana Jumaye.

Ms Zatte has said that apart from investigating human rights violation allegations, the Commission will during its tenure also concentrate on its promotion as well as educating the people more on human rights issues.

She added that as chairperson, she will try to overcome challenges which are mainly limited resources and lack of support from partners.

"For this forthcoming mandate, we expect to see a more dynamic National Human Rights Commission. I welcome the appointment of the two members, I am sure that we’re going to benefit from the expertise of Justice Perera who has served the judiciary for a long time and from Ms Jumaye as well, who has worked in the legal field,” said Ms Zatte.

"We hope within the coming years that we will see a greater degree of commitment towards the funding of the Commission’s activities. We intend to primarily deal with the allegations of human rights violations.... we have also other roles to play in educating and promoting human rights issues but for the time being our resources do not allow us to give maximum emphasis to all of these sectors, so we have to prioritise our resources to where it’s most crucial and that is in investigation of allegations and breaches,” she said.

The National Human Rights Commission has a four-year mandate.

 Justice Perera and Ms Jumaye

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