Adama Dieng

Who is Adama Dieng?

Adama Dieng is the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide and former board member of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and a former registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Adama Dieng holds degrees in Law from Dakar University and in International Law from the Research Centre of The Hague Academy of International Law. His legal career started in Senegal where he held several positions before becoming registrar of Supreme Court of Senegal and, from 1976 to 1982, personal assistant to its President. He then served as Legal Officer of Africa for the International Commission of Jurists from 1982 to 1989, Executive Secretary and Secretary-General from October 1990 to May 2000.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed him in January 2001 as the Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He has worked as a consultant for many international organizations including UNITAR, the Organisation of African Unity, the Ford Foundation, UNESCO, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. He is a council member of the Observatoire Panafricain de la Démocratie, a member of the executive committee of Africa Leadership Forum and a board member of the International Institute of Human Rights. Dieng strongly criticized the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam.