New Human Rights Commissioners Appointed

Following the amendments to the Human Rights Act 1981 (the Act), which were enacted on October 26, 2012, an independent Selection and Appointment Committee was appointed to recruit and appoint up to twelve Commissioners.

The newly appointed Commissioners will serve for three-year terms and will be responsible for adjudicating complaints of discrimination. They will also serve as educators and advocates in the promotion and protection of human rights.

The Selection and Appointment Committee was tasked with constituting a diverse and representative Commission by overseeing a public recruitment process. This is the first time that a public application process has been implemented to populate the Human Rights Commission. In accordance with the Act, one-third of the twelve-person Commission must possess legal qualifications; the other two-thirds may be drawn from the general population.

Mr. William Madeiros, the Chairman of the Selection and Appointment Committee, said, “We received a significant amount of interest from the public to serve on the Human Rights Commission. Although we had only twelve positions to fill, we received over 120 applications.

“While this made our job more difficult, it also allowed us to construct a very competent and capable Board. The truth is, we were overwhelmed by the quality of all the applicants – we had a tremendously difficult time in narrowing down the candidates from such a robust group of applicants.”

Mr. Madeiros also stated that, “The recruitment process clearly identified the tremendous amount of interest in human rights as evidenced by the many talented and engaged advocates working in the community.” He encouraged those who applied to stay connected to the work of the Human Rights Commission, and to continue collectively working and being involved in opportunities which promote, protect and advance human rights and equality for all.

The Selection and Appointment Committee [pictured above] was comprised of the Mr. William Madeiros (Head of the Committee), Mr. Cole Simons, Ms. Simone Smith-Bean, Mr. Doug Soares and Ms. Wanda Richardson (Deputy Head).

The twelve Human Rights Commissioners are:

• Michael Hanson (Chair)
• Kim Simmons (Deputy Chair)
• Donna Daniels
• Pamela Fowkes
• Darcy Gimas
• Richard Horseman
• Jens Juul
• Kai Musson
• Naomi Schroter
• Louis Somner
• Tawana Tannock
• Millard Thompson

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