Emile Short birthday marks a significant day Today

Ghanaian judge and academic and the first Commissioner on Human Rights and Administrative Justice in Ghana, Emile Francis Short celebrates his birthday today.

Life

Short started his legal career in Sierra Leon, where he was appointed as a state attorney in 1968 after teaching briefly at Middlesex Polytechnic in London, United Kingdom. He started his legal practice in Ghana in 1974 and headed Max-Idan Chambers in Cape Coast. He lectured at the University of Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana and He also served as a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, and the Carter Center in the United States.

He was appointed the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice in Ghana at the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1993 by President Jerry Rawlings.

In 2004, President Kufour granted him leave of absence from his position at CHRAJ to serve as a Judge with the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda at Arusha, Tanzania after he had been elected to that position by the United Nations General Assembly. The Tribunal was set up to determine the guilt or innocence of persons charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Rwanda in 1994. He returned to his position at CHRAJ in August 2009. He retired in November 2010.

In 2005 he was granted an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree by Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois for his leadership role in the operation of CHRAJ. In 2008 he was awarded the Officer of the Volta in Ghana during the Ghana National Awards for excellence in human rights administration.