The Honorable Adama Dieng assumed his position as United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2001 for a term of four years. He is currently serving his third term. Before joining the United Nations, Mr. Dieng was for ten years the Secretary General of the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists.  While holding that post, Mr. Dieng was appointed as the United Nations Independent Expert for Haiti (1995-2000). He also served in 1993 as Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General to Malawi to mediate between the Government and the pressure Groups.

Mr. Dieng authored many publications on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. He was the driving force behind the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and produced also the draft of the African Convention to fight Corruption. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, former Vice-President of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law and former President of the Geneva Special Committee of International Human Rights NGOs. Mr. Dieng is currently member of the Unesco Advisory Committee on Human Rights and Poverty and Member of the UNHCR Advisory Group of Eminent Persons. He led many fact-finding missions on Human Rights and Rule of Law and acted also on various occasions as Consultant for ICRC, African Union, European Commission, Unesco, OIF and the OHCHR.

Mr. Dieng is a well-acclaimed human rights expert and lecturer on issues relating to International Humanitarian Law, Criminal Justice, Electoral Law, etc. In the last 25 years, Mr Dieng has made a tremendous contribution to the fight against impunity as well as to the development of capacity building in the area of judicial and democratic institutions in many countries around the world, particularly in Africa. Mr. Dieng is a native from Senegal (West Africa) and he speaks many languages including French and English.