Sidiki Kaba

Sidiki Kaba studied law. He has dedicated his professional career to the promotion and protection of human rights, particularly on issues related to freedom of press, women’s and political rights. He participated in the 1998 negotiations of the Rome Statute and thereafter he implemented numerous campaigns to promote the ratification of the Statute by Senegal and many other African countries. In 2001, he became the first African to be elected President of the International Federation of Human Rights, organization that he had previously represented to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights. He is founder of numerous legal and advocacy organizations.

Sidiki Kaba has lectured at the Ake Loba College of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, the Human Rights and Peace Institute of the University of Dakar, Senegal and at Evry Val d’Esson University, France.

Sidiki Kaba was elected as President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on 8 December 2014. His mandate would run from the thirteenth to the sixteenth sessions of the Assembly, from 2014 until December 2017. He succeeds Tiina Intelmann who held this position since December 2011.

Sidiki Kaba was appointed Minister of Justice of Senegal in 2013 by then Prime Minister Aminata Toure.

Sidiki Kaba was granted the titles of Chevalier of the National Order of the Lion of Senegal (2001), Officer of the Legion of Honor of France (2002), and Chevalier of the National Order of Mali (2011). He is Laureate of the Prize for the Promotion of the Culture of Democracy in Africa (awarded by the Pan African Observatory of Democracy in Togo, in 2003), and is an Honorary Citizen of Quito, Ecuador (2004),

From 1998 until 2001 he served as Vice-President of the International Federation of Human Rights Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme (FIDH), and as its President from 2001 until 2007. He is since 2007, honorary president of the FIDH. During his term as president, he represented the FIDH globally and among numerous regional organizations, including the United Nations, African Union, European Union, League of Arab States, Organization of American States, the International Criminal Court, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He was also the legal representative in communications concerning the case of Ely Ould Dah v Mauritania.

In 1995 he founded and presided the African Center for the Prevention of Conflicts − (Centre africain pour la prévention des conflits) (CAPREC), and the African Center for the study of human rights and democracy in Banjul (Centre africain pour les études des droits de l'Homme et de la démocratie) (ACDHRS).

From 1990 to 1997 he was the representative of the International Federation of Human Rights FIDH to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. In this capacity he presented numerous communications, investigations and advocated before the thematic and specialized mandates of the Commission.

From 1985 to 2000 he was member of the Board of the Bar of Senegal. From 1995 to 1997 he served as expert member of the Senegalese Committee of Human Rights. From 1987 to 1995 he was the Vice-president of the National Organization of Defense of Human Rights (l'Organisation nationale de défense des droits de l'Homme), the first defense organization in Senegal. He presided the ONDH from 1995 until 2001. In 1992 he founded and joined the board of the Inter-African Union of Human Rights (l'Union interafricaine des droits de l'Homme) (UIDH), regional organization based in Ouagadougou (Burkina-Faso).

In 1979 he joined the Senegalese section of Amnesty International. In 1982 he co-founded the Inter-African Union of Lawyers (Union interafricaine des avocats)

Sidiki Kaba attended the regional elementary school of Tambacounda, Senegal, and the Lycée Van Volhonoven (currently Lycée Lamine Gueye) in Dakar, graduating in 1972. He obtained three bachelor's degrees at the University of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire: in Law, in Philosophy and in Modern Literature. He also obtained a master in Business Law at the University of Dakar in Senegal, and was admitted to the Bar of Senegal in 1980.

Sidiki Kaba (born 21 August 1950 in Tambacounda, Senegal), is the keeper of the seals and the Minister of Justice of Senegal since 2013. On 8 December 2014, he was elected as President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as consensus candidate from the African States Parties and endorsed by the Bureau of the Assembly. He will serve as President of the Assembly, which operates from New York and The Hague, while also continuing his functions as Minister of Justice from Dakar.