Pierre Sané (born 1949) is the founder president of the Africa Institute. He was

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences from May 2001 to June 2010. He was Secretary General of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

from October 1992 to April 2001. Sané is one of

Progressive International Progressive International (PI) is an international political organisation that unites and mobilises Progressivism, progressive Left-wing politics, left-wing activists and groups. The organisation works with over 70 member groups. This comprises ...

's global cabinet.

Early life and education

Sané was born in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. For fifteen years prior to joining Amnesty International, he worked successively as Regional Controller, International Director of Policy and Budget, and Regional Director (West and Central Africa) of the

International Development Research Centre The International Development Research Centre (IDRC; , ''CRDI'') is a Canadian federal Crown corporation. As part of Canada's foreign affairs and development efforts, IDRC champions and funds research and innovation within and alongside developi ...

in Canada. He studied for a doctorate in Political Science at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

, Ottawa, Canada, and holds an M.Sc. in Public Administration and Public Policy from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, as well as being a qualified chartered accountant with an MBA from the École Supérieure de Commerce et d'Administration des Entreprises of Bordeaux, France. He has published on development and human rights issues.

Career

Pierre Sané joined

in 1988 and served as its Secretary General from October 1992 to 2001. In 1993, Pierre Sané led Amnesty International's delegation at the

World Conference on Human Rights The World Conference on Human Rights was held by the United Nations in Vienna, Austria, on 14 to 25 June 1993. It was the first human rights conference held since the end of the Cold War. The main result of the conference was the Vienna Declaratio ...

and at the UN World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. He addressed the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

in September 1997, briefing the members on the theme of human rights and armed conflict. This was followed by a meeting with a former UN Secretary-General,

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder a ...

. In 1998, he also addressed the Permanent Council of the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

(Washington), calling for a moratorium on the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. That same year, Pierre Sané led the campaign to mark the 50th anniversary of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...

. He presided over the Human Rights Defenders Summit in Paris in December 1998. He joined

in Paris as Assistant Director General (2001–2010). After retiring from the UN, he taught at the University of Kyoto (Japan) and the

University of Seoul The University of Seoul (UOS; ) is a municipal public university in Seoul, South Korea. UOS is famous in South Korea for a very large number of alumni working as national or municipal government officials in South Korea. UOS specializes in ur ...

(South Korea). He also has directed the IDRC Strategy for

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

Founding members

He was a founding member of the Pan-African Network for Artistic Freedom, a non-governmental organization, and a trustee and founding member of Frontline (Dublin). He is a member of the board and Chair of the Human Rights Working Group and is the Advisory Committee of UNU-CRIS. He founded the Imagine Africa Institute in 2011, an institute based in Paris and Dakar.

References

External links

Imagine Africa Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sane, Pierre Amnesty International people UNESCO officials Living people 1948 births Alumni of the London School of Economics Carleton University alumni Academic staff of Kyoto University Academic staff of the University of Seoul Senegalese activists Senegalese officials of the United Nations

Early life and education

Career

Founding members

See also

References

External links