A/HRC/19/49 independence and include a sanctions/justice dimension, others would prefer to forgive and forget. A draft programme for national reconciliation was submitted to the Prime Minister in February 2011. OHCHR participated in the technical committee in charge of reflecting on national reconciliation and facilitated a mission by the committee to Ghana and Togo to gather experience. The President has taken certain measures to advance the process. In June 2011, he created the Commission de réflexion sur la réconciliation nationale; in August, he appointed the Imam of the Conakry Fayçal Mosque and the Archbishop of Conakry as cochairpersons of a provisional national reconciliation commission. 32. The structure of the provisional national reconciliation commission has not been clearly defined, although the commission has been mandated to reflect and make proposals on how to achieve reconciliation. OHCHR advised the co-chairpersons to start their work with consultations in order to collect peoples’ opinions on how the process should be carried out. The Office also proposed that they take into consideration an approach that guaranteed the protection of victims and witnesses. The commission has started with consultations. The provision of funds by the Peacebuilding Fund, including for the operation of the commission, will enable it to accelerate consultations and the preparatory work for the transitional justice process. OHCHR had several meetings with the members of the commission and offered its technical assistance to them. B. Establishment of a national human rights institution 33. Among the recommendations made at the eighth session of the universal periodic review was that Guinea should establish an independent national human rights institution in accordance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles). Although Guinea initiated the process of creating a national human rights institution in 2008 when it established the National Democracy and Human Rights Monitoring Body (Observatoire national de la démocratie et des droits de l’homme) under the supervision of the Prime Minister’s Office, the institution remained understaffed and underresourced, and was not empowered to investigate human rights violations. 34. On 17 March 2011, the President appointed, by decree, Mamadi Kaba as President of the proposed national human rights commission. Civil society organizations criticized the appointment for contravening the requirement of the Paris Principles for an inclusive process for the selection of the members of a national human rights institution. The appointment was subsequently revoked by a decree, which also effectively dissolved the National Democracy and Human Rights Monitoring Body. 35. In July, the Conseil national de transition adopted draft legislation setting up a national human rights commission. The bill was sent to the President for review, and is pending final adoption and promulgation. During this period, OHCHR organized a workshop to sensitize actors on the establishment of an independent national human rights institution. Participants reviewed the bill at the workshop and made recommendations to improve it; to clarify the procedure for mobilizing and managing resources; to clarify the selection, appointment and removal of members of the national human rights institution; and to redefine the powers of the President of the institution. At the time of writing, no further move had been made by the Government on this issue. C. Integration of human rights into security sector reform 36. The security services, including the police, gendarmes and the military, have been implicated in the most serious human rights violations committed in Guinea between May 10

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