Monrovia, Liberia – The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr., has received praise from the Chairperson of the Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR), Cllr. T. Dempster Brown, for his assistance and support in the nomination of Cllr. Pela Boker Wilson as a candidate for membership on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
In a communication dated June 26, 2023, addressed to Liberia’s Foreign Minister, Amb. Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr., Cllr. T. Dempster Brown stated “Honorable Kemayah: I am pleased to present sincere compliments and extend thanks and appreciation for the acceptance of the nomination of Cllr. Pela Boker Wilson as a candidate for membership to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
He said that Cllr. Wilson was successfully elected as an Independent Expert to the CERD for a four-year term during the 30th meeting of State parties with strong backing from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs working in coordination with Liberia’s Permanent Mission to the UN.
“Under the flagship of the Republic of Liberia, Cllr. Wilson obtained a total of 130 votes, out of the 90 votes required, and from a pool of 186 state parties”, the communication stated.
In the letter, Cllr. T. Dempster Brown expressed his happiness over the nomination and added, “As Liberia celebrates this success, kindly permit me to extend sincere thanks and appreciation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its acceptance of the nomination made by the Independent National Commission on Human Rights, as well as the support extended for the elections.”
It is recalled that the Inspector General of the Liberia National Police (LNP), Col. Patrick T. Sudue, gave Minister Kemayah a similar honor in appreciation for his part in initiating the steps, while serving as Liberia’s ambassador to the UN, that resulted in the acceptance of Liberia’s contribution of the police force to the UN’s peacekeeping mission.
In January 2020, the first group of Liberian Police Peacekeepers on a UN peacekeeping operation was sent to South Sudan.
Col. Sudue explained how then-Liberia’s ambassador to the UN, now Foreign Minister Kemayah, invited him to New York in December 2018 as part of his campaign to have Liberian police officers serve in UN peacekeeping deployments.
Col. Sudue noted that at that meeting, Minister Kemayah gave him the chance to see the UNPOL officer in command, where the protocols for the Liberian police on UN peacekeeping deployments were underlined. According to him, it was agreed that LNP officers would be sent on a UN peacekeeping deployment.
