A new executive officer has been appointed to the Human Rights Commission - after almost a year without anyone in the post.

Ayo Johnson, public affairs officer at the Department of Communication and Information and a former journalist at The Royal Gazette,will take on the role on June 12.

The position has been vacant since David Wilson handed his notice in last summer following a disciplinary hearing. He stepped down after Rod Attride-Stirling, then chairman of the HRC, called for jobs to be lost over its repeated failure to produce annual reports in compliance with the Human Rights Act.

Mr. Johnson, who was born in Sierra Leone to a Bermudian mother, worked for six years as a print journalist before becoming a civil servant two years ago. In the past he has produced a youth television series, served as a member of the board of directors of Amnesty International Bermuda and led human rights advocacy campaigns on the Island and in the UK.

Mr. Johnson, a member of the International Association of Business Communicators and the International Documentary Association, has an entrepreneurial background, having owned and managed a restaurant and a small tour operator in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and worked in independent film in New York City.

He completed a Georgetown University/University of Oxford joint programme in international human rights law, holds a diploma in computer technology from New York University and is currently pursuing studies in strategic communication management with the International Association of Business Communicators and graduate studies in sustainable development with Imperial College, London.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to serve in such an important institution in Bermuda,” he said. “I have met the commissioners briefly and some staff members. I know there is a lot of potential to do great things.”

Four outstanding HRC annual reports were finally tabled in the House of Assembly at the end of last year.

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