The Carter Center has announced that former U.S. Ambassador Cameron Hume will lead the Center’s international election observation mission in Sierra Leone.
“The June 24, 2023, elections will be an important moment for Sierra Leone, as they provide a critical opportunity for the citizens and leaders of the country to demonstrate their commitment to peaceful and democratic elections,” Hume said. “I call on all political parties, candidates, and their supporters to participate peacefully and to adhere to their commitments in the Electoral Pledge. I am pleased to lead the Carter Center mission to observe this important election.”
The Carter Center has had a core team of electoral experts and a group of medium-term observers in Sierra Leone since early May. Hume and the Carter Center’s delegation of short-term observers are arriving in Freetown this week to meet with key stakeholders, including political party candidates, organizations, government officials, civil society organizations, and other international and citizen domestic observer missions.
The Carter Center mission will deploy election observers for polling, counting, and tabulation on election day.
The Carter Center is observing Sierra Leone’s elections at the invitation of the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone. The Carter Center conducts its work in accordance with the 2005 Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation and will make any assessments based on relevant parts of Sierra Leone’s national legal framework as well as regional and international obligations for democratic elections.
The Carter Center has been a force for peace in Sierra Leone since 2002, when it observed the first presidential and parliamentary elections since the end of Sierra Leone’s devastating civil war. Since then, The Carter Center has played a role in the country’s 2007, 2012, and 2018 national elections.
Cameron Hume served as Ambassador to Algeria, to South Africa, and to Indonesia, as well as charge d’affaires to the Sudan. He was a member of the Foreign Service for 40 years, with earlier tours at the United Nations and in Italy, the Holy See, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Syria. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Libya.
For a year he was a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Center for International Affairs and subsequently a visiting scholar at the U.S. Institution of Peace. He has published three books and numerous articles on foreign policy.
He now teaches at Georgetown University and is a member of NOAA’s Ocean Exploration Advisory Board. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the bar associations of New York and the District of Columbia.
The Carter Center is a not-for-profit, nongovernmental organisation. It has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care.
The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.
