NAME: Raymond C Sock

DATE OF BIRTH: 5th June 1946

MARITAL STATUS: Married with three children

Certificate in Legislative Drafting

Legislative Drafting

Australian Legislative Drafting Institute 1980 (March – December)
Canberra A.C.T., Australia

B.L. (Barrister at Law) (2.2)

Law

Inns of Court
School of Law, 1975 to 1978
Chancery Lane
London

MA

English literature

Pennsylvania State University, 1968 to 1970
U niversity Park
Penn, USA

Certificate in Communication

Communication

Fordham University
Bronx, New York, 1966
USA

B.A. (HONS)

English

Lewis and Clark College
1965 to 1968 Portland, Oregon, USA

Presently:

-Attorney General and Secretary of State for Justice

April 2000 - March 2005:

Solicitor General and Legal Secretary

1995 - 2000:

Private Practitioner: Sock and Bittaye Private Practitioners

1990 - 1995:

First Executive Director, African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies

1985 - 1990:

Solicitor General and Legal Secretary

1984 - 1985:

Acting Solicitor General and Legal Secretary

1983-1984:

Acting Registrar General, Ministry of Justice

1982 - 1983

Legal Draftsman, Ministry of Justice

1979 - 1982

State Counsel, Ministry of Justice

1973 - 1975

Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources

1972 - 1973

English Master, Armitage High School, The Gambia

1970 - 1972

English Instructor, Bidwell Cultural and Training Centre,
PittsBurge, Pennsylvania, USA

1968 - 1970

Teaching Assistant, Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, State College, Pennsylvania, USA

Contributor 'Dear Friends' Column: African Human Rights Newsletter, published by the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), Banjul The Gambia from January 1991 to March 1995.

Sock, Raymond: 'The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and the Management of African Penitentiary Institutions', ACDHRS; a paper delivered during the first Arab-African Seminar Openal Justice and Penitentiary Reform held in Tunis from 29th November to 2nd December 1991

Sock Raymond: 'Universalims and the Right to Development', Human Rights forum, Volume Four Issue Three, Fall Winter 1994 Published by the Canadian Human Rights Commission

Sock, Raymond: 'A discussion paper on the Legal Status of African Women vis-à -vis CEDAW and States Periodic Reports' ACDHRS; prepared for the Fifth African Regional Conference on Women; 13th to 23rd November 1994, Dakar, Senegal

Sock, Raymond: 'The Death Penalty and Exra Judicial Executions', ACDHRS First Regional Session orgnaised by the International Prison Watch on African Non-governmental Mechanisms for the Observation Alert and Protection of People in Prisons: Dakar, Senegal, 31st January to 3rd February 1995.

Several papers for courses and workshops organised by the ACDHRS, Banjul

Sock Raymond and Aminata Ngum – 'The Status of Married Women Under the Laws of the Gambia', ACDRS, 1998

Government representative at the Commonwealth Legal Experts Meeting on the Commonwealth Scheme for the Rendition of Fugitive Offenders, Malborough House, London

Government representative at the Berlin Conference on the Law Of The World

Consultancy with the technical assistance group of the C.F.T.C. for the preparation of the Petroleum (exploration and production) Bill and Supporting Regulations, London

Operation Crossroads Africa Grant for one month in U.S.A. under project entitled 'American Legal Institutions and Jurisprudence'

Observer at the first Commonwealth Judicial Conference held in Banjul, the Gambia

Member of the Gambian delegation to the 24th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the O.A.U. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Participant at the International Congress on Human Rights Teaching, Information and Document organised by UNESCO in Malta

Alternate head of the Gambian Delegation to the 44th Session of the U.N Commission on Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland

Legal Advicer on Senegambia Confederation and draftsman of confederal protocols

Member of the Board of Directors of the Gambia Women's Development Journal A.W.A.

Member of the Judicial Service Commission

Resource person, First Commonwealth Diplomatic Training Course at the Institution of Public Administration and Management, University of Sierra Leone

Observer - General Elections, Pakistan, as member of an international observers delegation sponsored by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, U.S.A.

Participant at a Conference on the Consolidation of Pluralistic, Democracy organised by CERDET and the Nation Endowment for Democracy (U.S.A.) – Dakar, Senegal

Observer at Conference on the 'Role and Function of the Opposition in Africa' Commonwealth Parliamentary Association ( The Gambia Branch) and Freidrich Ebert Foundation, Banjul

Participant at Conference on Human Rights in Post Apatheid South Africa jointly organised by UNESCO and the African Commission, Banjul

Observer – Presidential and Parliamentary Elections – Zambia – Commonwealth Observers Group.

Participant at the mid-year working session on International Negotiation Network – Conflict Resolution Program of the Cater Centre of Emory University, Dakar Senegal

Observer at Presidential Elections – Ghana - Cater Centre Group.

Leader of Technical Support Group for European observers, EC. ICJ – Kenya Elections

Participant, chair and member of the Bureau during the International Congress on Education for Human Rights and Democracy – UNESCO – Montreal, Canada

Participant at a seminar on Election Monitoring in Africa, Foreign and Commonwealth Office – London

Observer, IC/UN Team, presidential and parliamentary elections, Malawi

Resource person at the First African Seminar of the International Observatory of Prisons, Dakar, Senegal

Member of the Judicial Service Commission

Chairperson of the Governing Board of the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa

Participant at the 4th International Conference on New and Restored Democracies, Cotonou

Participant at the National Workshop on Developing the Role of the Ombudsman in the Gambia

Government representative at the Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity, The Hague, The Netherlands

Member of the Gambian Delegation to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit, Brisbane, Australia