Cruz Melchor Eya Nchama (born 6 January 1945) is an Equatorial Guinean judge at the Court of Geneva. Justice Eya Nchama currently serves as a "judge assessor" at the ''Conciliation Commission for Leases and Rents'', which is where rental and lodging/housing matters are adjudicated. Prior to his current role, he was an elected Swiss politician. He is also a writer and well-known

Human Rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

activist within the international human rights community as well as being a prominent person within the Swiss/Geneva Canton. Eya Nchama studied at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loc ...

.Un guineano es elegido alcalde en el cantón de Ginebra
by J. M. Bacheng, El Periódico de Suiza, nr. 35, June 2005 (Spanish) He was head of the research department of the

Graduate Institute of Development Studies The Graduate Institute of Development Studies (GIDS, French language, French: ''Institut universitaire d’études du développement'', IUED) was a graduate school in Geneva, Switzerland focusing on development studies. Created in 1961 as the Insti ...

attached to the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

and an advisor to the Special Rapporteur of the

United Nations Commission on Human Rights The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006. It was a subsidiary body of ...

. He is head of the Anti-Racism Information Service (ARIS)Geneva Humanitarian Forum
While in exile in the early 1970s, Eya Nchama
J.B. Mbia Mbida Essindi
and others founded the ANRD (''Alianza Nacional por la Restauración Democrática de Guinea Ecuatorial''), which would be the main opposition to the Equatorial Guinean dictatorship. He was a fervent opponent of Macías Nguema, succeeding in 1976 in breaking the forced silence on the subject by then fascist

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

government, presenting a detailed report to the UN Human Rights Commission. After the fall of Macías Nguema and the succession by Obiang in September 1979, he coined the phrase "it's the same dog with a different collar", which gained him considerable notability. Some years after his naturalisation, Eya Nchama was appointed head of the municipal council of

Grand-Saconnex Le Grand-Saconnex () is a municipality of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the ...

near

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, being the first black person to reach such a position in Switzerland.

Works (selection)

* ''Développement et droits de l’homme en Afrique'', édition Publisud, Paris, 1991 * ''El mundo en los acrósticos, y otros temas'', Pentalfa, Oviedo, 2001 * ''Misceláneas Guineo Ecuatorianas 1: del estado colonial al Estado dictatorial'' with Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel et al., Editorial Tiempos Próximos, Madrid, 2001

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nchama, Cruz Melchor Eya 1945 births Living people 21st-century Equatoguinean politicians Swiss writers Complutense University of Madrid alumni Equatoguinean emigrants to Switzerland 20th-century Swiss politicians 21st-century Swiss politicians 21st-century Swiss judges People from Centro Sur