Célia Posser
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Célia Posser
| office = Secretary of State for Public Administration and Social Communication
| honorific-prefix =
| honorific-suffix =
| image = Célia Pósser VOA.png
| predecessor =
| primeminister = Maria do Carmo Silveira
| successor =
| office2 = President of the bar association
| predecessor2 =
| successor2 =
| party =
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| citizenship =
| nationality = São Tomé and Príncipe
| image_size =
| term_start = 2005
| term_end = 2006
| term_start2 = March 2017
| term_end2 =
| relatives =
| education =
}}
Célia Posser is a lawyer and politician in São Tomé and Príncipe. She served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Maria do Carmo Silveira between 2005 and 2006 as Secretary of State for Public Administration and Social Communication. After leaving the government she remained in the country to continue to work as a lawyer and was elected head of national bar association in March 2017.
Career
Célia Posser served as Secretary of State for Public Administration and Social Communication between 2005 and 2006 in the X Constitutional Government of São Tomé and Príncipe under Prime Minister Maria do Carmo Silveira.{{cite thesis |last=Sequeira |first=Victória Cecília Almeida |title=A situacao das mulheres na sociedade santomse |type=Bachelor's thesis |publisher=Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul |url=https://www.lume.ufrgs.br/bitstream/handle/10183/26404/000758545.pdf?sequence=1 |access-date=11 November 2017 |hdl=10183/26404 |page=36 |language=pt |archive-date=19 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819183656/http://www.lume.ufrgs.br/bitstream/handle/10183/26404/000758545.pdf?sequence=1 |url-status=dead }}{{better source needed|date=March 2023}} During her time in government she began the privatisation of the state-owned radio and television stations and also awarded the nation's first two private radio station broadcast licenses.{{cite news|title=Governo vai reestruturar rádio estatal face à liberalização do sector |date= 21 February 2006|url=http://www.noticiaslusofonas.com/view.php?load=arcview&article=13366&catogory=Cabo+Verde|access-date=11 November 2017|work=Noticias Lusofonas|language=pt-PT}} Posser was also a representative of São Tomé and Príncipe in 2005 negotiations with Angola to improve cooperation in defence, transportation, fisheries and communications and to discuss forgiveness of $21 million of debt owed to Angola.{{cite news|title=São Tomé e Príncipe quer perdão da dívida de USD 21 milhões|url=http://www.angop.ao/angola/pt_pt/noticias/politica/2005/10/48/Sao-Tome-Principe-quer-perdao-divida-USD-milhoes,4b4907db-f446-4583-9184-762eb97e7382.html|access-date=11 November 2017|work=ANGOP|date=28 November 2005|language=PT-PT}} She has also served as president of the island state's Supreme Press Council (the press regulator).{{cite web|title=Annuaire des Instances Francophones de Régulation de la Communication|url=http://haca.ma/refram/Doc%20REFRAM/Annuaire%20Refram.pdf|publisher=Réseau Francophone des Régulateurs des Médias|language=fr|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617130054/http://www.haca.ma/refram/Doc%20REFRAM/Annuaire%20Refram.pdf|archive-date=2012-06-17}}
Posser has worked as a lawyer in São Tomé and Príncipe since 2007.{{cite news|title=Célia Posser toma posse hoje como Bastonária da Ordem dos Advogados|url=https://www.telanon.info/sociedade/2017/03/24/24016/celia-posser-toma-posse-hoje-como-bastonaria-da-ordem-dos-advogados/|access-date=11 November 2017|work=Téla Nón|date=24 March 2017|language=pt-PT}} She has also been president of the Human Rights and Gender Platform, a private human rights organisation based in the country.{{cite web|title=Assessment of Development Results – Sao Tome and Principe|url=http://www.st.undp.org/content/dam/sao_tome_and_principe/docs/Operation/undp_st_ADR_SaoTome_Principe_FR_2015.pdf|publisher=United Nations Development Programme|access-date=11 November 2017|archive-date=7 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207193001/http://www.st.undp.org/content/dam/sao_tome_and_principe/docs/Operation/undp_st_ADR_SaoTome_Principe_FR_2015.pdf|url-status=dead}} Posser is a member of the Association of Women Lawyers.
Posser was elected president of the São Tomé and Príncipe bar association in March 2017 for a four-year term. She is the second woman to hold the position. Posser promised to ensure that the country's lawyers would promote justice and uphold human rights. She was elected at a difficult time for the judicial system, when court proceedings were on hold owing to strikes by court officials and public prosecutors.
In her role as bar association president Posser has warned of the dangers of a top-down restructure of the court system by President Evaristo Carvalho.{{cite news|last1=ALFA|first1=Grupo|title=São Tomé e Príncipe: Novo ano judicial com "reformas profundas" na agenda -|url=http://anacao.cv/2017/06/27/sao-tome-principe-novo-ano-judicial-reformas-profundas-na-agenda/|access-date=11 November 2017|publisher=A Naca|date=27 June 2017|language=pt-PT|archive-date=12 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171112184937/http://anacao.cv/2017/06/27/sao-tome-principe-novo-ano-judicial-reformas-profundas-na-agenda/|url-status=dead}} She also announced, on 18 October, that lawyers in the country would be ceasing pro bono work they had long been undertaking for the poorest citizens of São Tomé and Príncipe. They had previously worked for free and paid the expenses of the court staff from bar association funds. The arrangement was withdrawn in the hope that the government would introduce a proper legal aid system to allow access to justice for all.{{cite news|title=Advogados suspendem defesas oficiosas por falta da contribuição do Estado|url=http://www.stp-press.st/d10.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171113130501/http://stp-press.st/d10.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 November 2017|access-date=11 November 2017|work=STP Press|date=18 October 2017|language=pt}}
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Posser, Celia}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:São Tomé and Príncipe women lawyers
Category:São Tomé and Príncipe lawyers
Category:Government ministers of São Tomé and Príncipe
Category:Women government ministers of São Tomé and Príncipe
Category:21st-century São Tomé and Príncipe politicians
Category:21st-century São Tomé and Príncipe women politicians