Cameroon Commemorates Rights Day
The National Commission for Human Rights and Freedoms piloted the affairs that marked the celebration of the day in Yaounde.
Cynthia EFOPA
Cameroon on December 10th, 2018 joined the international community to commemorate the seventy edition of the International Day of Human Rights under the theme, “All united for human rights”. In Cameroon, the National Commission for Human Rights and Freedoms organized a conference at the Yaounde National Advance School of Administration and Magistracy to reiterate the necessity to protect the rights of migrants.
The socio-political crises in the restive North West and South West Regions have ignited a wave of migrants, be it Cameroonians who have run to Nigeria as refugees, or to other regions of the country as internally displaced persons. The devastating consequences of the activities of the sect Boko Haram in the Far North Region that has rendered some Cameroonians homeless or have forced some Nigerians to seek refuge in some localities of Cameroon did not make things better. The Minawaou refugee camp is a concrete example. The East Region too, is not left out as it serves as host town to refugees fleeing the sectarian crises in Central Africa. All these security challenges within and without have forced people to move. It is on the sidelines of this increase in forced movements in and out of the country and the challenges the people face in integrating new society, that the chairperson for the National Commission for Human Right and Freedoms, Dr Chemuta Divine Mbanda, laid more emphasis on the respect of the rights of this set of persons.
The chairman of the Commission regretted that most people fleeing their homes to elsewhere are maltreated, brutalized, tortured and killed at times, this is especially common with women and children who are often the most hit during crises. Children are deprived from their inalienable right to education and health and are forcefully recruited as conscripts into armed groups while women and girls are raped and suffers abuses of all sorts.
As a solution to remedy the situation, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Human Rights and Freedoms called on all persons to work to promote legal, political, economic and security conditions for a good resumption to social life, where every citizen regardless of social needs will feel respected and have access to basic needs that can enable his or her participation in the development of the nation. This he said calls for everyone to work for peace by breaking down foundations of division and hatred.
