By DOH JAMES SONKEY IN YAOUNDE
The UN has called on the Cameroon Government to ensure that minority populations like Anglophones are considered in the sharing of posts in the public service. The call, amongst others was made last April 20, 2017 by the Director of the United Nations Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa, Ahowanou Agbessi during the validation workshop of the 22nd and 23rd Reports by Cameroon on the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination organized in the conference room of the Ministry of Justice in Yaoundé. The UN official used the occasion to reiterate the support of their centre for all actions geared towards the implementation of human rights in Cameroon. Cameroon was also urged to deposit its report on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination on time on the table of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Chairing the workshop on behalf of Minister of State for Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice, George Gwanmesia pledged Cameroon’s commitment to make sure its human rights reports are deposited on time as soon as they are ready. Cameroon is obliged to deposit this periodic report on the UN Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination latest July 2017.
After listening to three exposes, participants drawn from the Ministry of Justice, other administrations, independent institutions, the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms, Civil Society Organizations and the UN Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa adopted the following recommendations; that government should take measures to limit rural exodus of pigmies often displaced by 3rd persons for exploitative reasons, a national observatory be created specifically to handle discrimination problems, that civil society and international organizations evaluate the pilot education project in Baka language of the East region supervised by Plan International to see if it meets the cultural and local development preoccupations of the pigmies, that minorities in the country like Anglophones be considered in the sharing of posts in the public service, the promotion of bilingual education etc.
It should be recalled that the Mbororos and Pigmies are the two minority indigenous populations in Cameroon reported to be facing a lot of challenges.