By SAH TERENCE ANIMBOM
In a bid to bring an end to the many human rights abuses that exists within communities in the North West Region of Cameroon, the Center for Human Rights and Peace Advocacy, CHRAPA in partnership with the US Embassy in Cameroon on Sunday, October 20, 2019 inaugurated a community paralegal center in Mbelem, a community in Nkwen Fondom, Bamenda III sub division.
According to the project coordinator for CHRAPA, Tata Nelson, “a paralegal center in a community is like a clinic for persons whose basic human rights are violated. Violations like rape, torture, deprivation, discrimination and many others abound in many communities and very often people who perpetrate them go unpunished. Also people whose basic rights are violated do not know what to do or where to go to so as to seek justice. This center will therefore be that clinic for all persons whose rights are violated. It is important to note that the people whose rights are violated the most are women and children as well as persons living with disabilities”.
CHRAPA officials in front of Paralegal Center
In a bid to understand the exact functioning of the center, community members among the close to 40 men and women that attended the inauguration ceremony took turns to pose questions in order to get clarifications on some of their basic worries.
Awantoh Merilinda, a women’s leader in Mbelem appreciated CHRAPA and the US Embassy for thinking of their community to benefit from such a project. “A lot of things have been happening in our community that we could not handle and it was really making us feel like we were living in an uncivilised society. We have been having cases of rape, torture, battering, child labour and other ills that are not good for human existence. I believe that just the presence of this center in our community will serve as a deterrent to those who may even have been thinking or may think of violating the rights of persons in this community” she said.
The quarter head of Mbelem community, Tamta Ngu John praised the effort by CHRAPA and the US embassy in Cameroon and said it is a center that will not only serve the Mbelem community or Nkwen Community but will serve even neighbouring communities like Bambui and Babanki in Tubah sub division. He said by the inauguration of the center, he is sure that vices like rape and torture will disappear from his community.
Justifying the creation of the center in a community like Nkwen, George Nkwain, the paralegal officer for CHRAPA explained that CHRAPA had been receiving a lot of complaints from the community on human rights violations and thought that the creation of a paralegal center that will enable the community handle its own affairs with CHRAPA as a partner will bring an end or at least reduce the rate of human rights violations in the community. “The willingness of the Nkwen community and their support towards the project to promote access to justice for the common man through paralegal services is also the reason why we are at this level of the project in this community today” he said.
Receiving a computer, a table, chairs and T-Shirts from CHRAPA that will enable the paralegal officer of the community run the center together with his chosen team, the Mbelem people in particular and Nkwen people in general are poised to become whistle blowers against any acts of human rights violations.