By Ndefru Melanie in Bamenda
The percentage of human rights violations in the course of the ongoing crisis rocking the Northwest and Southwest regions is said to heighten by the day, but how to go about monitoring and reporting about these has been a huge challenge for some community leaders living in these hard hit zones.
CHRDA, The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) is an independent, nongovernmental, apolitical and non-profit making organization dedicated to the protection and advancement of human rights and the promotion of democracy as a political culture in Africa.
Legal minds and human rights experts took turns to demonstrate how important it is for participants in attendance to know the rights of Human Righters, as they themselves remain targets to actors in conflict.
“As one who fights for Human Rights, you must be aware of the laws, be principled, build networks, have a brand that defines you. All of these should be your back-up. Those who fight for Human Rights are always targeted, so it is important to set goals for your self security”, Sally Mboumien, Human Rights activist, CEO recommended.
CHRDA is engaging in different sensitive issues related to the advancement of Human Rights and Democracy via a series of projects, like that which they implemented from Thursday May 12 to Saturday 14, 2022 in Bamenda, seeking to foster research in these fields through the efforts of community leaders who acquire tools from experts on how to monitor, evaluate and report Human rights abuses.
Human Rights commonly violated during armed conflicts like in the case of the Northwest Region were the crisis has being ongoing for 5 years, was discussed at the session while citing examples. Experts like Gaby Ambo did his best to encourage these community leaders to document some of these violations.
Fokum Violet talked about the treatment of information, documenting or reporting Gender Based Violence – GBV cases. Practical examples demonstrated by participants who master the subject matter demonstrated with the use of a sketch for better understanding.
Human Rights Violations and GBV are some of the vices experienced during the ongoing armed conflict. The key actors in communities and journalists were reminded about the need to apply the Do No Harm Principle and build society, through constructive reports