Capacity Building Workshop:

Bilingualism Commission Reviews Strategy to Roll Back Discrimination
By Mercy Neba in Yaounde

Members of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, NCPBM, have reinforced their knowledge and capacity to roll back all forms of discrimination in the country.
    Commission members and officials underwent a training at a two-day capacity building workshop in Yaounde that ran from 8 to 9 August.
    Organized by the NCPBM in partnership with the UN Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa, UNCHRD-CA, the workshop also had as participant the Secretary General of the NCPBM, Dr. Chi Asafor.
   
    “There is no gainsaying that the workshop which is about to start, is coming at the right time, for the following reasons: First of all, it falls in line with one of the missions assigned to the commission which consists in receiving and processing petitions denouncing discrimination based on language or culture, so as to render account thereof to the President of the Republic. This confirms the fact that Cameroon is always in line with the 1948 Universal Declarations of Human Rights and several other international legal instruments that promote Human Rights,” said Mafany Musonge in his opening statement..
    He noted that the workshop will help the commission members and the SG to acquire the requisite knowledge and skills to identify the various forms of discrimination; internalize the legal instruments that will enable the structure to gradually stamp out discrimination in Cameroon and be able to prevent its resurgence in future.
    “It will also help the NCPBM to better carry out the ‘listen-to-the-People’s’ mission planned for the weeks ahead, a key component of which will be devoted to the fight against hate speech in which some of our misguided compatriots take delight, especially on the social media, thus compromising the peace and national Unity that the founding fathers of our dear and beautiful country fought so hard to build,” he added.

    Talking to the press shortly after the opening, Mafany Musonge underscored the missions of the Commission which he heads.
     “…One of our missions is to listen to people, to receive requests, petitions from people on issues of discrimination. We analyze them and report to the Head of State. This is what we are doing. We want to build the capacity and improve the knowledge of members of the Commission on issues relating to discrimination. And there are issues relating to discrimination especially discrimination on culture-based issues; on language etc. That is what we are trying to do at this workshop,” the former Prime Minister said.
    For his part, the Director of UNCHRD-CA, Louis-Marie Bouaka, esteemed it a great privilege and opportunity to be part of a workshop which seals the beginning of a fruitful partnership between the UNCHRD-CA and the Bilingualism Commission.
    He said issues relating to discrimination are treated as priority by the UNCHRD in particular, and the UN systems in general, reason why the UNCHRD-CA readily accepted to be part of the workshop to edify NCPBM members on strategies to eliminate all forms of discrimination in Cameroon.

Commission President, other officials in photo with UNCHRD-CA Director

Opening the workshop in the presence of the Director of the UNCHRD-CA, the President of the NCPBM, the RT. Hon. Peter Mafany Musonge, underscored the aim and objectives of the workshop which sought among other things to build the capacity of the members and SG of the Commission with the view to adequately fighting and preventing discrimination in all its forms.