24TH SESSION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Agenda Item 6: Consideration of the UPR Report of Cameroon
Oral Statement presented by Dr Chemuta D. BANDA, Chairperson of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms(NCHRF)
20 September 2013
Mr President,
I would like to express my gratitude for this invitation for me to speak on behalf of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms of Cameroon.
Let me appreciate the government of Cameroon for organising broad consultations with multiple stakeholders and undertaking many actions since the last review in 2009, in an attempt to meet up with the recommendations for Cameroon.
We took note of the 171 recommendations made to Cameroon in May this year and have concerted with government to come up with what has been presented here today.
We really appreciated the recommendations on the adoption of the National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of human rights, on the generalisation of the Human Rights Education Programme and onthe strengthening of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms.We strongly believe thatif these recommendations are fully implemented, the NCHRF will be in a better position to promote a human rights culture in Cameroon.
Commenting globally on the recommendations, the NCHRF as a national human rights institution will continue to urge government to pay particular attention to the following:
-the ratification and domestication of international human rights instruments;
-detention conditions in general and especially overcrowding in major prisons caused by judicial delays and the absence of alternative forms of punishment;
-the institution of a national preventive mechanism for the implementation of the optional protocol to the convention against torture;
-reversion of the tendency to multiply the creation of other human rights committees for handling various human rights issues whose missions tend to overlap with that of our institution which if empowered, could handle most of the issues;
-progress in the attribution of land for a befitting headoffice and branches for the NCHRF;
-the fight against corruption, which still has a toll on the economy of the country and for which dissuasive measures have to be stepped up;
-more progress in the provision of economic, social and cultural rights to reduce poverty and its attendant ills such as serial ritual killings and traffic in persons and body parts.
We remain committed to encouraging our civil society organisations to be responsibly vibrant in working with the NCHRF and Government for improvements.
Thank you for your attention.