Be fearless at work, NCHRF boss tells workers

The Chairperson of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms, NCHRF, Dr. Divine Chemuta Banda, has urged workers and members of the Commission to work objectively without fear.

He was speaking in Yaounde recently, during the 17th Ordinary Session of the NCHRF which was devoted to the 2015 planning and budgeting of the Commission.

Dr. Chemuta expressed satisfaction on the various intuitional and functional developments the Commission has witnessed since 2004.

While citing the increase in the number of NCHRF branch offices, the teaching of human rights in schools and the National Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Cameroon as achievements, Chemuta called on workers to add fresh zeal to their existing efforts in order to steer the institution further.

“We are starting this mandate at a critical time in our country when peace is threatened and when the population is increasingly yearning for their rights especially their economic, social and cultural rights. Our total commitment is necessary if we have to make significant contribution towards the consolidation of peace and development through the respect for human rights. To achieve this, we have to work objectively without fear, making use of the confidence our various institutions have bestowed on us.”

Chemuta also stated that the re-accreditation of Cameroon’s human rights Commission by the International Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights depended on how far members can work so that the Commission complies with the Paris Principles.

Quizzed on the effectiveness of the Commission considering the increase number of human rights violations in the country, Chemuta decried the fact that as an institution for consultation, the commission is not consulted enough on issues relating to human rights.

“After the Ministry of External Relations, the Human Rights Commission comes in as the second window of the country. That is why we need to be consulted sufficiently…even before setting up laws and bills,” he stated.

The session also focused on organising members into working groups as well as deliberating on the recently adopted law on terrorism with the hope of acting before it is promulgated into law by the Head of State.