FCFA 1.2 billion for Human Rights protection

Members of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms (NCHRF) have adopted the budget of the organ for 2016 financial year as well as the plan of action. FCFA 1.256 billion was endorsed alongside the plan of action during the 19th ordinary session of the Human Rights Commission that held in Yaounde on December 4, 2015 presided at by Chairman, Dr Divine Chemuta Banda.

According to the NCHRF chairman, importance would be accorded to human rights promotion and protection activities in order to obtain better results from the amount which is still largely insufficient. The start of construction works for the Commission’s Head office whose site has been earmarked by government will also be given attention. The inadequate financial resources, he added, has not permitted the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms to cover the nooks and crannies of the country as it would have intended to thereby pushing them to act only mostly on complaints sent to the commission.

While lauding government for stepping up the recurrent budget in 2016 by FCFA 36 million, Dr Banda decried not only the late disbursement of the funds but also the non-respect of the law that states that the  amount be lodged in the Commission’s bank account and not in the treasury account which makes withdrawal difficult.

The Commission, he regretted, stands the risk of being downgraded by the International Coordination Committee of National Institutions for the Protection and Protection of Human Rights (ICC) in March 2016 because of a single individual who is delaying the process. The NCHRF Chairman condemned what he described the barbaric and inhumane acts perpetrated by Boko Haram terrorist sect whom the 2014 report of the Commission says greatly affected Cameroon’s human rights situation.