Human rights must be integrated into sustainable dev't objectives – UN rep.

“…if Cameroon does not integrate human rights in its development process, her sustainable development objectives will not easily be attained.” says Ahowanou Agbessi, Regional Representative and Director of the United Nations Centre for human rights and democracy in Central Africa.

About 26 journalists coming from seven regions of Cameroon are being drilled on how to better monitor and report on right violations in the context of infrastructural and business development projects.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the national training workshop on human rights and business and field visit for media professionals on July 22, in Bertoua, the Regional Representative and Director of UNCHRD-CA said the workshop and field visits are aimed at building the capacities of media professionals in Cameroon on human rights and business standards to enable them to effectively monitor compliance by relevant actors. He added that the workshop will raise media awareness on human rights and business standards (UN framework to protect, respect and remedy) and identify and explain the role of the media in ensuring that the guidelines proposed by this mechanism are implemented in Cameroon.

While welcoming the participants, the East Regional Delegate for Communication, Louis Marie Nbengne, lauded the Centre for organizing such a timely workshop in Bertoua, given that the East Region is the richest in natural resources and harbours a plethora of multinational companies. He therefore called on the media professionals to actively take part in monitoring and reporting rights violations in this context.

Besides the workshop, the media professionals will carry out a field visit to the Lom Pangar Dam Project site where they will identify, document and diffuse information on progress made and best practices in the area of human rights respect and integration by enterprises.

The workshop falls within the framework of the Centre’s objective of ensuring the integration of human rights in development and in the economic sphere in countries of the sub-region.