Cameroon: UNDP Designs Platform to Combat GBV

Participants in group at the end of the workshop

 By Christopher Ambe

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), working in partnership with other UN entities such as UNFPA, UN Peace building, UN Women and the Government of Cameroon, is more determined to put an end to Sexual Gender-based Violence (SGBV) in Cameroon.

 To that effect, a national platform to fight against SGBV has been developed.

Six core types of GBV are: 1) rape 2) sexual assault 3) physical assault, 4) forced marriage, 5) denial of resources, opportunities or services and 6) psychological /emotional abuse,

Cases of SGBV in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon since the eruption of the Anglophone Crisis in late 2016- and in the country’s   northern regions, sporadically under attacks by Boko Haram terrorists, are a rising cause for concern.

 According to the UNDP, over 4000 cases of GBV were reported last June in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon.

The UNDP, from 23rd -26^th August 2021, organized in Douala a four-day workshop for the establishment of a national platform of actors in the fight against GBV and Human Rights violations as part of the peace consolidation process.

The Douala workshop was an offshoot of the project “PBF-GYPI: Strengthening the participation of community mechanisms and the role of women human rights defenders in the peace consolidation process in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon.”

  The project manager, Mballa Ebengue Madeleine Julie epse Eloundou,who is the Gender & Human Rights Specialist,UNDP Yaoundé  said   the workshop was within the framework of the execution of the UN Secretary General Peace Building Fund (PBF) Gender promotion Initiative.

Mrs. Eloundou said the UNDP in collaboration with the Cameroon Human Rights Commission (CHRC) and the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family decided to set up a platform of actors in the fight and management of cases of GBV and Human Rights’ violations for a more coordinated and efficient response in the Northwest & Southwest regions as well as in regions hosting IDPs.

The workshop, which took place at Hotel La Falaise,Bonanjo  assembled 57 participants -mostly drawn from the crisis-stricken Northwest and Southwest regions.

The participants included: 12 members of CAWOPEM, 12 members of CSOs working with IDPs, five  representatives of Cameroon Human Rights Commission(CHRC), 12 representatives of the mass media, five  officials of MINPROFF,five  UNDP Staffers,two  members of PBF Technical Secretariat etc.

The Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Abena Ondoa nee Obama Marie Therese, was represented at the workshop by Madam Francisca Moto, Sub-Director for the Protection and Promotion of the Family.

Moto thanked the UNDP for working with her ministry towards the eradication of GBV.

“If men and women were considered as equal, then women would not be victims of GBV,” she noted, adding that “95 % of violence on women are perpetrated by men.”

She urged men to henceforth champion the fight against GBV.

 “We have lot to do to ensure that peace prevails; where there is no peace, women suffer more; sex is used as a weapon of war in the [crisis-stricken] Northwest and Southwest regions,” Moto remarked, insisting that “Everyone should be a champion against SGBV”

Prof.Joyce Endeley, one  of  the two commissioners of the CHRC,who participated in the workshop, said at its closing ceremony that SGBV has a long history in Cameroon, but added that the situation has been exacerbated by the crises in the Northwest and Southwest regions ,as well as in the North of Cameroon.

Prof. Endeley said the UNDP platform is a substantive project that would make the voice against SGBV go further. She added that gender/vulnerable groups are high on the agenda of the mandate of CHRC.

 The other CHRC commissioner, who made useful inputs at workshop, was Seiny Boukar Lamine,the Lamido of Kolofata of the Far North region.

Also speaking at the workshop closing, Caryn Dasah, general coordinator of CAWOPEM, lauded its rich thematic presentations and highly interactive nature.

Topics discussed at the workshop included:  An overview of Human Rights and SGBV Related to Crisis, the Human Right Situation in the Northwest /Southwest regions (2019-2021); Communicating on SGBV and Human Rights.

The workshop was moderated by Yvonne Bih Muma, co-founder of Cameroon Women’s Peace Moment (CAWOPEM)