By Christopher Ambe
Thirty journalists from the Southwest, Northwest, Littoral
and Centre regions of Cameroon were on October 26 and 27, 2022 mentored on proper
reporting on linguistic minority issues
in the media.
The two-day workshop organized and facilitated by the United
Nations Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa (UNCHRDA)
Yaoundé-Cameroon, took place at Prince de
Galles Hotel, Douala, and was opened by the Littoral Regional Delegate of
Communication, Marie-Laure Mokoko.
The communication delegate hailed the organizers of the workshop,
noting that the initiative was a brilliant one. She said the voice of the
journalist is very important in the promotion and protection of the rights of
minorities.
The workshop theme was
“Reporting on Minority Issues in the Media.”
Presentations at the workshop were inspired by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons
Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, which
was adopted on 18 December 1992 by the UN General Assembly resolution 47/135.
The Declaration seeks to promote the realization of
fundamental rights of minorities, as well as the key principles including
equality and non-discrimination recognized in the UN Charter, Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other
relevant international and regional instruments.
The Declaration
specifically requires States to “adopt appropriate legislative and other
measures” to protect minorities.
The workshop, according to Dr.Laurent Akobi,of the UN Center
for Human Rights in an invitation letter
to selected media professionals, aimed
at “ building the capacities of media
professionals in Cameroon on the rights of minorities in Cameroon and on how to
report ethically and effectively on minority issues”
Seminar facilitators included UNCHRDA communication expert,
Joseph Lereh Fajong and the Human rights Associate , Zoe Poznicek; Dr.Hilaire
Kamga ,country administrator of African Research and Training Center for Democracy,
Development and Peace(ARTDP) and Veteran Journalist Tricia Oben.
Their presentations, which participants described as very
informative and educative, were on themes such as: Understanding the concepts of minority language rights and
discrimination; International instruments protecting language minority
rights; the new law on official languages in Cameroon and linguistic minorities;
the Role of the media in the promotion and protection of minority rights, as
well as Mapping stories on minority issues,
checklist for media professionals.
The two-day workshop
ended with a firm commitment by the journalists to be more focused on minority
rights issues and to professionally and ethically report on them.
No comments:
Post a Comment