The Community Center for Integrated Development in Cameroon launches the ‘Youth Partnership’ network

06 June 2018

The Community Center for Integrated Development in Cameroon launched the "Youth Partnership" Network with a seminar on "Transforming the Future of Human Rights in Cameroon: Role of Young People". Over 50 participants from universities, student clubs and youth-led organizations attended the event at the Pan African Institute for Development West Africa in Buea, Cameroon.

This one-day seminar explored the importance of human rights promotion and protection in the present socio-political situation in Cameroon, and put forward solutions for young people to stand up for human rights. In a country where youth represents 73% of the population, human rights abuses in Cameroon remain one of the major challenges. The Youth Partnership seeks to inspire young people to be key actors in the development of their countries and to shape the future of their communities as well as to speak up on issues related to human rights.

Prof. Uwem Essia, Director of the Pan African Institute for Development West Africa, gave a keynote during which he urged young people to take the lead in the promotion of human rights in all spheres. A panel made up of Barrister Clifford Akonteh, Konda Delphine and Hasel Tanteh explored the protection mechanisms provided by the government and the African Union and discussed the role of civil society organizations.

At the end of the day, participants engaged in a participatory activity to design key actions that need to be taken urgently to promote human rights in Cameroon.

The Youth Partnership is made up of the following partners: Community Centre for Integrated Development, Girls Excel, Vision in Action Cameroon, iBuild Africa, Yalda - Paid-Wa, Akaseng Youth Empowerment Foundation -AYEF.

The launch of the Youth Partnership was the first event organized by the Community Center for Integrated Development in a series of activities to mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The next event will take place on May 12th at 10am at the Erservi Conference Hall, Rond Point Express, in Yaoundé and will focus on the UDHR sensitisation campaign.

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