Prof James MOUANGUE KOBILA, the Chairperson of the Cameroon Human Rights Commission (CHRC) participated in a workshop on implementing the decisions and recommendations of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC ) in Nairobi Kenya from 23 to 24 February 2023.

22 NHRIs attended the workshop, including  those that have affiliate Status before the Committee, as well as NHRIs from countries to which the Committee has issued recommendations. The workshop equally saw the participation of the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRIs), the CSO Forum and the five regional CSO networks on Child rights. It was equally graced with the presence of Hon. Anne MUSIWA, the Vice Chairperson of the Committee, and Hon. Aboubekrine EL JERA, the Rapporteur of the Committee and Chairperson of the Working Group on Implementation of recommendations.

The purpose of the CHRC’s participation was to establish its leadership as the champion of the 46 NHRIs in the domain of Child Rights. Hailed as the first ACERWC-affiliated institution during the session in Maseru (Lesotho) in November 2022, the NHRI of Cameroon was applauded twice in Nairobi for this pioneering role in collaborating with the Committee. First of all, before the first speech of the Chairperson on the first day of the workshop, and then the following day, with the NHRI of Ethiopia, when the first two NHRIs affiliated to the Committee (there are now 17) were called upon to share their experience in monitoring the implementation of the ACERWC recommendations.

The first presentation by the CHRC Chairperson was more general. It was on “Experience sharing on the structure and functioning of the CHRC in child rights and protection”.  In this presentation Chairperson MOUANGUE KOBILA demonstrated that despite the absence of a structure devoted to the Rights of the Child in its organisational chart (a defect that needs to be corrected), the NHRI has done a lot of work – particularly with its Rights of the Child focal point – for the promotion and protection of children’s rights.

The participants in this workshop requested and gratefully received various documents on the CHRC, such as: the compendiums of statements and press releases 2021 and 2022, the 2019 annual report and folders containing the 2020, 2021 and 2022 actions of CHRC in 10 points, the human rights situation in Cameroun in 10 points and the independance of the CHRC in 12 points.

The participants particularly appreciated the visuals that accompanied the CHRC statements, the experience of the CHRC in media relations, as well as the suggestions made to ACERWC for better dissemination of its recommendations across the continent and elsewhere.

After listening to the CHRC Chairperson and looking at the materials distributed, Hon. Aboubekrine EL JERA  concluded that “the NHRI in Cameroon is very advanced”. He suggested that the Chairperson of the CHRC accompany the Committee in achieving its missions. The representative of the Child Rights Network in Central Africa (REDEAC) summed up the overall impression that “the NHRI of Cameroon has done an exceptional job”.

The various other presentations were delivered during the workshop and panel discussions ended with some recommendations  and action points. Thus, NHRIs should:

– further apply for affiliate status before the Committee, and those that have affiliate status should actively engage the mandates of the Committee by submitting shadow reports and briefings to the Committee,

– encourage their Governments to submit State Party reports to the Committee,

– monitor the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the Committee,

– establish and strengthen child rights structures within their institutions.

The Committee shall develop a detailed report of the Workshop which will be made available on the website.