Ambassador Speeches

Speech by Her Excellency Janet E. Garvey
U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon

Human Rights Day Roundtable

Multipurpose Room, U.S. Embassy
Tuesday, December 11, 2007; 10:00 am

Representatives of Government
Honorable Members of Parliament
Leaders in Civil Society
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good Morning,

Yesterday, Cameroon joined the rest of the world in celebrating International Human Rights Day.  Fifty-seven years ago, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the equal and inalienable rights accorded to everyone by adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  The Declaration calls upon every individual and every institution to strive, through education, to promote respect for human rights.

Human Rights Day commemorates the adoption of that Declaration and remains salient because so many people in the world do not enjoy their fundamental, universal human rights. 

Cameroonians can take pride in your country’s vibrant media, religious freedom, hospitality toward refugees and burgeoning civil society.  Over the past year, the government has worked to improve education about human rights and supported efforts to combat gender-based violence.   The Criminal Procedure Code should help improve the justice system, and the government has issued its first broadcast licenses to private television and radio stations.  These are all welcome developments that demonstrate the commitment of the government and people of Cameroon to improving human rights and justice.

Unfortunately, there are still many areas of concern as well.  No nation is perfect.  In the United States we have been working to improve our democratic system and human rights safeguards for more than 220 years.  Areas of concern, however, must be called out and identified – whether in Cameroon or any other country – so that further progress can be made. 

As noted in the Department of State’s 2006 Human Rights Report, Cameroon continues to suffer from life-threatening prison conditions, police abuses, child labor, trafficking in persons, and traditional practices that discriminate against women and children.  Vigilante justice continues to be a problem.  Excesses by the security services are a major concern.  Pervasive corruption eats at the fabric of society.  Restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly remain.  Election irregularities continue to hold back progress in building a stronger democracy.  I urge the government of Cameroon and all Cameroonians to continue to address these problems. 

Like all judgments, however, this one must be put in context.  Societies that strive to be free and open often find themselves in a quandary: the more freedom they allow, the more their critics flourish.  And they find this discouraging.  But such criticism, and the fact that it is tolerated so freely, is in itself a measure of freedom.

The Government of Cameroon has taken significant steps to improve citizens’ understanding of their human rights, such as the publication of its own human rights report.   We applaud this, and we encourage further such efforts.

The U.S. Embassy is commemorating this year’s International Human Rights Day in two special ways.  First, this morning we hosted an informal roundtable on human rights issues in Cameroon, with special focus on the Criminal Procedure Code.  I would like to thank the participants of this roundtable for a lively discussion which gave me a better perspective of this important issue, but more importantly gave us all a substantive forum to share ideas.

I would especially like to thank the representatives from the Ministry of Justice, the National Assembly, and the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms, who have shown their support for this initiative by joining us today.  

Second, we are proud to use this occasion to award a total of 70,000 dollars in grants to four local NGOs under the Embassy’s 2007 Democracy and Human Rights Fund.

• The first grantee, Cellule pour le Développement Intégré et l’Environnement, will create a program to promote the social and economic development of the Mbororo people.
• The second grantee, Arena for the Promotion of Human Rights-International, will develop projects to sensitize people about their rights under the Criminal Procedure Code.
• The third grantee, the Cameroon Association of Media Professionals, will create a project to increase the number of youth voters in the Fako Division.
• The final grantee, Women in Alternative Action, will create student internships with parliamentary committee offices and ministries to encourage more youths to participate in politics. 
• Congratulations to all of you!  Each of the projects selected this year is advancing human rights and civic participation in important ways that contribute to building a more democratic and peaceful Cameroon.  Nurturing and strengthening freedoms and rights requires hard work from all parts of society.  I hope today’s roundtable and our grants help to recognize and motivate the many of you who are at the forefront of this effort.

Thank you for your kind attention, and thank you all for coming today.