Cameroon: Journalists Drilled on Media Coverage of Human Right Abuses Amid Conflict

By Synthia Lateu

BUEA, June 30, 2023 – Some journalists in Cameroon have been schooled on human rights managing and reporting in a conflict situation.  The one-day seminar organized by the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, CHRDA, unfolded on June 26, 2023, in Buea, South West region of the country.

The training was part of the Right organization’s two years of activities including the training of human rights defenders Lawyers, civil society organizations, and journalists.

To CHRDA'S research officer, Dr Wabi Wilson, the context in which the country finds itself is a sufficient reason to build up security measures. He said: “We live in a conflict situation and human Right monitoring, documentation and reporting, are important. People are supposed to be aware."

"We understand that a lot of abuses and human rights violations have occurred against journalists, taking the cases of Wazizi, Aye in Bamenda, and a host of others ..." Dr Wabi added

According to Human Right Watch, the armed conflicts in Cameroon since 2017, has led to human right abuses both from armed groups and government forces including mass killings, across Cameroon’s Anglophone regions and in the Far North region.

"As the crisis in the Anglophone regions continued unabated for the fifth year, over 712,000 people were internally displaced in the Anglophone regions and in the Francophone Littoral, West, and Centre regions as of August 2021, and at least 2.2 million people required humanitarian aid."

CHRDA's one-day seminar unfolded under thematic, forms a category of human rights violations against journalists in conflict, mechanisms protecting journalists and their rights in conflict situations, media coverage and communication of human rights violations in conflict amongst others.

HRW reported and added that: "The Islamist armed group Boko Haram increased its attacks in the Far North region from January to April, killing at least 80 civilians, with over 340,000 internally displaced as of August 2021. In responding to the armed conflict, government forces have also been responsible for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, including unlawful killings and arbitrary arrests."

Speaking after the training, journalist Hannah Bisong Agbor, said the seminar was insightful and will shape her reporting of human-interest stories. “I have learned that there is no story that is worth taking your life. You have to protect yourself in every instance," Hannah noted.

Another participant, Elad Larissa, highlighted that the challenge of identification as a journalist had been a main concern to her. ''I understand that there are some rules I have to go by and even if my employer asks me to cover some stories if I know that it is going to endanger me, I have the right to say no" she stated and furthered that she looked forward to exploring the community reporter app (used to report human right violations) introduced to them during the seminar.”

In its 2022 report, CHRDA notes that from October 2021 to March 2022 there was an upsurge in violence in the Northwest and Southwest Regions, as the conflict situation continued to deteriorate

"CHRDA recorded 206 human rights violations in the Anglophone Regions or related to the Anglophone Crisis during this period. Of these, 120 violations took place in the Northwest Region and 69 violations took place in the Southwest Region,'' the right group's report reads.