At the international level, an international NGO coalition has launched a campaign urging governments to sign and ratify an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). In Cameroon, in addition to the Constitutive General Assembly launching officially the activities of the Cameroon ESC rights platform, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) mobilized “for the inclusion of Economic, Social and Cultural rights (ESC rights) in public policies in Cameroon” attended a two-day training session on ESC rights enforceability methods which was held in the monastery of Mont Fébé in Yaoundé.
From 15 to 16 October 2009, about forty organizations, groups of associations and unions, involved in the promotion and defense of ESC rights, took part in the reflection on strategies to use in the context of Cameroon. Among the topics covered during the training, general theories on ESC rights with an introduction to the international instruments relating to ESC rights (ICESCR and Optional Protocol) and to the complaint system, as well as, the review of the proceedings of previous international meetings on ESC rights were discussed.
A methodology for drafting alternative reports to implement ESC rights was not left behind. On October 16th, an all-day workshop was organized in order to exchange knowledge on methods and tools to claim ESC rights. After returning group works, a petition to ratify the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR and an appeal addressed to the President “for Cameroon’s pledge on the signature and the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR as soon as possible”, was signed by all the stakeholders.
Justice
The appeal launched to the President of the Republic pointed out that “last September 24th in New York, during the signature ceremony of the Protocol, Cameroon did not commit itself to strengthening respect for all human rights, since the country has not yet become party to this instrument. Cameroon is expected to take position and to be a model, to confirm the support of our people to the universal values of democracy.”
It should be pointed out that the ESC rights were already mentioned in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but that the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was only adopted in 1966 by the United Nations General Assembly, following 20 years of drafting debates. To date, 160 countries, including Cameroon, have ratified the Covenant. ESC rights refer to the right to work, the right to education, the right to health, the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to participation in cultural life and to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, among other rights.
Eric O. LEMBEMBE
Translated from French by Dévina Azis
