Ahowanou Agbessi, Director of the United Nations Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa, has called on the government of Cameroon to ensure that minority are considered in public service positions.

The UN official made the remark during a recent validation workshop on Cameroon reports on the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination organised at the Ministry of Justice in Yaoundé. Agbessi equally used the forum to reiterate the support of the centre for all actions geared towards the implementation of human rights in Cameroon. He exhorted government officials present at the event to deposit timely reports and respect its commitment to the UN.

For his part, George Gwanmesia, secretary general of the Ministry of Justice, pledged Cameroon’s commitment to ensure that human rights reports are deposited on time as soon as they are ready. Cameroon is expected to deposit a periodic report on the UN Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.

At the end the workshop, participants drawn from both public and private institutions agreed that government should take measures to limit rural exodus of pigmies often displaced for exploitative reasons, resolved to create a national observatory to specifically handle discrimination problems, that civil society and international organisations evaluate the pilot education project in Baka language of the East region and that minorities in the country should be considered in public offices.  It should be noted that the Mbororos and Pigmies are the two minority indigenous populations in Cameroon reported to be facing a lot of challenges.