External relations ministry, UNOCA, ECCAS review action plan.

The forum which went underway in Yaounde Monday, July 3, ends today. Discussions have been on a draft strategy and action plan for preventing and combatting hate speech in written, audio-visual and digital communication media.

Experts at the session reiterated the need for member states to adopt an action plan in combating hate speech. The work done already in Yaounde will be submitted to political leaders of ECCAS member states for endorsement. 

The agenda is in conjunction with the recommendations of the 55^th Ministerial Meeting of the United Nations Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa, UNSAC.

The Secretary General at MINREX, Chinmoun Oumar, underscored that, the Yaounde gathering comes after similar meetings in Douala in October 2021, Bangui and Kinshasa in April and June 2022 respectively.

He saluted the work of other countries, noting that the document will result in an effective prevention and combat mechanism against hate speech. Oumar said there is need for collective effort to address the phenomenon of hate speech.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, Regional Director for Central Africa, Paul Coustere, said the Yaounde workshop is a sensitive step towards a regional strategy against hate speech.

“Hate speech is not just a symptom of socio-political crises; it can also be a cause. In fact, by creating consequences such as discrimination against individuals or groups of individuals, it is also a threat to peace, stability and the social conditions of society,” Coustere stated.

He also called for further sensitisation, noting that “not all hate speech is concrete”. The Commissioner for Political, Peace and Security Affairs of ECCAS, Mangaral Bante, said hate speech is not a challenge just for Cameroon but other member states.

Bante reassured that: “ECCAS will have to take ownership of the draft regional strategy in order to have it secreted in practice by all the States with a view to its adoption as a regional public instrument”.

Members have so far been explaining the regional strategy and its action plan to participants to set the stage for the document’s adoption as a working instrument in ECCAS.

Member states, it was said, will also be required to meet the conditions for submitting the draft regional strategy alongside an action plan for endorsement, in accordance with the recommendations of UNSAC.

To mobilise support, at all levels, so that the strategy and its annexed documents serve as a working basis for the coordination of actions against hate speech, a roadmap will also be put in place by all ECCAS countries.