RELUFA capacitate journalists on responsible reporting of mineral governance.

The workshop was organised by the Network for the Fight Against Hunger in Cameroon better known in French as RELUFA, with the support of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, KP CSC, and the German foundation, Umverteilen.

Speaking during the session, the RELUFA Coordinator, Jaff Napoleon Bamenjo, said the aim was to enhance public awareness and promote responsible reporting on extractive industries.

As a member of the KP CSC, he said RELUFA believes that journalists can significantly contribute to informing the public about the objectives of the Kimberley Process and responsible mineral governance in general and diamond governance in particular. 

“As an organisation, this is something that we always want to do because we want to engage all the stakeholders with respect to minerals. So, journalists are very key stakeholders when it comes to mineral governance,” the RELUFA Coordinator, who doubles as Coordinator of the KP CSC, said. 

He added that: “It was for us to come together to look at the challenges with regards to mineral governance. Today, we chose the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme, because it had existed for quite a long time but at the moment there are current challenges”. 

Going by Bamenjo, civil society organisations have been advocating for the need to adapt to the changing circumstances in the implementation of scheme. 

“My message is that we civil society organisations must work together with the media because the work that we do, if it is not conveyed to the public, there are challenges that will not be well known and so journalists are very important”. 

RELUFA Coordinator, Jaff Napoleon Bamenjo

Diamond mining stories under-reported

On her part, the RELUFA Communication Officer, Enjema Esunge Nenne, said at the end of the work it is expected that the participants would have gained a deeper understanding of diamond governance issues and challenges as well as the techniques necessary for investigative reporting on diamond governance and the Kimberley Process.

“Diamond mining stories are largely under-reported and many people do not know the realities on ground like child labour, forced labour, rape” she told The Guardian Post, before adding that “we believe that they have the capacity to tell stories the way they should be told for change to happen”. 

“As a coalition, our main objective is to ensure that there is transparency, human rights of diamond mining communities are respected, there is development and people actually benefit from the resources of their communities,” she reiterated.

She further explained that the KPCSC has adopted a strategy to maintain and further strengthen collaboration with the media to ensure positive change is attained. 

“We are already planning for a regional meeting which will take place in a southern African country and the participation of the media has been considered. So, we want to spur them to take interest in stories like this” she added. 

RELUFA officials, journalists in group photo after workshop

Context

Cameroon is richly endowed with mineral resources like diamonds, gold, bauxite, cobalt, iron ore, nickel, and manganese.

The artisanal diamonds and gold mining have also been the main source of livelihood for inhabitants of most local communities in the East and Adamawa regions with the involvement of close to 50,000 people in alluvial diamond production in the East Region.

In spite of these, artisanal activities in the mines do not seem to be improving the livelihood with several social, environmental and human rights challenges to the local communities.

Reflections to eradicate this phenomenon across several countries culminated in December 2000 with the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of Resolution/55/56 establishing the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, KPCS, with the objective of ensuring minerals like diamond do not contribute in financing local conflicts. 

The KPCS became operational in 2003, and its implementation is ensured by a tripartite arrangement that includes governments, the private sector and civil society. 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3148 of Monday June 24, 2024