October 12 poll: Rights commission, AU commit to strengthen respect of human rights.

The commitment was taken in Yaounde Friday October 10 during an audience granted the head of the African Union Commission’s election observation mission to Cameroon for the 2025 presidential poll, Bernard Makuza, by the president of CHRC, Prof James Mouangue Kobila.  

Speaking in an interview after the audience, the delegation head, who a former Prime Minister of Rwanda and current Senate President of Rwanda, said the tete-a-tete provided his team a timely opportunity to discuss on the mechanisms that had been put in place to ensure the overall hitch-free conduct of the election.

The AU official said the meeting was one of the multiple discussions that the commission’s delegation is expected to engage in as it looks to ensure that the electoral process is entirely free and democratic.

He said the AU, as a continental body that is strongly committed to promoting human rights, is confident that the meeting with CHRC will enable the AU observation mission to have a clear view on the respect of human rights during the before, during and after poll.

“The fact that there is an AU commission for human rights is a good thing first of all. The African Union can only operate within the framework of the laws that exist in a country, but also within the constitution and other legal or regulatory instruments,” the delegation head said.

“We put all the observations together so that the country can take into consideration for a possible improvement. We not only observe what had been happening from the pre-election period and the campaign period, but also what will follow after the poll,” Bernard Makuza, who is leading an observation commission comprising some 40 short-term observers to Cameroon, added.

He said engagements like what the AU commission had with the CHRC during Friday’s audience will go a long way in facilitating the task of the AU as a body that is committed to promoting democratic practices across Africa.

The delegation leader said such outings give room for full transparency and gives chance for election exercises to be conducted without any forms of violence as desired by the AU. 

“The AU wants elections that are very transparent and without violence. We commend what is done for the time being and we wish to have an election that is conducted with fair play, where needed,” he said.

“What we are doing in Cameroon is what we always do during mission like this which is to try to contact all partners or stakeholders in the election process,” Bernard Makuza whose delegation is expected to present its report on Sunday’s presidential poll in an outing Tuesday October 14, stated. 

“We are at the disposal of national institutions, civil society, candidates or political parties to exchange, because first of all, for our observation, we want to gather as much information as possible, to diversify, so that we can make an opinion,” he added.  

The audience with the AU commission delegation was one of the multiple outings that have were made by CHRC to ensure that the rights institution fully carries on with its responsibilities as an independent body “for consultation, monitoring, evaluation, dialogue, conciliation and deliberation in the promotion and protection of human rights,” during elections and other events. 

The commission under the leadership of its president, Prof Mouangue Kobila, engaged with several institutions and communicated repeatedly in efforts to boost the promotion of human rights during and after yesterday’s poll. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3593 of Monday October 13, 2025