Yaounde, 11 Mars 2022 – ABC, In Cameroun, Experts have urged key stakeholders to accelerate the process for the creation of judicial clinics for the rights of children in the country  with of the resurgence of gender based violence’s on women and girls.

This call was made at the advocacy workshop organized by Plan International Cameroon and CAM-CRIN at the Hotel La Falaise in Yaoundé. The workshop brought together ministerial, judicial, traditional and municipal authorities, lawyers, jurists and activists for the protection of children and the promotion of gender for the establishment of legal clinics for children, in particular girls who are victims of abuse and violence in Cameroon in margin of the 37th edition of the International Women’s Day in Cameroon.

The session presided over by Maipa Koukreo Wespa , Inspector general 2 at the Ministry of women empowerment and the family who indicated that this was a golden opportunity to amplify the call to action and get all actors on board for common objectives and inclusive actions to put an end to this social ill.

Speaking at the workshop opening ceremony, the interim country representative for Plan International, Dr Collins Sayang stated that “it’s very important for us to bring together different stakeholders, to capacitate and improve their knowledge of children’s rights; especially the rights of the girls in order to implement judiciary clinics”.  He added that Judiciary clinics are cells that will be in the country to support and help vulnerable children, women who are facing the law, facing the system and help to improve their care, The clinics will enhance their understanding on how to build their files, how to make sure that they meet the right services and that they get the right support from the government and the entire system.

Developing on the objectives and expectations of the session the President of CAM-CRIN Leon Bertrand ENANA stated « We have teams of lawyers who can provide legal support and civil society organizations and  actors to accentuate the denunciation. And the other hand actors such as the traditional chiefs too, who will contribute to the denunciation, but also at the level of the Parliament for the progress of the adoption of the draft text. In the meantime, we have mobilized all these participants to this activity to create coordination mechanisms. The session was organized in two phases. “The first phase to improve knowledge, perform information sharing about children’s rights, equality for girls, improving understanding of gender based violence. And then the second phase, discussed the judiciary system, how to better to support girls and women in need.

Taking part in the workshop, Barrister Kuhsen Nicoline indicated that they come across cases of violence and abuses on daily basis “we talk of violence, it’s just so deplorable because we have violence caused by teacher on children. We have violence on the children themselves. We have parents exaggerating the way they treat their children at home; as I speak, we have a case of coming before the court of April where we have a child that is ripping another child that is a child of 15 years, ripping a child of eight years. So that is the situation”

At the end of the advocacy workshop, Participants left the session making commitments to strengthen on child protection systems in general and on the fight against violence against girls and women, On the other hand they took individual commitment to advanced Children rights and equality for girls.

As a reminder, discrimination between girls and boys, women and men remains a major obstacle to human development in Cameroon. Regarding sexual violence overall, 13% of women age 15 to 49 reported having experienced sexual violence by someone at some point in their life, and 5% have experienced more than four out of ten women of the same age group in a Union or in a broken Union declared that they have at some point experience violence in the form of emotional, physical or sexual violence.

Plan International has been operating in Cameroon since 1996, working in, and with over 1,200 communities across 7 regions, namely Adamawa, Far-North North, East, North-west, Centre and Littoral. Country Objective “Girls and boys live a healthy life and develop in a safe environment, which respects their rights at all times, including emergency situations.”