“We Need To Adopt An All-embracing, Holistic Approach”

The Commission has been carrying out for some time now, a campaign against hate speech, what has been the path covered and the feedback gotten thus far? 
This is a new national campaign which means that the first campaign perhaps did not produce the best results that we expected. This new national campaign, we hope will lead us to better results. Hate speech and xenophobia are witnessing an upsurge in the Cameroonian society. Some of our fellow citizens are wrapped into this social menace either as victims, witnesses or actors. These phenomena weaken national unity and integration, threaten our living together, social cohesion and stability and stand against the emergence of sustainable peace in our country. It must be acknowledged that since hate speech and xenophobia took a foothold in Cameroon, government institutions and non-state actors have not been indifferent or passive to the toxic effects of these phenomena. Laws have been passed to stem their tide. Many State institutions have been at work, trying to stamp out the disturbing tendency, but the results obtained so far still appear to be less satisfactory. It is in the face of this exponential rise of this malpractice in our country that the President of the Republic, His Excellency Paul Biya, instructed our Commission to engage this new national communication campaign against it. We have so far extensively carried out the campaign in newspapers, radio, television, billboards, and social media platforms. This phase of the exercise has enabled us reach out to hundreds of thousands of Cameroonians with messages against hate speech. We have also held meetings with a broad spectrum of stakeholders. 
What concretely do you intend to achieve from this present forum? 
We brought in experts who are going to dive into the subject and formulate recommendations on how we should fight hate speech and xenophobia. This current colloquium, therefore falls within the framework of our strategy to broaden the scope of the fight against hate speech. For it is our strong belief that it is only be adopting an all-embracing and holistic approach that hate speech and xenophobia can be confronted head-on and checked in Cameroon. The holding of this scientific meeting is thus a multidisciplinary approach intended to adopt the most effective and ingenious ways of combating and deconstructing hate speech and xenophobia in the Cameroonian society. Over the next 48 hours, it is our expectation that among other things, participants will look into the arsenal of international, regional and national instruments which are now in place to combat the phenomena, align the cha...