Members of civil society organisations in the country are currently sharpening skills on the role they can play before, during and after elections to ensure hitch-free polls and optimal respect of human rights by all actors. A two-day national seminar organised by the United Nations Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa went underway at the Yaounde Hotel des Deputés on September 7, 2011.

Speaking during the opening ceremony, the Board Chair of Elections Cameroon, Dr Samuel Fonkam Azu’u, described the role of civil society as fundamental in an electoral process. Unlike political parties who may have vested political interest, Dr Fonkam Azu’u said the civil society works for the general interest, sensitising and mobilising the population for election. “In Cameroon, if civil society organisations do a bit of networking, it will be possible for them to be in the close to 23,000 polling stations on election day and therefore will be in a better position to indicate how the process went on,” he noted.

Corroborating the ELECAM Board Chair, the Regional Representative of the UN Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa, Mrs Maarit Kohonen Sheriff, said a well-informed, independent and impartial civil society can stabilise an electoral process. “They can prevent violence and also play a confidence-building role for the general public if the information they collect and disseminate is correct, accurate and actually founded,” she said. Observing human rights during elections, she stressed, means looking at the overall context; accessibility of persons with disability, indigenous people, linguistic constraints, or even threats by security forces, intimidation etc. “We want to create checks and balances for a viable democracy. I encourage them to write reports about what they have observed and make them public by submitting them to the new government and to political parties because it is important that they take action on what the civil society is recommending,” Mrs Maarit wished.