Cameroon: Gov’t endorses Civic Watch’s multi-stakeholder observatory against hate speech

The launch of the platform took place on Thursday February 15, 2024 at Hotel Hilton in Yaounde. It was during a workshop that brought together stakeholders to synergize action towards collaboration and operational effectiveness on issues of hate speech. “The idea behind the launch of the multi-stakeholder platform is to collect, analyze and flag questions of hate speech nationally,” Ngala Desmond, Country’s Director of Defyhatenow and scribed of Association Civic Watch said.

The workshop was chaired by Cameroon’s Minister of Communication and government’s spokesperson, Rene Emmanuel Sadi. “I came first to show that we are all concerned by these trends,” the Minister told reporters, adding that “social media has become a place where people think that they can say just everything”.

The workshop saw the participantion of state personalities like former Bar Council president, Barrister Akere Muna, who delivered a keynote address on “mitigating hate speech through the use of digital tools and ICTs in the context and prospects in Cameroon”.

“Politics in our country is a catalyst for hate speech. Elites use misinformation to carry favour with their electoral strongholds,” Barrister Akere Muna said.

The presence of government’s spokesperson to support the launch of the platform was an indication that the government of Cameroon is very much concerned in mitigating hate language both online and offline.

“I hail it and encourage the organizers.”

The multi-stakeholder observatory is an initiative of Association Civic Watch, which is a community-based organization implementing the #defyhatenow initiative in Cameroon.

One of the panel discussion during the workshop focused on “𝑹𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔”. Great minds like, Pr LEKA Essomba Armand, Madama Muma Bih Yvonne, Mr. Serge Bayimbe, and Mr. Desmond Ngala shared ideas on “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑪𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒏.

Alongside the Minister of Communication, the Deputy Ambassador of the European Union to Cameroon, civil society organizations, representatives of government ministries, the media and some youth groups, the hate speech workshop ended with the adoption of a holistic and multi-stakeholder approach in countering hate speech on the eve of elections in Cameroon.

“We are not asking people not to express themselves, we just want them to be responsible in their social media outings,” Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi said.

#AFF (Africa Fachecking Followship) cohort 9 fellow, Ngobeu Mimbe Hervé Cédric, who joined other young leaders at tye launch said “as citizens, youths and Adults we need to deploy our energy to #defyhatenow, hate speech and violence online and outline. It’s about promoting Peace, Non-Violence, and coaching internet users to practice peace speech, Love and living together in order to contribute to economic, cultural, socio-cultural development”.