Over 250 Cameroonian Youths engage to promote peace and national unity
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Over 250 youth parliamentarians and representative of the National Youth Council (NYC) have engaged to promote social cohesion, peace, respect of state institutions and laws in view of national unity and sustainable development in Cameroon. This engagement was made at the end of a two-day Intergenerational Dialogue organized in the National Assembly, on the 7 and 8 of February 2019 in prelude of the National Youth Day celebration on the theme "Ethnic and cultural diversity in the service of peace, living together and sustainable development".
This second intergenerational dialogue after the first organized in May 2018, brought together over 280 participants, including junior MPs and members of NYC, members of parliament, government officials, traditional and religious leaders, which is part of the sensitization campaign on peace and living together, sought to strengthen the involvement of Cameroonian youths in promoting the culture of peace and living together, through dialogue and the promotion of peaceful conflict management in Cameroon.
During the closing ceremony, the Deputy Representative of UN Women Cameroon, Hind Jalal while delivering her closing remarks renewed the commitment of UN Women to accompany the government of Cameroon in support of women's participation in decision-making to prevent or resolve conflicts in view of creating inclusive and egalitarian societies that can put an end to gender discrimination and invests in the promotion of leadership of young women and their participation in the peace process to achieve the 2030 "50-50" parity goal. “UN Women hopes that the outcome of this meeting will contribute in sharing of experiences and good practices and to identify the obstacles to the participation of young girls in Peace processes and crisis management and identify concrete actions and measures that need to be taken to address them” she added.
During his closing address, the Minister of Youth affairs and Civic Education, Mounouna Foutsou acknowledged that peace is a prerequisite to development and called on Cameroonian youths to remain dedicated in the construction of a stable and prosperous nation and called on the youths attending the event to be messengers of the discussions and resolutions arrived at during the debates. “We expect you share the messages, ideas and resolutions from this forum with your peers to ensure that your initiative and resolutions are shared and implemented by all youths in view of attaining peace and peaceful coexistence between the different ethnic, sociocultural and religious groups of our country” Minister Mounouna advised.
The president of the Executive bureau of the National Youth Council, Fadimatou Iyawa, seized the opportunity in her closing address to thank UN Women and other partners for their support towards civic engagement and leadership of youths and applauded the commitment and active participation of youths during the two-days deliberations. “I hope that the numerous important proposals that have been made during the las two days will be implemented by both the youths and all the stakeholders concerned” Fadimatou appealed.
This intergenerational dialogue which was co-organized by UN Women, the National Youth Council (NYC), Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic Education (MINJEC), and the Parliamentarian network ‘Esperance Jeunesse’ (REJE) is part of the project to "Build capacity of actors and support for a peaceful electoral process to promote social cohesion in Cameroon". The project is funded by the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) and jointly implemented by UNDP, ONUFEMMES and UNESCO, in collaboration with international, national and local partners.