France, others recall necessity of respect of international rights obligations

One of Cameroon’s key political partners, France has stated that it is necessary for “for all States to comply with their international human rights obligations”.

This was reiterated in a Statement on behalf of Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and Estonia, current and incoming EU members of the Security Council, on the occasion of the International Day for Human Rights.

The countries in the statement reaffirmed their commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, their universality, indivisibility and interdependence noting that “as one of the three pillars of the United Nations, human rights are at the core of the UN’s work”.

To them, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a cornerstone of the rules-based international system as Human rights are inextricably linked to the maintenance of peace and security and to the achievement of sustainable development.

With the celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights therefore, “ we want to stress the importance of the Security Council systematically taking human rights into account in all of its work.

Human rights violations and abuses are amongst the first warning signs of a looming conflict; may be part of a conflict’s root causes; and are invariably a feature of a conflict” they stated.

Failure to do so the nations added, “undermines the Security Council’s efforts to sustaining peace. Holding those responsible for human rights violations and abuses to account is a vital component of combating impunity”.

To them, there is also “ the need for the Security Council to focus on advancing the protection of human rights as an integral part of its mandate to maintain international peace and security”.

The call however comes at a time when the UN and other international bodies are facing criticism for ‘not doing enough’ regarding some allegations of rights violations.

The recent call by France, Germany and other European nations comes about the same time Cameroon is ranked 9th out of 162 nations on the 2019 early warning project.
The model forecasts new mass killings with a different target group or perpetrator, in addition to ongoing mass killing.