In view of the celebration of Human Rights Day on December 10th, Junior Chambers International (JCI) Yaounde excel, organized a serminar aimed at mitigating the use of hatespeech on the social media.

The seminar dubbed “Hatespeech and the Use of Social Media in Times of Crisis”, focused on reducing the use if hate language especially against minorities. According to the President for JCI Yaounde excel, Ngo Ndenha Ndenha Josephine Eliane, minorities are largely affected by the use of hate speech on the social media. She said that many people turn to use hurtful words or cliches when referring to a particular group of minorities, an act which should be widely condemned. She added that as youths, it is important to create a conducive social space for everyone “We choose hate speech and minorities because hate speech is spreading fast in our society especially after the last election and minority groups, ethnic groups, political groups are battling for one reason or the other to incite the other camp. We have taken upon ourselves as young leaders who take initiative under a discussion to say that we should find solutions to curb the hate and have a conducive social environment.”

President, JCI Yaounde excel

Representing the Minister of Post and Telecommunications, Parfait Essono, an assistant researcher at the department of legal affairs at the ministry, said that they are working towards ensuring a responsible social media use “It should be noted that the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications which is the government’s right arm in matters related to the vulgarisation of ICTs has endeavored, in line with the missions conferred to her by the State, in the fight for responsible use of social media, to organise a huge sensitization campaign toward the civil society, media practitioners, online newspapers. The ministry has thus put in place a regulatory framework in a bid to punish all infractions related to false news dissemination or anything that could hamper social cohesion. Therefore, still the same occasion, I’d like to benefit from this opportunity to congratulate the Young International Chambers for this initiative, geared towards governmental priorities.”

Parfait Essono

He furthered by praising the efforts of the youth organisation “I wish to congratulate JCI for this initiative that looks into government’s preoccupation. MINPOSTEL is always ready to assist any vision that works towards ensuring social peace in the country.”

Representing the National Commision of Human rights at the seminar, Mamouda Ferikouop said that hate speech and the spread of fake news can hamper the development of an economy and as such called on all to stay clear of these unhealthy practices especially online. He equally said that, discussions around hatespeech should be reported “We have insisted that people should be vigilant about discussions around hatespeech on the social media and should report when they come across the use of hate language on the internet”.

Mamouda Ferikouop

JCI Yaounde excel President explained that the organisation will have more of such discussions in the future “This is the first step. We will have many other initiatives like that in other to sensitize the population to adopt good habits when on the social media. Our aim is to spread the message of living together.”

The serminar was held at the ST Muna Foundation in Yaounde on December 9.

Human Rights day is celebrated yearly on December 10th. This year’s celebration was under the banner “Recover better, stand up for human rights”.

By Sandrine M.