Chris Mburu said the Centre has noted potential areas of discrimination within the sub region as well as groups of people that face discrimination and double discrimination. These include among others women, minority groups at National level, indigenous peoples, immigrants, persons with disabilities and older persons. Chris Mburu acknowledged the existence of ministries working for the empowerment of women in the sub region but iterated that much still needs to be done to address issues of gender inequality. Government’s efforts to reshape discriminatory laws in this respect cannot be overemphasized, but the implementation of the principles of equality remains a major concern, he said.

Making reference to the Durban Declaration, he noted that this document recognizes that Xenophobia against non nationals, particularly migrants, refugees and asylum seekers constitutes one of the principal sources of contemporary intolerance and that human rights violations against members of such groups occur widely in the context of discriminatory, xenophobic and racist practices. Constitutions therefore not only need to be reflective of the fundamental principles of human existence enshrined in international human rights law but also to show the dynamism and the practical need to respect the rights of persons eventually bound by it.

Commenting on the raison d’être of this programme, the coordinator of the Citizen’s Governance Initiative Agnès Ebo’o said they have perceived the need to promote constitutive and constitutional law because of similar trends throughout the continent pointing to the neglect of the constitution by the basic legal documents of the country. She hopes that participants who come from a number of African countries amongst them Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo will use the knowledge they acquire to impact positively in constitutional processes at country level. Given that most of these participants are PhD students and NGO leaders who also work on general issues of citizenship, they could eventually come out with great knowledge on legal issues related to discrimination.

Holding under the theme constitution and citizenship, the course will treat issues such as citizenship, nationality and Identity, citizenship and participation in public affairs, citizenship, equality and discrimination; citizenship between rights and duties; citizenship and regional and sub regional integration; citizenship and the principle of equality; citizenship and mass atrocities; citizenship, refugees and displaced persons amongst others.

The two weeks course which ends on 8 August is taking place at the Protestant University of Central Africa, (UPAC) in Yaounde.