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CAMEROON

National consultation on constitutional and rules of law and it impact on youth Organized by: Association Jeunesse Espoir du Cameroun

P.O.Box: 31353 Yaound, Cameroon Tel :(00237)-226-071-35 Email : associationjeunesse_espoir@yahoo.fr Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Association-Jeunesse-Espoir-duCameroun/289448517812407

Introduction The national survey on the issues of constitutionalism and rule of law and their impact on Cameroonian youth took place online through email. A survey of five questions was administered to more than two hundred young people through different organizations mailing groups. Unfortunately, the response rate was low and the majority of respondents have chosen to not specify their personal details. This survey technique has been subject to debate among the community of respondents, including the legitimacy of private organizations to conduct surveys on behalf of the African Union and the possibility to decline the identity of respondents on the form. Cameroon, a democracy under construction. The year 2008 was particularly important for democracy in Cameroon. Indeed, the constitutional revision of April 14, 2008 followed important and bloody riots in the major cities of Cameroon, including Douala and Yaound. These riots aimed at refusing any constitutional amendment and to protest against the high cost of living. Despite these protests, the constitutional amendment was still retained by the parliament. This amendment was then seen as an obstacle to the democratization process of the country that two years earlier had established an independent body responsible for organizing transparent and democratic elections. However, despite this decline, improvements have nevertheless been observed. These changes revolve around decentralization and the ratification in July 2011 of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance which is a binding instrument in the consolidation of democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the good governance practice in Africa. This decentralization process that has now expanded to the level of regional and local communities (municipalities) seems somewhat mitigated when it comes to youth participation. Indeed, younger staffs are working for these communities through internships and other holiday activities but still the composition of the municipal executive branch does not leave an important part for the youth. They are commonly used for electoral purposes and have very little representation in political parties and in the electoral lists of the different elections. This is even more critical for young girls who are completely excluded from the process. While the new electoral code opens new doors for youth participation, in particular by taking into account the sociological composition of Cameroon. However, this is still subject to debate since quotas are not allocated to reflect this sociological composition. To the general knowledge of the public and youth in Cameroon, the country has already experienced two constitutional amendments. A first one in January 1996 to appease spirits and respect human rights following the violent clashes and police abuses in the 1990s. Indeed, the human rights listed in the preamble of the 1972 constitution were not integrated into the constitution until the 1996 revision, which is included in Article 65. A second

amendment in April 2008 aimed at removing the limits on the presidential mandate. Unlike the 1996 revision which enshrined human rights, the revision of 2008 was seen as a desire of those in power to remain in power indefinitely. Hence why the politicians qualified the violent riots of February 2008 at the time as hunger riots and political manipulation. With regard to free and transparent elections, young Cameroonians thinks that they are free in most cases. However, with regard to transparency, they think the results are known in advance and that their voice is of no importance in determining the final result. They admit however that many improvements have been observed with the introduction of biometric cards even though adjustments remain to be done in the polling in terms of control of voters and quality of anchors used. For the majority, they do not recognize themselves in their local officials to the extent that they are more accountable to their political parties and not their constituency. According to the constitution, there is no obstacle to the participation of young people in democracy and electoral process. However, the recent electoral code contains elements criticized by the majority of young people. Including the increase of the electoral deposit from 25,000 to 50,000 CFA francs for municipal elections; 50,000 to 1 million CFA francs for the legislative and 1.5 million to 5,000,000 CFA francs for presidential elections. Such amounts are likely to reduce youth participation in the electoral process because of their monetary poverty. Conclusion and recommendations In light of the responses observed and discussed through various messages, we can conclude that democracy in Cameroon is still weak and under construction and young people are somehow left out of it. We can furthermore formulate the following recommendations: - reinforce the use of biometrics and indelible anchors - Issue formal African Union letterhead to organizations responsible for carrying out field surveys. Appendix Association Jeunesse Espoir du Cameroun CAMIMUN AIESEC-YAOUNDE Association des jeunes de Biyem-assi REMEMBER DAN

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