Keynote address presented by Ni John Fru Ndi, National Chairman of the Social Democratic Front (SDF)(Cameroon), at the 20th Congress of the Socialist International held at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, September 9-11, 1996

Mr Chairman, Sir,
Distinguished Guests,
Fellow Social Democrats.

I regard it as a signal honour, that the organisers of the 20th Congress of the Socialist International, a Congress which has brought together under one roof, all social democratic forces in the world have permitted me to give this keynote address.

I stand before you today in my capacity as the National Chairman of the Social Democratic (SDF), the first and only social democratic party in Cameroon and perhaps the youngest within the world fraternity of social democratic parties.

But Sir, notwithstanding our youth the SDF in Cameroon has not been spared the traditional welcome that reactionary and anti-democratic governments have usually reserved for the progressive movements in Germany in the 1860s.

Fellow social democrats,

You know only too well of what I speak since you have all at one time or another been harassed and persecuted by insecure and over-reacting governments.

I shall, therefore spare you the gory details of our violent birth in 1990 and the resulting deaths and destruction brought on the Cameroonian political landscape by the Cameroon government in a desperate but failed bit to silence the voices of reason and change in my country.

Suffice to say that like our illustrious predecessors in the social democratic movement we remain resolute and steadfast in our commitment to the ideals of social democracy and hold firm to the belief that the cure for the sickness of any divided social system is through a fundamental restructuring of that society based on levelling and equality. As committed social democrats we believe as an article of faith that such transformation can only take place through democratic and constitutional means. Mr Chairman, Sir,
Fellow Delegates,

My address follows in the giant steps of my illustrious forerunners. I am, however, afraid that their earlier contributions have put me under enormous burden which no matter how hard I try I shall not be able to fully discharge. Be that as it may I have chosen as the topic for the address:

The Challenge to and prospects form the Enjoyment of Human Rights in Africa in the Year 2000.

What I have to say will, to some extent be critical of our friends in the West who have been so supportive of our struggle to roll back the frontiers of fear, ignorance and insecurity in our continent. However, my intention is not to offend but merely to create the proper framework for a frank and fruitful exchange between Africa and the West. Many among our Western friends have, in their eagerness to promote order and stability in Africa failed to ask of African leaders the hard questions: Stability for whom? At what price? And for whose benefit?

For experience has shown that for many African countries fundamental and egregious violations of human rights can and do often co-exist in the midst of apparent stability! Human rights, as I understand them are "those which are inherent in our nature and without which we cannot live as human beings." Respect for human rights and human dignity in the memorable words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights "is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world". It follows, therefore, that their denial also produces conditions of social and political unrest, sowing the seeds of violence and conflict within and between societies and nations."

In order for peace to reign and for stability to endure the nations world must re-commit themselves both in words and deeds to lofty ideals of human justice and dignity enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Perhaps it may come as a surprise to some but virtually all African States have endorsed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and are parties to some or all the instruments that make up the International Bill of Human Rights: That is: The Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; The Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; And the Optional Protocol to the Civil and Political Rights Covenant.

Further more many of these countries including my own Cameroon have inserted in their Constitutions, the standard list of human rights and fundamental freedoms found in these documents. Yet only a few among them have lived up to the universal ideals of human rights they have voluntarily embraced.

Indeed their words have not matched their performance. A review of human rights enforcement in Africa reveals a trail littered with extensive and flagrant violations. National laws, policies and practices not only tolerate the denial of human rights but often celebrate it! The point bears emphasising that no serious discussion of this subject can afford to lose sight of the fact that human rights are and indeed have always been essentially a relationship between the State and individuals usually its own citizens residing in its territory. It is to their governments that citizens look up to for the promotion and protection of their basic rights and liberties.

Fellow Delegates,

We can at least agree on one thing: that when these governments refuse or consistently fail to meet their international legal commitments to promote and protect the human rights of their citizens, they cast doubt on their suitability for membership in the community of nations. To the extent that the world community permits such violations by a member-state to go unpunished then the community itself becomes an accomplice.

It is a matter of record that hum rights abuses occur daily in Africa and go unpunished largely because the community of nations has elected to remain silent. By its inaction the international community contributes even by default to the deplorable state of human rights enforcement in Africa. Why, I ask, is that African government find it so difficult to respect the human rights of their citizens? And how are they able to go away with such brazen acts of international lawlessness? Let me pursue this matter a little further and perhaps re-phrase the question. Can and should there be a universal standard against which to evaluate human rights violations? Or, is there perhaps a basic difference in modes of thoughts as between and among societies such that generalisations about human rights can only be made within the specificities of time, place and level of socio-economic development? Bluntly put should there be one set of standards for judging human rights violations in Western Europe and the Americas and a different set for Africa?

It would appear to me that those who monitor human rights enforcement around the globe are yet to come up with a clear and concise answer to the problem I have just raised. For how else can we explain their silence in the face of the brutal assaults on fundamental human rights waged daily by African governments on defenceless people? A silence that is only broken only when the violations begin to approach the scale of a genocide such as we have witnessed recently in Rwanda and Burundi. Could one conclude from this deafening silence that the only time Africans command the attention of the outside world is when they are slaughtering each other in the thousands?

Africans have learnt from long bitter experience that many among our friends in the West subscribe to the view that there is something, which distinguishes Western from African and other Third World societies. We have been told that our societies lacked not only the practice of human rights but also the very concept. Attempts have even been made to convince us that given the absence of indigenous African perceptions of human rights and the lack of a historical tradition of Enlightenment ideas, African leaders know no better! This view of an African leader as an infant conjures up images of Rousso’s ‘noble savage’ who has remained untouched, unwashed and uncontaminated by the powerful currents of enlightenment that have swept through much of the world in the last two centuries. It must be rejected in its entirety. There is nothing in the nature of Cameroonian villager that makes her less eligible for the enjoyment of human rights than a woman in any country in Europe. One’s place of birth and cultural; environment have no bearing on that person’s moral worth or to his entitlement to human rights.

An African’s claim to basic rights cannot be ignored by his being born in Africa rather than in the United States of America, for one chooses neither one’s cultural environment nor one’s place of birth. While it may be true that African societies do not share the European historical tradition of Enlightenment, the fact of the matter is that the ideas of the Enlightenment: democratic pluralism, he rule of law, freedom of the press, of assembly, of association, of expression and so on are now the common heritage of all mankind, Africans as much as Europeans. The challenge facing us as social democrats is one of securing for Africans these basic rights that are taken for granted in Europe and America. The agenda for the 21st century must seek ways to contribute to the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa. How can this be done?

Mr Chairman,
Distinguished Guests,
Fellow Social Democrats,

Let us begin by resolving here today that from the point of view of human rights enforcement, the 21st century must become the age of international legality. It should be the age where the law of nations reigns supreme over all the constituent parts of the community of nations. Country that on their own volition to become signatories to the various instruments that make up the International Bill of Human Rights must not be made to forget that an agreement is an agreement and those who fail to uphold their end of the bargain will not go unpunished. Therefore, the responsibility for monitoring as well as punishing human rights violations, particularly in Africa, is a shared responsibility. It is the responsibility of each and everyone of us, yes, of every member of the community of nations to ensure that rights which belong to us all are not tarnished by a few. Human rights law legitimates international scrutiny of a state’s treatment of its own nationals. This means that African governments cannot claim as they always do that external criticisms of their human rights record amounts to unwarranted interference in their internal affairs.

International financial institutions and donor countries whose capital infusions have kept afloat many a financially strapped African country must insist on full disclosure and accountability from their wards.

Second, the doctrine of state responsibility holds a state accountable for breaches of international obligations committed by or attributable to the state. A precondition to effective protection of human rights is the authentification of abuses committed against individuals and the recognition that they are legal wrongs. Toward this end, African governments must be made to understand that included in their international undertaking to protect the exercise and enjoyment of human rights by their citizens is a legal obligation to investigate alleged violations, punish violators and provide effective remedies including financial compensation of victims.

Governments that continue to ignore their international obligations to respect the human rights of their people should be ostracised from the community of nations. But in the final analysis, Mr Chairman, the best guarantee for the flourishing of human rights in any society is a humane and nurturing environment.

It is no accident therefore, that democratic systems appear to have the best records in the promotion and protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. In this respect the absence of democratic institutions in Africa perhaps even more tragic, the lack of a will among those in power to democratise does not augur well for the enjoyment of human rights. When we in the opposition complain about the slow pace of democratisation in our countries, our Western friends are quick to scold us cautioning patience on the grounds that the introduction of democratic governance in any country is a gradual and long-drawn-out process. But any process has both a clear and well-defined starting point as well as an end point.

In many African countries where the democratic process has been hijacked by antidemocratic forces, no one knows for sure where it is headed and when it will arrive at its destination. To understand this troubling state one needs to keep in mind that most African leaders in power today are the products of an authoritarian political tradition. Lest we forget, deeply entrenched authoritarian habits like all habits die hard. These leaders have neither been trained nor emotionally prepared for competitive politics and are generally impatient with the democratic approach because it seems too cumbersome and ineffective. As a consequence they will look for any ready excuse to pervert the noble ideals of democratic governance.

Our friends in the West must not allow themselves to hoodwinked by the trappings of democracy that they see in many African countries. Despite appearances to the contrary, the reality in much of Africa is that democracy is in retreat. Our leaders have become quite adept in doing and saying just the right things to appease the IMF and external donors. They shamelessly proclaim their compliance with external demands to democratise even as they engaged in massive perversion of democracy. When asked for evidence of steps taken to open-up the political process, government spokesmen will eagerly point to the opposition newspaper headlines excoriating the President or some member of his cabinet for committing some malfeasance, in the full knowledge that with the snap of the President’s finger that paper can be banned from newsstands and its editors imprisoned for an indefinite duration.

Or they will proudly rattle off scores of registered political parties. Cameroon has over 100 of them few of which have the resources to operate as credible organisations or stand a fighting chance of winning any election since these are routinely rigged to favour the ruling party.

Mr Chairman,
Fellow social democrats,

There can be no democracy without a culture of democracy. By this I mean the core values on which a democratic system is anchored, that is: respect for the rule of law, clear and predictable rules of the game, tolerance, fairness, justice, human decency and dignity. Without these values this enveloping culture, any talk of democratisation is merely paying lip service to an ideal for reasons of expediency. If Africans are ever to enjoy their fundamental human rights and freedoms, then the pace of democratisation in that continent must be accelerated. Antidemocratic African governments should be put on notice that their days are numbered and that there is no room for them in the 21st century.

Thank you.

The end