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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Joint Commonwealth - Francophonie meeting in Cameroon reinforces democracy and pluralism links

31 January 2000

The Commonwealth Secretariat and the International Organisation of La Francophonie jointly organised a colloquium on 'Democracy in Pluralistic Societies' in Yaoundé, Republic of Cameroon, from January 24-26, 2000. It was the first time the two organisations had undertaken a joint initiative of this kind, and it was attended by 26 participating experts from member countries of both organisations as well as from the host country, and was conducted in English and French.

The conference was formally opened by Cameroon's Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge, representing President Paul Biya. The Secretaries-General of the two organisations, Chief Emeka Anyaoku (Commonwealth) and Dr Boutros Boutros-Ghali (La Francophonie), also spoke at the opening ceremony, as did the Mayor of Yaoundé, Dr Basile Emah, who welcomed the participants. The aim of the colloquium was to enable policy-makers to benefit from an examination of the challenges of building democracy in the context of pluralistic societies.

In a speech at a dinner which he offered to participants in the colloquium, President Paul Biya, after recounting his country's experience in passing from an authoritarian regime towards democracy over the past twenty years, said that Cameroonians would be the first to recognise that there was still progress to be made, but they were determined to carry it through. He reaffirmed his country's attachment to the commitments it had made to both la Francophonie and to the Commonwealth, in particular to the latter's Harare Declaration on the promotion of democracy, the rule of law and fundamental human rights.

The colloquium, recognising the need for positive leadership to create an inclusive stake-holdership in the democratic enterprise, agreed that specific structural and institutional mechanisms could assist decision-makers in creating a framework for democratic pluralism. These include:

• the incorporation in constitutions of all aspects of human rights;
• constitutions which reflect an agreed respect for equality and the validity of diversity;
• a legislature ensuring equality of opportunity for all, and respect for pluralism in religious, cultural and political practice;
• institutions designed to ensure inclusive representation and to transcend ethnic cleavages;
• obligations on political parties to subscribe to values which respect pluralism;
• educational curricula which promote respect for diversity and promote inclusiveness;
• security services and law and order bodies which reflect the diversity of society and include training which is sensitive to pluralism;
• national media which are responsive to the needs and aspirations of all sections of the pluralistic society;
• the existence of public, civil society and other fora to discuss problems of pluralism and to seek constructive responses to these;
• an institutional framework where an ongoing review is maintained of power-sharing structures in order to adapt them to fit the changing nature of pluralistic societies.

Participants welcomed the joint colloquium as a demonstration of the combined experience in the two groupings in promoting democracy in pluralistic societies. They also urged the Commonwealth and la Francophonie to join forces in advocating these conclusions within their memberships, working with other international organisations and ensuring an international consensus for tackling these issues and designing appropriate solutions.


Note to Editors:

The Commonwealth has 54 member states, which have a total population of 1.7bn. La Francophonie, with a total population of 560m, has 51 member states and four observers. Cameroon, Canada, Dominica, Mauritius, Seychelles and Vanuatu are members of both organisations. St Lucia is a full member of the Commonwealth and an associate member of La Francophonie.

 

00/04 31 January, 2000

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