Human rights key to development, says Robinson

Respect for human rights should be the cornerstone of Africa's development, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, said while inaugurating a regional human rights centre in Cameroon on Friday. The UN sub-regional Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa located in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, aims to promote human rights and encourage the rule of law in the region. It will strengthen the work of various human rights organisations and civil society, train and provide technical and financial assistance to human rights NGOs. Locating the center in Cameroon marked the United Nations' desire to promote human rights in central African countries, Robinson who was on two-day visit to Cameroon said. "Central Africa including the Great Lakes region, has [witnessed] armed conflicts whose cross-border impact is important. Conflicts have negative consequences on human rights, including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, as well as on the proper functioning of state and non-state institutions," Robinson said. The secretary-general of the Economic Community of Central African States, Louis-Sylvain Gomba, pledged that the community would collaborate with the sub-regional centre to advance human rights. The ceremony marked the official inauguration, but the centre has been operational since March 2001. Headed by Ethiopian national Teferra Shiawl-Kidanekal, it oversees the human rights situation in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda and Sao Tome and Principle.