The Association of Human Rights and Torture Defenders (AHURTOD) is a human rights and relief based NGO working for the practical realisation of human rights in Cameroon. AHURTOD is a non-political, non-governmental and non-profit making organisation.
Project facilitator and trainer
- Assistance with human rights sensitisation projects and publications
- Assistance with the new criminal procedure code, and in designing education and sensitisation projects around it
- Liaising with the government with projects relating to the access to information for communities
- Hold meetings with community groups regarding human rights issues
- Assistance with the launch of an IT centre targeting youths in the community
- Capacity building in his skill area
June 2007 - "There's no shortage of work for a human rights NGO in Cameroon"
I found working for AHURTOD to be a very rewarding and fulfilling experience. Nkem, the head of the NGO, is an intelligent, dynamic, and hard-working individual with good communication skills and exceptional leadership abilities. Although he is only 25 he has already achieved a lot, and he is very popular in his local community at Long Street, where he is seen as someone who defends the rights of ordinary people.
Nkem went to great lengths to ensure that I was made to feel as welcome as possible. He ensured that I had good accommodation, introduced me to friends and colleagues, and made sure that I had the opportunity to do other things outside of work. Nkem and myself got on well in our work, and we have become good friends. I think that we respected each other's points of view and listened to each other's advice.
There is no shortage of work for a Human Rights NGO in Cameroon. There is a need to educate people about their rights regarding many different issues, e.g. Voting in Elections, Property Rights, and Criminal Law. People need to understand their rights before they can defend them, and AHURTOD goes about this work with dedication and commitment.
Nkem had prepared a detailed work schedule for me before I arrived, but we adapted this schedule as other issues arose. For example, our prison project moved from donating school textbooks to looking at all the vocational needs of prisoners, and also educating prison staff about their responsibilities under Human Rights law. As a result of this extra work, we rearranged our schedule to focus on one or two projects at a time, rather than trying to juggle too many projects at once.
AHURTOD has no regular source of funding; it relies very much on the personal commitment of Nkem and other volunteers. I met a number of local people who liked the idea of working as volunteers with AHURTOD, but in practice it was
hard to get people to commit to work for free, even for one day a week. This is understandable in an impoverished society, where many people live on £1 a day or less.
However, Nkem does have the assistance of a few committed local volunteers, and this helps AHURTOD to continue its work, which it does very effectively on minimal resources. Nkem's IT knowledge and his use of the media are very important in publicising AHURTOD's campaigns. Hopefully the hard work and commitment shown by AHURTOD will enable it to obtain further funding for projects in the future.
I greatly enjoyed my voluntary placement, and I would recommend working with AHURTOD to other volunteers. My time there was very busy, but I was glad to work for an NGO that had an appreciable effect on its community, and I feel that we achieved a lot in a short time. Overall, I felt lucky in my choices, as I liked Buea and I felt that AHURTOD was working hard to improve people's lives in the region.
I also met people involved in a number of other small NGOs in the Buea area, such as Clarkson Obasi of Help Out and Calistus Tong of AMYOFACIG. These NGOs work in their own areas of community development and agricultural education, but they liase very much with AHURTOD and other bodies in trying to address social issues.
We also had support from the Buea office of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms [NCHRF]. This is a quasi-governmental body, but I found that the local representatives were committed in fighting Human Rights abuses, and they were prepared to challenge other state organisations such as the police and gendarmes.
I hope that AHURTOD, in conjunction with other Civil Society organisations, can continue to work to change Cameroon for the better, and that in the near future Cameroon will develop into the prosperous, democratic country it should be.