CAMEROON INFOTREND

FIGHT GBV: YOUR CONTRIBUTION BRINGS CHANGE; WOMEN NOW GIVEN LAND RIGTS, READ THIS

BY MILDRED NDUM WUNG KUM

When it comes to Gender Based Violence GBV, mostly women are victims. Persons in the society violate females either due to ignorance of human rights or outright refusal to recognise the position of women in matters of rights. Many are gradually embracing the fact of equal rights to both sexes. Ngeh Patricia says her father accorded her a portion of land which is today a livewire for her meanwhile Anye  Fidelis Is today sympathising with his sister whose bride price was used to sponsor him, yet the sister remained uneducated and peasant. 

“We are four girls, three boys. My father gave all of us land. When the boys have a problem we help them, we give them some of our share of the plot to solve the problem and we talk with our husbands. We use the plot with our husband to construct. I used my piece of land to cultivate corn, beans and potatoes which helped me a lot” Ngeh Patricia Beri native of Tatum told Info Trends in an interview.
In my home everybody; both boys and girls are equal, everybody cooks, fetches water, fetches firewood, works in the farm... , “I think parents should distribute  property to everybody in the family. It shows love in the family and it removes feelings of discrimination. Classifying certain things only for boys or for girls creates misunderstandings in future” she added.

Anye FIdelis told Info Tends “I had a very bitter experience at the family level. My elder sister was given out to marriage to pay my fees when she was not up to eighteen years old and now I am richer than my elder sister. She is now a poor peasant woman and her generation continues to be poor. I decry this situation so I think child, male or female be given equal opportunities so that you make use of your resources for your children. My sister was forced into marriage in the 1960s. At that time the girls had to work for heir brothers, the brothers went to school for the upkeep of the family name. My sister lost her husband after giving birth to five children. I feel guilty and I think I owe her the responsibility. I collaborate and take care of her children” he said

Ngeh Patricia hails from Tatum, while Anye Fidelis hails from Mankon. They both come from tribes in the Northwest region of Cameroon where land rights are still being accorded by parents only to sons and where child marriage is prevalent. However their stories inspire hope against GBV.

 Speaking up, living the light of human rights, sensitization and denouncing perpetrators can thus bring change.
It is society’s classification of a man and a woman that is causing problems. The customs in most cultures say only a son is entitled to the father’s property, a daughter is simply regarded as a property to be sold out to the man who would marry her and thus she ends up having nothing from her father’s wealth. In most other cases, a woman’s voice does not count in decision making, she’s just a receptor.  Also a condition like her health is disregarded by the husband in many cases rendering her to continue bearing yokes even when she is ill.

Human Rights are unalienable and inalienable to both men and women. What affect males also affect females.

The general rule is to do unto others what you would want them to do to you and not to do to others what you would not want to be done to you. Remember! the International Day of Human Rights is observed every year on December 10th to create greater sensitization of human rights.

The International Day for the elimination of violence against women is 25th November every year. It behoves all to recognize human rights, the rights of a woman, and the rights of a child and stop violence of any form