{"id":203,"date":"2026-10-01T14:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anac-nabc.org\/news\/?p=203"},"modified":"2026-10-01T14:05:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T13:05:17","slug":"op-ed-international-day-of-peace-2026-peace-cannot-be-decreed-it-must-be-lived","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anac-nabc.org\/news\/2026\/10\/01\/op-ed-international-day-of-peace-2026-peace-cannot-be-decreed-it-must-be-lived\/","title":{"rendered":"OP-ED \u2013 INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE 2026: Peace cannot be decreed, it must be lived"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Can we speak of peace when some Cameroonians still lack access to education, drinking water, or primary healthcare?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can we speak of peace when certain parts of the country, notably the Northwest\/Southwest (NOSO) and the Far North, suffer daily violence from armed groups?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can we speak of peace when human rights are trampled upon, and when infanticide, femicide, and murders are on the rise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can we speak of peace when floods, garbage, and household waste invade our cities?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can we speak of peace when citizens no longer have faith in the organization of transparent and credible elections?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was to answer all these questions\u2014without taboo, beating around the bush, or embellishment\u2014that participants in the celebration of International Day of Peace gathered in the chamber of the National Assembly at Ngoa-Ekelle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Frank and Straightforward Dialogue<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For an entire day, speech was liberated. Parliamentarians, members of Government, civil society, clergy, international organizations, media, and citizens engaged in an open-hearted debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From this direct exchange came concrete and courageous proposals:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On the electoral front: experimentation with electronic voting, introduction of a single ballot paper, and rigorous cleanup of the voter register to permanently eradicate the practice of voter bussing and multiple voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the inclusion front: effective accessibility of polling stations for persons with disabilities, introduction of tactile ballots for the visually impaired, and systematic sign language translation of messages, as was exemplarily done throughout the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the educational and cultural front: institutionalization of modules on peace, civic duty, living together, and a culture of tolerance in school curricula, starting from primary school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strength of this day lay in its representativeness. Its success was due to the joint participation of leaders of international organizations, members of Government and Parliament, clergy, civil society, and the media, even if the latter were weakly represented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One proposal recurred insistently: a substantial increase in the budget allocation dedicated to fighting gender-based violence, holistic care for victims, and the strengthening of material and financial resources allocated to promoting a true culture of peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, this High-Level Parliamentary Dialogue served as a reminder of an essential truth: peace is not a mere slogan, nor is it a temporary lull between two conflicts. It is a daily investment. It is measured by the quality of education offered to a child in Ka\u00ef-Ka\u00ef as well as to one in Buea, by a citizen’s trust in their ballot paper, by the safety of a woman returning home at night, and by the dignity restored to the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To invest in peace, as this year’s theme proclaims, is to choose to treat the root causes of violence rather than endlessly bandage its symptoms. Cameroon possesses the human resources, the institutional framework, and now, the declared political will to do so. What remains is to transform these recommendations from Ngoa-Ekelle into concrete actions so that peace is no longer celebrated on a single day, but lived every day, by everyone, everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Etienne Didier ONANA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can we speak of peace when some Cameroonians still lack access to education, drinking water, or primary healthcare? Can we speak of peace when certain parts of the country, notably the Northwest\/Southwest (NOSO) and the Far North, suffer daily violence from armed groups? Can we speak of peace when human rights are trampled upon, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-association_life","category-political-participation-of-blind-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anac-nabc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anac-nabc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anac-nabc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anac-nabc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anac-nabc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/anac-nabc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208,"href":"https:\/\/anac-nabc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions\/208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anac-nabc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anac-nabc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anac-nabc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anac-nabc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}