Skip Navigation
You Are In: About Us > Archives > Speeches Former Ambassadors > Talking Points for Remarks TIP grant signing
Skip Left Section Navigation

Speeches Former Ambassadors

Talking Points for Remarks by Ambassador Marquardt

Three Trafficking In Persons Grant Agreements Signing Between The United States And Three Ngos

Yaounde – April 18, 2006

  • Every day, women and children are trafficked from rural areas of the North West Province and the Northern Provinces to the main cities in Cameroon and trans-border countries.  
  • We are pleased to be here today to provide support to three organizations focused on curbing this problem.  I would like to commend Nkumu Fed Fed, the Center for the Environment and Rural Transformation and the Center for Human Rights and Peace Advocacy for taking on the difficult issue of trafficking in persons.
  • The aim of the USG’s funding is to help educate both potential victims and those receiving these laborers on the problem of trafficking in persons and its effects on Cameroon’s families and social structure.
  • Nkum Fed Fed’s program will train community-based communicators on how to track the problem and help victims.  They will also produce and disseminate packages on the legal framework governing trafficking in children, child labor, as well as children’s rights and responsibilities in Cameroon. 
  • The Center for the Environment and Rural Transformation will inform people about the issues surrounding trafficking in persons through positive dialogue using the radio and local newspapers; hoping that people will become more conscious of the problem in their own communities.
  • The Center for Human Rights and Peace Advocacy will work to prevent trafficking in persons through intensive sensitization and civic education campaigns.  Using the media, cultural groups and religious denominations they will sensitize the general public, law enforcement officials and policy makers on the dangers of trafficking in persons and child abuse.
  • All long journeys begin with small steps, as the Chinese say, and we are pleased to be here today launching what we hope will be only the first steps in helping Cameroonians learn about and address the very serious social issue which is trafficking in persons.