As part of the mandate entrusted to it by the United Nations Permanent Advisory Committee on Security Issues in Central Africa (UNSAC) during its 55^th session organized in May 2023 in Sao Tome, the delegation of Cameroon indicated that Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), will host, on 14 and 15 December 2023, a regional Forum on hate speech that will bring together Ministers of Communication and Information from Central Africa. The delegation noted that this meeting will provide the opportunity to examine and pre-validate the draft Regional Strategy and Action Plan to address and counter this scourge. The work will focus mainly on the version amended during a Forum organized from 5 to 7 July 2023 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and during which experts from UNSAC Member States reviewed the project adopted in Kinshasa in June 2022. After this appropriation phase, it will be a matter of continuing the process leading to the political endorsement of the Regional Strategy and Action Plan by the leaders of the sub-region through the relevant ECCAS mechanisms.

The delegation also recalled that representatives of Cameroon, the UNSAC Bureau (Sao Tome and Principe) and UNOCA supported by MINUSCA carried out a preparatory mission in Bangui, from 4 to 7 October 2023. In addition to the support provided on a substantive and technical level, the two UN entities will contribute to the budget of the Ministerial Forum, in particular by financing several logistical and operational aspects. Cameroon expressed its gratitude to development partners for their support and appealed for them to maintain it until the process is finalized. The UNSAC Member States expressed their support to this request, and welcomed, once again, the ongoing efforts aimed at establishing a community instrument that will enable a collective and concerted response to hate speech in the sub-region.