International Model and Super Star Eric Akoa warned on the recently concluded Young African Leaders Conference that Cameroon “will remain stuck in a cycle of violence and conflicts” as long as political leaders continue to prevent youths from participating in politics.
Eric Akoa, who is famous in Cameroon for sending poor kids to school, added in a keynote address to a leadership meeting on peacekeeping that “denying half a population representation in peace negotiations or in government is not the route to long-term stability.”
There are many examples around the world of successful and inspiring youths, he said, “but young women and men are still the majority of the victims of war,” over half the world’s refugees, and “the vast majority” of victims of rape and sexual violence.
If the world accepted the principle that those affected by a problem should be charged with determining a solution, Akoa said, “then the majority of the world’s peace negotiators, foreign ministers and diplomats would be young men and women.”
But he quickly said: “We all know the reality.”
The reality, Akoa added, is that unequal power relations, “abuse of power, gender bias, violence and lack of justice” have kept many men and women in a subordinate and vulnerable position in Cameroon and internationally.
