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In November 2022, Cameroon’s government and supporters held events across the country to celebrate President Biya’s 40 years in power. On March 12 , senatorial elections were held.
- Anglophone Crisis
- Abuses by Government Forces
- Abuses by Armed Separatists
- Restrictions on Humanitarian Access and Abuses Against Aid Workers
- Attacks in The Far North by Boko Haram
- Crackdown on Political Opposition, Dissent
- Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
- Justice and Accountability
- Women’s Rights
- Corruption
Based on Human Rights Watch’s field and open source research, at least 4,000 civilians have been killed by both government forces and armed separatist fighters since late 2016 in the North-West and South-West regions, as separatists seek independence for the country’s minority Anglophone regions.
Security forces responded to separatist attacks with a heavy hand, often targeting civilians across the Anglophone regions. On January 10, army soldiers killedat least nine civilians, including a woman and a child, in Mautu village, South-West region. The soldiers also looted scores of homes and threatened residents. In Gom village, North-West regi...
Separatist fighters continued to kill, torture, assault, and kidnap civilians. They also continued their attacks against education. According to the United Nations, 700,000 students were out of school in March 2021 as a result of the crisis. On January 9, suspected separatist fighters killed the principal of a high school in Eyumojock, South-West r...
Humanitarian access is severely restricted and humanitarian workers have been victims of attacks by both government forces andgroups separatist armed groups. In December 2020, the Cameroonian authorities suspended all activities of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) in the North-West region, accusing the organization of being t...
In the first half of 2021, attacks and raids by the Islamist armed group Boko Haram increased in the Far North Region, with at least 80 civilians killed. On January 8, a Boko Haram suicide attack killed at least 14 civilians, including 8 children, and wounded 3 others, including 2 children. The presumed death in May of Abubakar Shekau, the leader o...
The government limited the ability of the political opposition to function freely. Authorities prohibited a demonstration by the country’s main opposition party, Cameroon Renaissance Movement (Mouvement pour la renaissance du Cameroun, MRC), planned for July 25 in Yaoundé, the capital, citing concerns around Covid-19 and general public order. On th...
Cameroon’s penal code punishes “sexual relations between persons of the same sex” with up to five years in prison. Security forces arbitrarily arrested, beat, or threatened at least 24 people, including a 17-year-old boy, for alleged consensual same-sex conduct or gender nonconformity. Some were subjected to forced anal examinations. On May 11, a C...
Since January, seven hearings were held in the trial of three security force members accused of involvement in the killings of 21 civilians in Ngarbuh village, North-West region. The trial is being held before a military court in Yaoundé, about 380 kilometers from Ngarbuh, making it difficult for family members of victims to attend. The defendants ...
Discrimination against women is prevalent within Cameroonian society and incorporated in laws that subordinate women’s status to men. The civil code, which applies in Francophone regions, provides that men are the head of households (Article 213), husbands have the right to choose the place of residence (Article 215), men and women do not have equa...
The government did not publish meaningful information about its Covid-19 spending, and many health care workers reported receiving little or no support to aid their pandemic response. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved two emergency loans and a multiyear program to Cameroon totaling over US$1 billion, despite the government failing to m...
Armed groups and government forces committed widespread human rights abuses, including extrajudicial or summary executions and mass killings across Cameroon’s Anglophone regions throughout...
May 9, 2022 · This Central African country of 26 million people has been locked in a series of conflicts, ranging from fighting between the Francophone central government and Anglophone separatists in southern Cameroon to interethnic clashes in the country’s north.
Jan 24, 2022 · One of Africa’s newest struggles for liberation: Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis, which emerged from legal and education grievances in 2016, rapidly escalated into a secessionist political conflict that is threatening the unity of the country, with potential to degenerate into a complex emergency.
Jun 27, 2023 · Our latest report on Cameroon documents crimes under national law and human rights violations committed by the security forces, militias, and armed separatists in the Anglophone North-West region in recent years.
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Apr 17, 2019 · Federal arrangements were scrapped in 1972 by a Francophone-dominated central government. Many English-speaking Cameroonians have long complained that they are politically, economically and linguistically marginalised. Some have called for full independence for the Anglophone regions.
