Human Rights And Freedom : Open For Announcements,Archives, Pictures,videos, opinion...

Larger Freedom

2011-11-25T15:24:00.002+01:00

Even if he can vote to choose his rulers, a young man with AIDS who cannot read or write and lives on the brink of starvation is not truly free. Equally, even if she earns enough to live, a woman who lives in the shadow of daily violence and has no say in how her country is run is not truly free. Larger freedom implies that men and women everywhere have the right to be governed by their own consent, under law, in a society where all individuals can, without discrimination or
retribution, speak, worship and associate freely. They must also be free from want — so that the death sentences of extreme poverty and infectious disease are lifted from their lives — and free from fear — so that their lives and livelihoods are not ripped apart by violence and war. Indeed, all people have the right to security and to development. FREEDOM...

Cameroon gay rights lawyer warns of rise in homophobia

2011-11-18T13:36:00.001+01:00

Alice Nkom is a Cameroonian lawyer with an imposing presence, but her country’s minister of justice is less impressed; he wants her struck off the professional register. Advocates in Cameroon have said she should be killed.
Defending men or women accused of homosexuality, is not a popular cause in central Africa. Threats arrive by email and telephone. The situation, Nkom warns, is becoming more dangerous.
The Cameroon government has introduced a bill to the national assembly that would give formal, political backing to section 347 of the country’s penal code that criminalises consensual sex between adults of the same gender.
“It’s getting worse,” Nkom told the Guardian during a visit to London. “These laws are illegal – the declaration of human rights is part of our constitution – but the judges still apply them. It’s very difficult to prove you have had sex. Under the procedural code you cannot be put in jail unless caught in delecto flagrante.
“But they always put people accused of homosexuality in jail straight away. People are targeted because they wear makeup or looked effeminate. One client was given a three-year sentence because he wrote a text message. It’s a very corrupt environment and people get paid for informing on others.”
No one knows the true numbers. Punishment for those found guilty is a sentence of between six months and five years as well as fines. Detainees are sometimes tortured in police stations until they confess, Nkom maintains; victims are beaten on the soles of their feet.
Scores of people are imprisoned every year in Cameroon under the regulations. Conditions inside are miserable. The main jail in the capital, Yaounde, was built for 600 but now contains 4,000 inmates. “Unless you buy food from the guards,” she said, “you starve. For those whose are homosexual their life is made worse.”
Nkom, who had been a lawyer for 40 years, began her work in 2003 after she met four young men who had returned from Paris. “I knew they were gay. I told them that homosexuality was a crime and to be careful. They were shocked.
“When they left I felt so guilty so I decided to try and do something about it. I founded the Association for the Defence of Homosexuals and tried to register the organisation at the prefecture. I knew it was a bit provocative. I wanted everyone to know that [gay] people also have rights. The prefecture officer told me I should be sacked.”
Life for gay people in Cameroon became more difficult after 2005 when the Catholic archbishop made homosexuality part of his Christmas homily, blaming it for youth unemployment. High-profile Cameroonians, he alleged, gave jobs to those who favoured same-sex activities.
Nkom has been waging a lonely campaign but is being supported by the newly formed Human Dignity Trust. “Some Cameroon lawyers say that I should be killed because I’m ‘spoiling the youth’,” she explained. “One went on TV with a Bible to urge that I should be put to death.
“The minister of justice took me to the bar council; he said I was promoting homosexuality and should be struck off. I know there’s a risk but when you are doing something that is right, you just do it and take care … Someone has to do this.”

The Guardian

Child Sexual Abuse Growing In Cameroon, Study Says

2011-08-20T15:35:00.000+01:00

Researchers from the Cameroon branch of the international NGO The School as an Instrument of Peace, or EIP in French, say the figure shows the scale of the problem nationwide.
It reinforces the findings of a study conducted by the local media, between January and March. That survey showed many children are the victims of rape, incest, prostitution, sexual trafficking and forced marriage.
Some say the findings show that no child is safe in Cameroon.
Catherine Moto Zeh is secretary general of EIP and coordinator of the study. She says the sexual abuse of children in Cameroon is far more rampant than previously thought.
“People who abuse children are found in all communities – among teachers, among parents, among religious people,” she says. “Most of the time, we think that only little girls are abused; even little boys now are being abused too; even women abuse young children. Children from two years old to 18 years old are being sexually abused.”
Experts agree the situation in Cameroon is one example of what’s going on across Africa. Parents, guardians and even victims themselves often don’t speak out, in an effort to avoid stigma and disgrace.
But the immediate and long-term consequences can be devastating to the health and social development of victims. The involvement of children in sexual activities they don’t fully understand and are not developmentally prepared for has harmful consequences. They include physical injury, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, poor performance in school and rejection by their peers and even adults. The psychological problems can last far into adulthood.
Melissa is a victim. She is only 30 but has been married and divorced three times. Her parents did not report her abuse as a child and are only now realizing how much it’s affected her life.
She says she was repeatedly raped at puberty by an uncle and grew up with relationship problems she has never been able to overcome. Melissa says memories of the abuse have permanently haunted her, leading to a distrust of men and causing the frequent divorces. She has resorted to drinking alcohol and thinks she may never marry again.
The WHO notes that about 13 percent of school-going children in sub-Saharan Africa are sexually abused. In Cameroon, watchdog organizations say the figure is more like 40 percent. Officials in the Ministry of Social Affairs say the numbers are exaggerated but have no statistics.
Health officials say government and communities are not giving child abuse enough attention.
The WHO says the contributing factors include poverty, the increasing breakdown of families, armed conflicts, and weak law enforcement . Another contributor is a widespread superstition that sexual intercourse with virgins, including babies, is a cure for HIV/AIDS.
EIP Cameroon, backed by the Canadian government and local child protection organizations, has begun a campaign to educate the public on the need to break the silence and report cases as they occur.
Cameroon has ratified several treaties protecting children, but they’re not strictly enforced. The Cameroon Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect says the few abusers who are eventually dragged to court for long procedures are either acquitted for lack of enough evidence or enjoy lenient sanctions. Sometimes perpetrators offer money to relatives of victims to avoid prosecution or threaten the victims so they’ll keep quiet.
Moto Zeh says everybody must denounce brutality against children.
“It is time for the community to do something because the problem is serious. Prevention is very important. We have to educate the community; then the society has to take laws.”
She says, “Cameroon has very good laws, but those laws have to be applied effectively so that people who abuse children are given the treatment they deserve.”
The campaigners are finishing a document to send to parliament. It recommends laws requiring parents and guardians to report cases. The document also calls for the creation of centers for clinical care and counseling for victims, as well as community-based monitoring. In addition, they are lobbying for bigger penalties for convicted abusers.
They say until such measures are put in place, and enforced, the problem will only get worse.

VOA

Breast ironing tradition targeted in Cameroon (byNkepile Mabuse, CNN)

2011-08-07T15:30:00.000+01:00

(CNN) -- Every morning before school, nine-year-old Terisia Techu would undergo a painful procedure. Her mother would take a burning hot pestle straight out of a fire and use it to press her breasts.
With tears in her eyes as she recalls what it was like, Terisia tells CNN that one day the pestle was so hot, it burned her, leaving a mark. Now 18, she is still traumatized.
Her mother, Grace, denies the incident. But she proudly demonstrates the method she used on her daughter for several weeks, saying the goal was to make her less desirable to boys -- and stave off pregnancy.
A study found that one in four girls in Cameroon have been affected by the practice.
The U.S. State Department, in its 2010 human rights report on Cameroon, cited news reports and said breast ironing "victimized numerous girls in the country" and in some cases "resulted in burns, deformities, and psychological problems."
There are more than 200 ethnic groups in Cameroon with different norms and customs. Breast ironing is practiced by all of them.
Some mothers use hot stones or coconut shells to flatten their daughters' breasts.
Doctors believe improved diets have resulted in young Cameroonian girls going through puberty early. Many of them are also becoming pregnant early.
Terisia became pregnant at 15. Her child died at birth.
She told CNN that breast ironing doesn't work. She hates the practice and wishes her mother had instead talked to her about sex and preventing pregnancy.
Grace Techu argues that if it weren't for the breast ironing, Terisia would have become pregnant at an even younger age.
Techu has four daughters, and she used the procedure on the first two. The third avoided it because her breasts are growing at an acceptable rate, Techu says, and the fourth girl is still too young.
Mothers who want their children to finish school before becoming parents have resorted to this drastic measure, and many see nothing wrong with it.
In 2006, a German nongovernmental organization exposed the practice, which at the time was done mainly in secret.
Now, charities have embarked on campaigns to educate mothers in Cameroon that sex education -- not breast ironing -- is the solution to ending teenage pregnancy.
Dr Sinou Tchana, a gynecologist in Cameroon, has seen breast glands that were destroyed. She also saw one case of cancer, though she says it couldn't be established whether the ironing caused or only exacerbated the cancer.
"One mother came with secondary burns because the stone she was using to do this breast ironing burned her," Tchana says.
One of Tchana's patients is a 23-year-old whose scars are still painful 14 years after her breasts were ironed. She has joined the effort to confront mothers about the effects of their actions.

The challenge for all those trying to stop the practice is reaching parents like Techu in villages before a ritual that they say is motivated by love shatters more lives.

CNN's Josh Levs contributed to this report.

To Care or Not To Care?

2010-12-10T15:00:00.000+01:00

Rejection is tough to deal with, so you learn to shut down your emotions and play along. Before you know it, you only care about your well being. You don’t care about how bad you hurt other people, it doesn’t matter that you feel love and kindness, you have to act tough and cold in order to survive the angry mob mentality. Ignorance is celebrated, insensitivity becomes standard.
I was there, I know it’s true. I did my best to not show affection and love and the only consequence was that I hurt other people as well. I made others go through what i went through myself, I knew it and ignored it, and in the end I hurt even more.
Peer pressure is such a bitch! A lot of the human rights violations are the result of peer pressure, if you think about it: not having the strength to tell mean people to go fuck themselves resulted in racism, hate, violence, crimes against humanity. The way we interact with each-other, as society, never ceases to amaze me. We tend to follow others that we consider are cooler / better/ smarter than we are, and we ignore our beliefs and who we really are. Personalities get shifted, feelings are being left out and we don’t care about anyone else but ourselves.
Care. That is what it all comes down to. At what point in our lives we learn to care not about how others see us, but about how truthful we are to who we really are? When do we feel strong enough to do something because we think we should, not because we are expected to or just because other people do it? When will we replace insensitivity and ignorance with care?
Why would you care that some women are being raped and murdered in South-East Asia, when you are so comfortable in this little coffee shop with your laptop and coffee? Why would you care that so many people starve to death in Africa, when you’ll go home and have your nice warm dinner? Why would you care that so many people are being abused and tortured, when you can just have your fun on your nice warm side of the world? Why would you care that so many people don’t have access to basic needs to live, when you want a better car?

Because the more care you bring into the world, the less room there is for hate and sooner or later, this will benefit you as well.
As I write this I can’t help thinking about what will others think of me after reading it. Will I be misjudged and thought of as weak because I care? Thankfully I learned from my mistakes, and I am just doing what I think is right, and that makes me stronger.
There’s no point for freedom when ignorance is celebrated and I am done with being ignorant. Freedom of thought, freedom to be me, freedom to care.
Do you care?
http://www.onedayforhumanrights.com

Cameroun : plus de 6000 enfants exploitées sexuellement par an

2010-12-10T14:51:00.002+01:00

Au cours d’une conférence publique organisée en novembre dernier à Bafoussam par le Cercle international pour la promotion de la création (Cipcre), il a été révélé que plus de 6000 enfants, des filles en majorité, sont exploitées au Cameroun à des fins sexuelles.
Selon le pasteur Jean Blaise Kenmogne, directeur général du Cipcre, deux enquêtes menées au Cameroun en 2004 et 2008 ont permis de déceler que l’ âge de 40% des filles utilisées dans le réseau du trafic varie entre 13 et 17 ans. Pour contourner les obstacles recensés, il sera lancé en février 2011 l’opération « Texto Change ».
Il s’agit d’un partenariat signé avec une société de téléphonie mobile et à partir duquel les populations pourront recevoir des informations sur la traite des enfants et aussi dénoncer dans l’anonymat total, à travers des messages texte sur les téléphones portable, les situations de traite.
Le plus gros du plaidoyer engagé consiste à prévenir par la sensibilisation des parents, opérateurs économiques, décideurs et victimes, et agir pour un renforcement du cadre juridique.
Magazine Éthiques et Sociétés

Violence Against Women – Teenage Mothers Join the Bandwagon

2010-12-10T14:49:00.000+01:00

Close to 200 victims of rape from across the country took part in a ceremony to mark 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.
Quinta is a victim of rape. She is from a poor family. At the age of 13, she was sent to live with her uncle so that he could send her to school. Unfortunately for her the uncle took her poor situation as an excuse to rape her. She said her uncle raped her saying that if she did not give in to him she will not go to school. She managed to escape one night to her grandmother’s place to tell her family about it. But she was told not to let people know that such a thing was happening in the family. She had no option but to go back to her uncle’s house because she wanted to go to school. Her uncle kept on raping her and she finally got pregnant for him when she was in Form Five.
Sidonie her cousin, was equally raped by the same uncle when she was 10 and she also ended up having a baby with the rapist uncle. Nelie on her part is a victim of several rapes inflicted on her by her father. She became wayward and got pregnant at 16. She was thrown out of the house by her father. Nelie did not have the courage to tell her ordeal to anybody till recently during the sensitisation on gender based violence when other victims spoke out.
These stories and more were presented in two separate documentaries in Yaounde yesterday during a ceremony dubbed “Against Rape and Incest: Victims and Artists Mobilise Themselves”. Organised by the German Tehnical Cooperation (GTZ) in collaboration with the National Network of Aunties Associations (RENATA), the event brought together members of government, representatives of the diplomatic corps, the civil society and guests.

The ceremony was within the framework of the 16 days of activism against gender based violence. The theme for this year’s campaign is “Cameroon and the International Community: a Participatory Commitment and Synergy in Fighting Violence against Women and Girls”. Rape or incest is a dehumanizing crime and over 1,200 Aunties have experienced this awful crime. Close to 200 victims from across the country were present in yesterday’s ceremony to show to the public the seriousness of rape in the society. Speaking during the occasion, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Saïbou Nasourou said the government is sparing no efforts in implementing actions for the prevention of violence. He called on partners, national and international organisations, traditional and religious authorities and the media to be engaged in the fight against violence against women. The audience equally visited paintings by victims of incest and rape. The victims were trained by a group of artists “Jeunes Ancetres” after having listened to their stories and painted their pains.
Cameroon Tribune

Unlawfully sentenced to death in Cameroon

2010-11-16T11:29:00.002+01:00

Although the death sentence no longer exists in Cameroon, three people were sentenced to death on October 20. Human rights groups have raised their voices in protest.
The convicted were charged with the murder of one of their colleagues Jean Victor Tchuisseu who was found dead in his office on July 8, 2009. The court pronounced the death sentence upon them. The defense team appealed against the sentence and requested to keep the convicts in custody. But up to now their appeal is without success.
Nestor Toko, the chairman of human rights group “Rights and Peace”, protests against the court’s decision which he finds “unfair”. Toko underlines that, the death sentence was pronounced despite the fact that the country has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the Charter of Children Rights which emphasize the “right to life”.
In the streets of Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon, people have mixed feelings about death penalty. Bikele Albert, a civil servant, is against this punishment. “People should learn to forgive convicted criminals. Circumstances beyond one’s control can lead any person to commit a crime. Whatever the importance of the crime may be, the death penalty will never be the solution”, he thinks.
Young Cameroonian Aboubakar Alhaddji expresses another point of view: “There should be no excuse for any person who kills a fellow human being; he should be hung without further delay”.
Ambroise Ndongo, a Municipality agent disagrees wholeheartedly: “Capital punishment does not solve the issue; it can’t discourage criminals. Besides, we notice that crime rate does not decrease in countries that apply the death penalty”.

Pastor Ndanza, another Cameroonian who is against the death penalty thinks that: “death and birth are controlled by God; he is the only one who is powerful enough to decide the fate of human beings”. The Cameroonian penal code has included the death penalty since 1967, but there have been no executions in the last twenty years. The last case of execution dates back to the 1980’s. In 1984, soldiers of the Cameroonian military force were executed by a firing squad in a forest, on the outskirts of Yaoundé, after they failed to overthrow President Paul Biya. Since then, there have been no executions in Yaoundé.
Capital punishment is infrequent in Cameroon. The latest case in which someone was sentenced to death was in 2003 when Kinding Yango Huguette Laure, a 24-year old nurse student, injected two children with Hepatitis B and AIDS-contaminated blood.
In 2008, Cameroon voted for the UN’s global moratorium on executions, this is why it is difficult to sentence a convict to death. Nonetheless, the issue of death sentence has been fueling heated debates. “Provisions with regard to the issue state that only the chief judge of the court can request the execution of a convict. Sometimes, the Head of State can grant a reprieve to the convicted. But in most cases, the court commutes the convict’s death sentence to life imprisonment” explains a laywer.
Radio Netherlands

Cameroon: Same-Sex Relations Bring Attacks, Arrests

2010-11-06T14:25:00.001+01:00

Cameroonians are attacked by police, politicians, the media, and even their own communities if they are suspected of having sexual relations with a person of the same sex, four human rights organizations said in a joint report released today.

The government should take urgent action to decriminalize such consensual conduct and to ensure the full human rights of all Cameroonians, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, said Alternatives-Cameroun, l’Association pour la défense des droits des homosexuels, Human Rights Watch, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

The 62-page report, “Criminalizing Identities: Rights Abuses in Cameroon Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity,” details how the government uses article 347 bis of the Penal Code to deny basic rights to people perceived to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). The report describes arrests, beatings by the police, abuses in prison, and a homophobic atmosphere that encourages shunning and abuse in the community. The consequence is that people are not punished for a specific outlawed practice, but for a homosexual identity, the groups said.

“The poor and the young, who often have no way to get legal assistance, suffer the most from Cameroon’s abusive atmosphere,” said Steave Nemande, president of Alternatives-Cameroun. “Even after they get out of jail, families and friends often reject them. They are denied education, jobs, even a place to live. Their lives are ruined.”
The report, based on 45 interviews with victims, documents abuse by police, including beatings on the victims’ bodies and even the soles of their feet. Prison guards ignore abuses by other prisoners, including beatings, rapes, and urinating and defecating on the victims’ possessions.

Those arrested under article 347 bis are routinely held without charge in excess of the minimum time allowed by Cameroonian law, the groups found. Judges may sentence them to prison time without credible evidence that they engaged in a homosexual act. Even when judges have dismissed charges, prosecutors have sometimes charged the accused again before they could be freed.
Prejudice and discrimination against the gay and lesbian population of Cameroon is pervasive. Women who do not dress or act in “typically feminine” ways are often singled out for persecution. Like men, they can be ostracized by their families or suffer physical abuse at the hands of family members, which is especially difficult in a society where women are expected to remain dependent and in the family fold.

Women suspected of having sex with women can be specifically targeted for rape and sexual attacks in their communities and risk losing custody of their children. They have little recourse to the law because of their fear of arrest and jail.

The media in Cameroon compound the repressive climate, the groups said. Newspapers have published the names of those purported to be gay and invented the term “homocraty” to promote fear and hatred of people who engage in same-sex relations, depicting them as power-hungry, corrupt, rich, and intent on controlling the country.

“Lesbian, gays, and bisexuals in Cameroon are considered lower than dogs,” said Sébastien Mandeng of l’Association pour la défense des droits des homosexuels. “They face great injustice because of homophobia.”

The criminalization of same-sex activities has serious health consequences, the groups said. Cameroon does not have HIV/AIDS programs designed to meet the special needs of LGBT people, despite evidence that this population is vulnerable to the virus. The government does not track HIV prevalence and conducts no surveys of behavior in these communities related to transmission of the virus. Furthermore, the government prohibits the distribution of condoms in prisons, although HIV prevalence in prisons is high, male prisoners engage in homosexual sex, and rape is common.

“People living in secrecy are vulnerable to blackmail and abuse,” said Boris Dittrich, advocacy director of the LBGT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. “Arrests may be relatively rare, but the physical violence and mental cruelty against this population are devastating.”
Condemnation by international bodies has not been enough to end the persecution of people under article 347 bis. In December 2008, during the Universal Periodic Review of Cameroon’s human rights practices, the UN Human Rights Council recommended decriminalizing homosexual conduct. In July 2010, the UN Human Rights Committee called on the government to stem social prejudice and stigmatization against LGBT people, including in public health programs, to “ensure universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support.” The government of Cameroon refused both recommendations.

Alternatives-Cameroun submitted a petition with more than 1,500 signatures to the National Assembly in November 2009 seeking decriminalization of same-sex relations. However, the National Assembly has not even considered introducing the topic into official discussion.

“The criminalization of same-sex conduct has consequences beyond the obvious unacceptable arrests,” said Monica Mbaru, African coordinator of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. “It drives inequality within the justice system itself and promotes violence within people’s homes, families, and communities. The government of Cameroon needs to accept responsibility to ensure all Cameroonians live free of discrimination, whatever their orientation or identity.”

HRW

Read

2010-10-09T12:27:00.001+01:00

Newspaper editor hospitalised after being attacked in his cell

2010-09-12T20:02:00.000+01:00

From our international desk Amsterdam Zuidoost - (RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders is extremely concerned about the condition of the former editor of the weekly "Le Devoir", Robert Mintya, who was taken from Yaoundé's Kondengui prison to a hospital on 25 August 2010, more than two weeks after being seriously injured in an attack by a fellow inmate in his cell.

The press freedom organisation has rushed emergency funds to Mintya, who was incarcerated in Kondengui prison on 10 March along with two other journalists, one of whom, Ngota Ngota Germain, also known as Bibi Ngota, subsequently died there.

"The authorities have clearly not learned the lesson from Bibi Ngota's tragic death in April in circumstances that have yet to be explained," Reporters Without Borders said. "Now it is Mintya's turn to be in a critical condition. We reiterate our call for the release of him and the third journalist, Serge Sabouang. They have been held for too long in pre-trial detention."

The Reporters Without Borders Cameroon correspondent was due to visit Mintya on 31 August in Yaoundé central hospital's department of neurology and physical medicine, to which he was admitted on 25 August. The funds being provided by Reporters Without Borders are to pay for a specialist to examine him and determine what treatment he needs.

His medical file, which Agence France-Presse has seen, states that he needs "hospitalisation in an appropriate hospital centre." He has not, however, been given access to free medical care.

Describing the attack that he received in prison on the night of 8 August to Agence France-Presse, Mintya said: "I was clubbed over the head and lost consciousness (. . .) I was admitted to the prison infirmary and spent 10 days there before being taken to hospital."

Mintya and the other two journalists were arrested as a result of a complaint by Laurent Esso, the secretary-general of the president's office, accusing them of forging his signature to a document and then using it in an attempt to discredit him. Mintya denies that he had any role in the forgery.

Reporters Without Borders has been told that individuals close to Esso promised Mintya that he would be freed if he signed a statement saying he was led astray. Mintya wrote many letters to Esso – some of which were published in "L'Anecdote", a newspaper that supports Esso – begging forgiveness for the fact that the document was forged.

After failing to obtain his release, Mintya then wrote many letters accusing other leading Cameroonian personalities of being responsible. The attack on him could have been carried out at the behest of one the people he incriminated.

Sabouang, the editor of the fortnightly "La Nation", will also receive an emergency grant from Reporters Without Borders.

Sabouang and Mintya are facing the possibility of 20 years in prison if convicted on the forgery charges. "Bebela" journalist Simon Hervé Nko'o, the alleged author of the forgery, cannot be found.

Source: Reporters Without Borders

Cameroon: Decriminalize Same-Sex Acts

2010-09-03T21:32:00.000+01:00

(New York) - Cameroon should decriminalize consensual sexual acts between adults of the same sex, Human Rights Watch and Alternatives-Cameroun said today. The groups urged the government of Cameroon to put into effect immediately the recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, made public on July 29, 2010, to bring Cameroon's law into conformity with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Since 2005, Alternatives-Cameroun, Human Rights Watch, and other Cameroonian and international organizations have documented abuses and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Cameroon. Suspected homosexual men have been arrested and beaten on their bodies, heads, and even the soles of their feet while in custody. Women suffer violence in their families if they are suspected of being lesbians. In some cases, they have been forced to leave their homes or their children have been taken away from them.

"Cameroon should guarantee lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people the same rights as every other citizen," said Boris Dittrich, advocacy director of the LGBT rights program at Human Rights Watch. "There is no reason why anyone in Cameroon should live in fear of prosecution and abuse because of their sexual orientation or gender identity."

Alternatives-Cameroun and Human Rights Watch delivered an oral statement to the UN Human Rights Committee on July 12, summarizing the human rights abuses people in Cameroon have experienced on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. Cameroon does not include services for men who have sex with men and women who have sex with women in their HIV prevention programs, the groups told the committee. Alternatives-Cameroun has also found in its day-to-day work that this policy effectively bars access for many of them to health services, treatment, and care.

The UN Human Rights Committee issued a recommendation to Cameroon's government to end social prejudice and stigmatization against LGBT people and to guarantee public health programs that have "universal reach and ensure universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support." The government should also carry out this recommendation, Human Rights Watch and Alternatives-Cameroun said.

"By implementing this recommendation, Cameroon would do the bare minimum to realize the fundamental human rights enshrined in its national constitution," said Steave Nemande, director of Alternatives-Cameroun. "To save lives, the government should immediately start implementing effective education programs to combat HIV/AIDS."

Cameroon is a party to the ICCPR. Articles 2 and 26 of the ICCPR, respectively, affirm the right to equal treatment and the right to equal protection before the law without discrimination. The UN Human Rights Committee, charged with authoritatively interpreting the ICCPR and monitoring states' compliance with its provisions, affirmed in its decision in Toonen v. Australia (1994) that sexual orientation is included in the protections against discrimination under articles 2 and 26.

Droit de l’Homme : Une Camerounaise à la direction du REDHAC

2010-07-07T10:31:00.000+01:00

Les membres de la Coordination du réseau des défenseurs des droits humains en Afrique centrale (REDHAC) étaient en conclave les 28 et 29 mars dernier à Brazzaville (République du Congo). La réunion qui s’est déroulée avec le soutien financier de Freedom house avait pour objectif de « remédier au déficit de communication et aux dysfonctionnements de la structure depuis sa création en 2007 ». Les participants à la réunion de Brazzaville avaient de ce fait à procéder à l’évaluation des activités du REDHAC, à l’élaboration des stratégies de redressement structurel et du plan d’action 2010.
Selon le communiqué final des travaux parvenu à notre rédaction, Douala devient le nouveau siège de cette organisation indépendante sous-régionale qui regroupe les défenseurs des droits humains en Afrique centrale. La Camerounaise Chantal Maximilienne Ngo Mbe, secrétaire général de PRODHOP a été désignée directrice exécutive. Outre ces deux résolutions, le REDHAC sera désormais coiffé par trois instances : le Conseil d’administration, le Conseil consultatif et le directoire exécutif. Le plan d’action annuel a été adopté avec pour points fondamentaux la protection, le plaidoyer, le renforcement des capacités des membres et le développement institutionnel.

Les membres de la Coordination ont par ailleurs réitéré leur engagement à protéger les défenseurs des droits de l’Homme en toutes circonstances et sollicité le concours et l’accompagnement des partenaires et autres acteurs en vue d’un progrès soutenu dans la sous-région Afrique centrale et ailleurs. Le REDHAC a pour objectif d’assurer la reconnaissance du statut et de la protection des défenseurs des droits de l’homme, de contribuer à renforcer les capacités de ses membres, à leur protection légale et physique ainsi qu’au plaidoyer pour leur sécurité, et l’amélioration de leur situation professionnelle. Il est constitué de 8 coalitions nationales de défenseurs des droits de l’homme et des défenseurs des droits humains, personnes physiques indépendantes.

Human Rights by Teresa Patterson

2010-05-27T10:17:00.000+01:00

Do not forfeit your right to live
With peaceful joy, with tears and laughter,
With purpose and view of the ever after,
Learn how to love and how to give.
Do not forfeit your right to live…

Do not pay homage to rage, to sorrow,
Save a few memories for tomorrow,
In every moment play your part!
For glory do not forsake your heart…
Embrace the NOW with delight!
To love, do not forfeit your right…

Do not forfeit your happiness…
Don’t live your life in token’s shadow
While there is sunshine in the meadows,
Even if you are penniless…
For life itself is pure happiness.

Do not forfeit your right to pray
If obstacles happen on the way,
There is no sin in honest toil…
Sow all your seeds in fertile soil,
Then share your bounty with thy neighbor.
Do not forfeit the joys of labor.

Do not forfeit your right to live.
Cherish your days, then close the chapter,
Before embracing the ever after.
Do not just forget, but forgive.
Thus you can earn your right to live…
Forever…
by Teresa Patterson

homosexuality in Cameroon

2010-05-08T19:53:00.001+01:00

Since 1972, homosexuality has been punishable in Cameroon by up to five years in prison. In Cameroon: Coming Out of the Nkuta we meet Lambert, a young man who was rounded up in a bar with a group of 30 and thrown in jail. Lambert’s lawyer, Alice Nkom is a strong advocate for lesbian and gay rights and her first goal is the legalization of homosexuality, taking the issue out of the penal code.

The film also introduces us to Muriel and Tatiana, a couple who don’t identify as “real lesbians,” and Elvis and Serge, two gay men who met in a bar and have become friends. All four want to be accepted by their families, have a life and a future in Cameroon. Perhaps the bravest character in the film is Nathalie, an unapologetic lesbian activist who does community education with Alice and eventually opens a bar that caters to homosexuals.

The great power of Alice Nkom as an activist is that she is working within the legal system, as well as in the community, educating people and dispelling stereotypes. When she starts the Group for Families with Homosexual Children, her first client Lambert, who was released from jail, joins Alice as a public advocate in the struggle. Although most of the country is more concerned with poverty, the fight for equal rights continues and Alice, with her infectious optimism, is in it for the long haul.
follow the link to watch the video
http://www.cameroononline.org/2010/05/06/homosexualite-au-cameroun-sortir-du-nkuta/

World Report 2010 - Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

2010-04-03T12:22:00.002+01:00

Violence and brutal human rights abuses increased in the Democratic Republic of Congo throughout 2009. Two military campaigns by the Congolese army, in the east and north, resulted in a dramatic increase in violence against civilians by both rebel and government forces. At least 2,500 civilians were slaughtered, over 7,000 women and girls were raped, and more than 1 million people were forced to flee their homes. This pushed the total number of displaced people to over 2 million, the vast majority with limited or no access to humanitarian assistance, often forcing them to return to insecure areas to find food. United Nations peacekeepers supported Congolese army military operations and struggled to give meaning to their mandate to protect civilians.

Impunity, already endemic, was further entrenched with the promotion of Bosco Ntaganda to the rank of general, despite a warrant for his arrest from the International Criminal Court. In July the government announced a policy of "zero tolerance" for human rights abuses committed by its soldiers, but only made a handful of arrests. Violent attacks against human rights defenders and journalists continued throughout the country.

Violence in Eastern and Northern Congo

In January 2009 the political landscape changed dramatically in eastern Congo. Congolese President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame struck a deal to rid each other of their enemies. Rwanda put a stop to the rebellion of the Congolese Tutsi-led National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) by arresting its leader, Laurent Nkunda, and forcing its fighters to integrate into the Congolese army. In exchange, the Congolese government agreed that Rwandan soldiers could enter eastern Congo for five weeks of joint military operations against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan Hutu rebel group, some of whose leaders had participated in the 1994 genocide. Following the brief operation, both governments pressed UN peacekeepers to support a second phase of military operations to finish the job. Under pressure and believing they could better protect civilians by being part of the operations, the UN agreed.

The military operations were disastrous for civilians. The FDLR launched deliberate and targeted retaliatory attacks on civilians, killing and raping to punish the population for their government's change in policy toward them. In the worst single incident, the FDLR massacred at least 96 civilians in the village of Busurungi in North Kivu province on the night of May 9-10 by chopping them with machetes or burning them to death. The Congolese army failed to protect its own citizens from such attacks and itself targeted civilians who it perceived as FDLR collaborators, as well as Rwandan Hutu refugees. In one incident between April 27 and 30, Congolese army soldiers attacked camps in the Shalio Hill area and deliberately killed at least 129 refugees. Many of the victims were clubbed to death.

MONUC, the UN peacekeeping force in Congo, struggled to balance its mandate for civilian protection with its support to the Congolese military operations. Although the peacekeepers made some notable efforts to protect civilians, which undoubtedly saved lives, in many cases they arrived too late or not at all.

By October 2009 the military operations had succeeded in demobilizing 1,100 combatants from the ranks of the FDLR's estimated strength of 6,000. But it came at a high price: between January and September over 1,300 civilians had been slaughtered in North and South Kivu, the majority of them women, children, and the elderly; thousands of civilians were abducted and pressed into forced labor; and more than 900,000 people fled for their lives. The FDLR and Congolese soldiers pillaged their belongings and then burned an estimated 7,000 homes to the ground. Already poor, civilians were left with nothing.

Attacks in northern Congo by the Ugandan rebel group Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) also caused immense harm to Congolese civilians. When the Ugandan army scaled back military operations in Congo against the LRA in March 2009, civilian protection was largely left to the Congolese army and UN peacekeepers. LRA killings and abductions of civilians continued, leading to the displacement of over 200,000 people throughout the worst affected areas of Haut and Bas Uele districts of Orientale province. (See also Uganda chapter.)

Sexual Violence

The military operations in eastern Congo were accompanied by brutal rape. In a region already labeled "the worst place in the world to be a woman," the situation deteriorated further. An estimated 7,000 cases of sexual violence against women and girls were registered at health centers across North and South Kivu in the first seven months of 2009, nearly double the number of cases in 2008. In April 2009 the Congolese government and MONUC adopted a strategy to combat sexual violence, but it did not halt the increase in rape.

Sexual violence cases tried at military courts did increase during 2009, although only four officers were held to account. Funds aimed at efforts to protect women from rape remained shockingly low. In May UN Security Council ambassadors on mission to Congo handed the government a list of five senior officers they said were responsible for rape, including a general, Jerome Kakwavu, and demanded the officers be held to account. By October two had been arrested.

Threats to Journalists and Human Rights Defenders

On August 23, 2009, Bruno Koko Chirambiza, a journalist for Radio Star, was murdered by a group of eight armed men some 150 meters from a police post in Bukavu, eastern Congo. He was the third journalist killed in the city since 2007. Three female journalists in Bukavu received death threats in September 2009, prompting MONUC to publicly call on the Congolese authorities to take action to guarantee the safety of journalists.

On July 26 the Congolese government suspended Radio France International (RFI) after it broadcast a program detailing problems within the Congolese army. The minister of communications and the media said RFI was inciting soldiers to revolt. In August three local radio stations were threatened with closure if they continued to retransmit RFI's programming.

In May armed men threatened to kill Anicette Kabala, the executive secretary of Parliament of the Young Girl (PAJEF), a women's organization in Kalemie, if she did not drop cases of girls who had filed rape complaints. Her brother was shot and killed when he tried to intervene. On October 1, armed men raided the home of another female human rights defender in Bunia and threatened to rape and kill her and her daughter for their role in trials taking place at the ICC.

In July Golden Misabiko, the Katanga provincial president of the National Association for Human Rights (ASADHO), was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) after publishing a report about illegal exploitation at a uranium mine. He was tried and sentenced for spreading false information and threatening state security. He fled into exile. Four of his colleagues received death threats. Robert Ilunga Numbi, the president of the Friends of Nelson Mandela for the Defence of Human Rights (ANMDH) was also arrested by ANR agents in Kinshasa on August 31. He was detained incommunicado for nine days before being charged with disseminating false information, for a press conference he gave denouncing abuses of workers' rights.

Justice and Accountability

The fight against impunity was seriously undermined by the promotion of Bosco Ntaganda to the rank of general, despite an ICC arrest warrant for war crimes he committed in Ituri between 2002 and 2004. Other known human rights abusers were also integrated into the army, including Jean-Pierre Biyoyo, who previously had been convicted by a military court for the recruitment of child soldiers but had escaped from custody soon afterwards. The government justified its failure to make arrests of senior army officers by claiming it prioritized peace over justice. Local and international human rights groups protested the policy.

A few crucial cases helped to buck this somber trend. On March 5, 2009, the Mai Mai commander Gedeon Kyungu Mutanga, along with 20 co-accused, was convicted by a military court in Katanga for crimes against humanity and other charges. Also in March, 11 soldiers in Walikale, North Kivu, were convicted of rape as a crime against humanity. On July 27, in a rare case against an officer, Col. Ndayanbaje Kipanga was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity relating to rape charges. He escaped custody before the trial.

On January 26, 2009, the ICC began its first-ever trial. Former Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo faced charges of war crimes for his use of child soldiers in the conflict in Ituri. The opening day's proceedings were broadcast across Congo. The trial of two other Ituri warlords, Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, commenced on November 24.

Key International Actors

Encouraged by the historic rapprochement between Congo and Rwanda, governments and international donors were reluctant to raise concerns that might upset the new relationship. Some privately raised concerns about Ntaganda's promotion, but few pressed effectively for his arrest. A number of diplomats, notably United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, visited eastern Congo and raised human rights concerns, especially on sexual violence. But they all stopped short of putting pressure on the Congolese government or MONUC to suspend military operations until measures for civilian protection were in place. In October, following a mission to Congo, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions became a rare voice loudly raising concerns about abuses committed during the military operations. In November the US special envoy for the African Great Lakes region marked a change of approach by calling the human cost of the military operations "unacceptable."

MONUC provided logistical and operational support to Congolese military operations. But contrary to the UN's own legal advice and its mandate from the Security Council, it did not put in place conditions to ensure respect for human rights before operations began. In November 2009 MONUC suspended its support to one army unit in North Kivu that it said had committed serious violations, but continued its support to other units. MONUC's ongoing support to the military operations raised serious questions about its implication in the abuses.

Child labour and pesticide usage in Cameroon and west Africa

2010-03-02T11:28:00.003+01:00

There are over a quarter of a million children who work in the cocoa plantations of West Africa. It's hazardous work, which exposes children to highly toxic pesticides. The International Labour Organization has been working to eliminate child labour from cocoa production and help children return to school.
follow this link to watch a BBC TV world series on this matter
Produced by Rockhopper TV in cooperation with the ILO. http://www.thechocolatelife.com/video/child-labour-and-pesticide

Opinioin Expression

2009-12-11T19:42:00.000+01:00

UDHR – ARTICLE 19

While some of us are taking it for granted, others sacrificed their lives for us to have it. It is given to us at birth, but it is taken away from hundreds of millions of people from their first breath.

People were killed for it since the beginning of time, in the name of power: religious (i.e. Inquisition), military (so many empires built on murder) or just the need of feeling superior (i.e. racism).

Having it makes us who we are, opens the gates of creativity, humanity, happiness. Being denied it makes us useless puppets.

It works on every level of society: from basic family relations, to work environment, to globalization of human interactions.

Used properly, it is responsible for our most wonderful creations. If used for the wrong reasons, it is responsible for the worst atrocities ever committed.

Somewhere in this world, there is a 63 year old woman in prison. She was rightfully elected as the president of her country and she won the Nobel Peace Prize for peacefully fighting the military regime that is killing, torturing and abusing her nation. Aung San Suu Kyi is the symbol of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of our days, and she keeps fighting the military regime with nothing but wording her beliefs. Her beliefs that people are born free, and noone has the right to treat them otherwise. She said to the world: “Use your freedom to promote ours!”

Do you know what freedom I’m talking about? Do you know what most of the unhappy people in the world need? Are you using it at it’s best potential, or you are just following others while denying your own right?

Freedom of opinion and expression: individuals’ most powerful weapon, oppressors’ most feared enemy.

My favorite article from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Article 19: FREEDOM OF OPINION AND EXPRESSION ARE GRANTED TO EVERYONE.

What is yours? Do you know what your rights are? Do you take them for granted? Please comment. Express your thoughts! :)

Also, don’t forget to print the UDHR poster (11×17in.- tabloid) (8.5×11in.- lettersize) and share it with everyone today. The world needs people to be aware of their Human Rights, we all need to read it at least once.

Tags: aung san suu kyi, burma, human rights, human rights day, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

USA: Ambassador Assaults Embassy Protesters

2009-11-23T08:53:00.002+01:00

Protesters want to know: Where’s our money? A protest at the Embassy of the Republic of Cameroon turned violent this morning when the Cameroonian ambassador stormed from the building and assaulted two people outside, a well-placed source tells News4. Ambassador Joseph Bienvenu Charles Foe Atangana rushed into the crowd and assaulted the leader of the protest, and then pushed a woman to the ground, witnesses said. The woman, a passer-by not involved in the protest, had been taking pictures. Her camera was thrown to the ground. Both of the injured were transported from the scene by ambulance. Local police and the Secret Service responded to the scene. The matter’s now been turned over to the State Department. The group of paid protesters, bearing signs in French, were gathered outside the embassy at 2349 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. They claim that Cameroonian officials are siphoning off U.S.-granted funds intended for the people of Cameroon. The frustrated protesters say they were supposed to be paid for their work. Now that their leader has been taken from the scene, they’re saying it’s not clear if they’ll receive payment.

Cameroon: Cases of rape increase

2009-11-18T19:52:00.001+01:00

A recent survey carried out in ten regions of Cameroon shows that rape
cases are on the rise. According to IPS, 20 percent of the nearly
38,000 women interviewed reported having been raped. The German
Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and Cameroon's National Association of
Aunties – (RENATA), an organization of more than 10,000 teenaged
mothers working against sexual violence, found most rapes were
committed by people known to the victims. "The rapists are family
members, including fathers, school teachers, pastors and priests,
classmates, colleagues, friends and neighbours," Dr Flavien Tiokou
Ndonko, one of the researchers, told IPS. Family members were reported
to be the assailants in 18 percent of cases. Nearly a quarter of those
raped became pregnant as a result. "These statistics cannot in any way
show the full extent of rape in the country, because most victims
never tell anyone they have been raped," said Ndonko.

A separate study jointly carried out by the GTZ and RENATA, entitled
Constraints in Seeking Justice for Rape Victims in Cameroon, revealed
that of the 33 reported cases between 2004 and 2007 at the Bamenda
High Court, in Cameroon's North West region, "only two of them were
sentenced, 22 were struck out as lacking evidence, eight cases were
discharged on grounds of simple threats, while one was withdrawn."

The report further indicates that the procedures for getting legal
redress are too cumbersome and take too long, essentially because of
"the need for preliminary investigations, from the police and/or
hospital to the legal department, before getting to court."

In the course of these lengthy procedures, the report says, "most
victims encounter lots of interventions and negotiations whereby the
case is stopped or withdrawn before justice is rendered."

Constraints such as a lack of counseling for survivors and accused,
lack of specialized judges for rape cases, the high cost of court
action and administration, as well as threats from the accused, all
combine to make justice for rape survivors a privilege, not a right in
Cameroon.

According to Patience Siri Akenji, the legal consultant who supervised
the study, what happens in the Bamenda High Court is a microcosm of
what happens in courts across the country.

She suggests the legal system be improved to make deadlines applicable
to judicial officers to prosecute, specific laws should also be
enacted to protect rape victims and also also recommends that court
sessions be held in the magistrates' chambers for the protection of
rape survivors, away from the pressure of the court room, and as a way
to uphold the dignity of the victim.

"This will encourage the reporting of these cases, and encourage
cooperation, leading to rapid intervention in rape cases," Akenji
said.

Despite Cameroon's penal code that states, "Whoever by force or moral
ascendancy compels any female, whether above or below the age of
puberty, to have sexual intercourse with him shall be punished with
imprisonment from five to 10 years," few perpetrators of rape are ever
prosecuted in Cameroon.

CISA
www.cameroononline.org

'Dramatic' resurgence in rape and murder

2009-11-14T09:59:00.001+01:00

The number of rapes, killings and burnings of entire villages has
exploded in the Democratic Republic of Congo as armed groups take
advantage of a period of limbo before an expected deployment of
government troops against rebels.

There has been a huge increase in rapes and killings in eastern DR
Congo by armed groups – including Congolese government troops – since
Kinshasa announced imminent operations against rebels, a UN
spokesperson said.

Elisabeth Byrs, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told FRANCE 24 in a telephone interview
that there had been a "dramatic" resurgence in rapes and attacks in
Sud-Kivu province, with civilians burned alive in their homes, and
added that both government and rebel groups were responsible.

Sud-Kivu and particularly Nord-Kivu provinces, on the country's
eastern border, remain volatile after five years of a regional war
fought across the country (1998-2003), followed by a civil war in the
east.

Apart from internal conflict, hundreds of thousands of civilians have
been displaced in the east and northeast of the DR Congo by the
activities of rebels from neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda.

"Any man in a military uniform in the area is a threat to the safety
of these vulnerable villagers," Byrs said. "Since April there has been
a huge increase in extortion, rape, and murder," she added.

Byrs said the violence was directly linked to increased militarization
in the region following the announcement of impending operations
against rebel groups, including Hutu rebels group FDLR and Mai-Mai
militia.

"They are taking advantage of a period of limbo between the
announcement of operations and actual deployment to create havoc and
chaos in the region," said Byrs.

"There is a clear link between militarization and rape.

"Rape has always been used as a weapon of war, and without this
situation becoming public knowledge, it could go on and on with total
impunity. Enough is enough," she added.

Burned alive

Some 1,128 homes were burned down in three villages during attacks in
which 77 people were killed with machetes and knives then burned alive
in one attack by the FDLR, according to the UN.

"There is terrible violence currently in Sud-Kivu, especially in the
region of Kakeli," Byrs explained.

During the first three months of the year, 463 rape cases were
recorded in most of the province, equivalent to more than half of the
total cases registered there last year.

FRANCE 24 correspondent Arnaud Zaijtman, who is based in the DRC, says
the report proves that a current lull in fighting between Government
troops and rebel militias has hidden the reality of increasing
violence.

According to Zajtman: "Combatants who were previously supported by
Rwanda have joined the DRC national army – but they have kept many of
their weapons and money to keep up their illegal attacks."

"There is a definite feeling that fighting will erupt again. And the
rebels are taking advantage of the lull to get more funds and more
weapons to fight," our correspondent adds.

www.france24.com

Child rights

2009-11-14T09:36:00.001+01:00

Children count for approximately half of Africa's population. However,
despite the sheer numbers, there is little awareness of international
human rights standards relating to the rights of the child. African
children have been the subject of neglect especially in countries
plagued by conflicts. Children are victims of rape and other forms of
sexual and economic exploitation. They suffer gaps in education; in
conflict societies they are separated from their families and
conscripted as militias. In post conflict societies, they are not
easily reintegrated. Domestic laws relating to the rights of a child
remain outdated and the steps towards law reform have been relatively
slow.

The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa lays special
emphasis on the rights of the child through identifying the problems
that facilitate the violation of the rights of the child and engaging
in educating the various communities through public lectures and
sensitization campaigns. We train local stakeholders on improving the
rights of the child and provide legal aid for juveniles, including
advocacy for law reform in such countries.
http://www.chrda.org/children

Achieve better results in human development

2009-10-03T18:02:00.001+01:00

Progress toward the human development

must be accelerated. That will

require commitment of more resources,

including increased donor support, to key

programs in education and health—for

example, the Fast-Track Initiative in education,

health systems strengthening, and

combating malaria.

More spending on education and health

programs, however, is not the sole answer.

The quality and equity of spending are

equally important. Improved governance,

stronger accountability mechanisms, and

sound expenditure management are essential

to raising the quality of education and

health services and improving the access

of poor, underserved populations.

A stronger focus is needed on combating

malnutrition, especially among children,

to underpin better human development

outcomes.

Policies and programs must factor in the

strong links that exist betweena health and

education outcomes, nutrition, and environmental

factors—water and sanitation,

pollution, and climate change.

Iraq shoe thrower 'was tortured'

2009-09-17T12:39:00.000+01:00

"At the time that Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said on television that he could not sleep without being reassured on my fate... I was being tortured in the worst ways, beaten with electric cables and iron bars,"

The United States contributed in toeturing this guy;
MUNTADAR AL-ZAIDI is a hero and not a criminal, he just did what was right, Bush merrits that. Bush is the criminal, he is the one who had to be jailed.

Lubna Al Hussein liberated

2009-09-10T20:40:00.001+01:00

sudanesse government finally liberated Lubna after imprisoning her because she wore trousers in public(judges claiming her atire wasnt desent)
this law is based on what? on islam? i am not sure...even in Saudi Arabia the mother of Islam women do ware tousers

sudan must know that without gender equality development is not possible ,gender equality is part of development(who knows may be the government doesnt desire progress)...

FREEDOM

2009-09-10T19:27:00.002+01:00

Africans need...

2009-09-01T08:45:00.001+01:00

Africans need to elect strong capable leaders who view success as delivering development and reducing poverty rather than siphoning public resources and buying support or rigging elections. This will be an easier route to take than the power of lobby groups which is a short term gain mostly for the minority

flipping through the US state department

2009-09-01T08:37:00.001+01:00

Flipping through the US State Department annual global survey of human rights for the past four years, it is noticeable that many of the African countries known as human rights violators have got significant support from the American government whether military assistance (Egypt), development aid (Nigeria), or expanded trade opportunities (Angola, Cameroon).

It is also worth noting that most of these countries have natural resources that they could have appropriated for American support. Nevertheless, even the best natural resource-endowed regimes need help navigating the bureaucratic seas of Washington, and it is their great fortune that, for the right price, countless lobbyists are willing to captain even the foulest of ships

Corruption & Human Rights in Cameroon: Experts Speak Out

2009-08-20T19:47:00.001+01:00

The Alliance Franco-Camerounaise Center in Buea recently hosted a symposium on Corruption and its implications for human rights organized by the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA).

The keynote speaker was Southern Methodist University's Distinguished University Professor, Ndiva Kofele-Kale, who presented a paper on Elevating Corruption to the Status of a Crime in Positive International Law. Other speakers included CHRDA Executive Director, Barrister Felix Nkongho; former SDF Secretary General, Professor Asonganyi who focused on political corruption;

Clinton S. “Tad” Brown, Deputy Chief of the Political Section of the US Embassy in Cameroon, who explained the U.S. Government’s policies to fight corruption and foster better governance on a global scale, including in Cameroon; and Justice Mbah Acha Rose Fomundam, Vice President, Court of Appeal, South West Region, who presented the legal instruments used to fight corruption under Cameroon law.

These papers are now available on the CHRDA blog and make for an interesting perspective on corruption, particularly Prof. Kofele-Kale's argument in favor of a new crime in international law called Patromonicide:

I have somewhat immodestly taken the liberty of inventing the word ‘patrimonicide’ as the name for this new international economic crime. The word comes from combining the Latin words ‘patrimonium’ meaning “[t]he estate or property belonging by ancient right to an institution, corporation, or class; especially the ancient estate or endowment of a church or religious body” and, of course, ‘cide’ meaning killing. It is submitted that indigenous spoliation is the very essence of the destruction (or killing, if you please) of the sum total of a nation's endowment; the laying waste of the wealth and resources belonging by right to her citizens; the denial of their heritage.

The road to hell in Cameroon under Biya

2009-08-20T19:26:00.001+01:00

Trucking in Cameroon The road to hell is unpaved | DOUALA From The Economist print edition The Economist rides an African beer truck—and gets a lesson in development economics WITH 30,000 bottles lashed firmly to the back, the beer truck pulled out of the factory yard. Or rather, it tried to. The lunchtime traffic in Douala, Cameroon’s muggy commercial capital, was gridlocked, as usual, and no one wanted to let a 60-tonne lorry pull out in front of them.

Fortunately the driver, Martin, had been trucking for 19 years, and could manoeuvre the 18-wheeled beast with skill and calculated aggression. After several minutes of inching threateningly forward, he managed to barge out into the fast lane, where the truck immediately had to stop. As far as the eye could see, stationary cars and buses blocked the way.

Considering that Douala is one of Africa’s busiest ports, handling 95% of Cameroon’s exports and also serving two landlocked neighbours, Chad and the Central African Republic, the poverty of the city’s infrastructure is a bit of a problem. The roads are resurfaced from time to time, but the soil is soft and the foundations typically too shallow. Small cracks yawn quickly into wide potholes. Street boys fill them with sand or rubble, and then beg for tips from motorists. But their amateur repair work rarely survives the first rainstorm. Besides the potholes, motorists must dodge the wrecks of cars that have crashed. Under Cameroonian law, these may not be moved until the police, who are in no hurry, have arrived. It took our truck half an hour to reach the first petrol station, and another half an hour to fill up, owing to arguments about paperwork. Another hour and two police road-blocks later, we finally left the city.

That was the end of the easy part of the journey. Hard trucking Visitors from rich countries rarely experience the true ghastliness of third-world infrastructure. They use the relatively smooth roads from airports to hotels, and fly any distance longer than a hike to the curio market. But the people who actually live and work in countries with rotten infrastructure have to cope with the consequences every day. These are as profound as they are malign. So to investigate how bad roads make life harder, this correspondent hitched a ride on a beer truck in Cameroon, a pleasant, peaceful and humid country in the corner of the Gulf of Guinea.

The truck belonged to a haulage firm that makes deliveries for Guinness Cameroon, a local subsidiary of the multinational that makes the eponymous velvety black beer, which is popular in Ireland, Britain—and West Africa. The plan was to carry 1,600 crates of Guinness and other drinks from the factory in Douala where they were brewed to Bertoua, a small town in Cameroon’s south-eastern rainforest. As the crow flies, this is less than 500km (313 miles)—about as far as from New York to Pittsburgh, or London to Edinburgh.

According to a rather optimistic schedule, it should have taken 20 hours, including an overnight rest. It took four days. When the truck arrived, it was carrying only two-thirds of its original load. The scenery was staggering: thickly forested hills, stretching into the distance like an undulating green ocean, with red and yellow blossoms floating on the waves. Beside the road were piles of cocoa beans, laid out to dry in the sun, and hawkers selling engine oil, tangerines, and succulent four-metre pythons for the pot. We were able to soak up these sights at our leisure: we were stopped at road-blocks 47 times. These usually consisted of a pile of tyres or a couple of oil drums in the middle of the road, plus a plank with upturned nails sticking out, which could be pulled aside when the policemen on duty were satisfied that the truck had broken no laws and should be allowed to pass. Sometimes, they merely gawped into the cab or glanced at the driver’s papers for a few seconds before waving him on. But the more aggressive ones detained us somewhat longer. Some asked for beer. Some complained that they were hungry, often patting their huge stomachs to emphasise the point. One asked for pills, lamenting that he had indigestion. But most wanted hard cash, and figured that the best way to get it was to harass motorists until bribed to lay off.

In Somalia's break-away corner, an oasis of stability

2009-06-13T10:09:00.001+01:00

The self-declared republic of Somaliland has elections, a strong economy, and zero tolerance for extremists or pirates. But no one recognizes it.

Hargeisa, Somaliland - At first glance, the dusty streets of Hargeisa look like much of the rest of Somalia. Traffic jams consist of the occasional late-model Toyota Corolla encountering a string of donkey carts or a slow-moving flock of goats. Roads, water pipes, and electrical power grids have been untouched for nearly 40 years, but the mobile phone system runs just fine, thank you.
But Hargeisa is not at all like the rest of Somalia, and according to its elected leaders, it is the capital of an entirely separate country: Somaliland – a country that no one besides the Somalilanders themselves recognizes.
A self-declared independent republic since 1991 – when civil war broke out after the fall of Somali dictator Siad Barre – Somaliland is an oddity in the conflict-prone Horn of Africa. A multiparty democracy with an elected president and parliament, a secular Muslim country with no tolerance for extremism, a thriving free-market economy with precious little foreign aid, and a strict law-and-order state with no patience for piracy – Somaliland is exactly the kind of country the Western world loves to embrace.
"We are the key," says Abdillahi Duale, Somaliland's foreign minister, during a recent interview. "This is the only safe haven you've got [in the region]. This is the only government with the public will and muscle to deal with the issue of piracy. With Somaliland, you have the only willing partner."
He pauses. "This is a terrible neighborhood," he says, referring to the ongoing civil war in Somalia and the piracy in Puntland, another self-declared republic to the east. "We are building this nation from scratch. We are not doing this to appease others. But we need to get the capacity [through foreign aid] if we want to sustain this."
Unstable by association
Denied recognition by the Western powers for nearly two decades out of fears that it would encourage breakaway movements in Darfur, Congo, Nigeria, and elsewhere, Somaliland has created an alternative Somali nation in slow motion, in a region with more than its fair share of war, famine, criminality, and extremism.
Lack of recognition has very real consequences for ordinary Somalilanders – being seen as a province of Somalia discourages foreign investors, to say the least – but Somaliland officials say their moment may finally have come. The rise of piracy, and the very real threat of an Islamist takeover in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, may be providing Somaliland with its best argument for recognition, as a separate, stable, friendly country in the region.
A model for Somalia
"Somaliland is a melange of traditional clan elites with modern governance," says Iqbal Jhazbhay, a Somaliland expert at the University of South Africa in Tshwane. "They have a home-grown method to form agreements and consensus. In three months after independence, they disarmed militias, set up a police force, began tax collection."
In theory, Somaliland's experience – blending traditional sources of clan authority with elected governance – could serve as a model for Somalia itself, just as it has for the neighboring state of Puntland. But Mr. Jhazbhay says that in the past 18 years, Somalia and Somaliland have drifted apart. Many Somalilanders simply want to move on with their lives, he says, and their patience is running out. "After 18 years, you have a neglected state. You have a total decay of the infrastructure."
'De facto' state
With 3.5 million citizens and an economy based largely on livestock – much of it destined for markets on the Saudi Arabian peninsula – Somaliland was once a nation easily forgotten. But Somaliland's bid for recognition seems to be gathering steam. In the waning days of the Bush administration, then-undersecretary of state for Africa Jendayi Frazer visited Hargeisa. Somaliland officials were invited this month to an EU parliament conference on "de facto states."
Even the African Union, long wary of redrawing the boundaries of African nations, issued a report in 2005 arguing that recognition of Somaliland "should not be linked to the notion of "opening a pandora's box."
Islamists lay claim with bombs
There are those, of course, who are opposed to Somaliland independence. On Oct. 29, 2008, a young Islamist – a Somali-American from Minneapolis, named Shirwa Ahmed – drove a car packed with explosives into the Ethiopian Embassy in Hargeisa, killing 20 people. The attack, and four others set off simultaneously by a radical Islamist group called Al-Shabab, was viewed as a signal that Islamists were intent on creating a Greater Somalia, by force if necessary.
'We must go our own way'
Like many Somalilanders, Abdulkadir Hashi Elmi, a prominent businessman, views his country's independence as "irreversible."
"The people of Somalia and Puntland were colonized by the Italians, and during Italian rule they were trained to rule in the Italian way," he says with a wry smile.
But while Italian settlers profoundly changed Somali culture in Somalia itself, he says, Somaliland was left largely untouched during a period of British rule, because the British largely allowed clan elders to run their own affairs until independence in 1960.
"Somalia will be difficult for years to come, because now nothing is in their hands, it is in the hands of the warlords," says Mr. Elmi, who owns the Maan-Soor Hotel in Hargeisa. "Somalia doesn't have any hope to recover, not in our generation. That's why we must go our own way."
Abdaillahi Ismail Ali, Somaliland's interior minister, says that his country is happy to provide a model for its neighbors and to provide a forum for clan leaders in Somalia to resolve disputes the old-fashioned way, through consensus. But Somalia can forget about taking Somaliland back, he adds.
"We believe – every Somalilander believes – that we cannot be reunited with Somalia," he says. "We had hopes of making a Greater Somalia, but that dream died. We realized that whenever we try, we always get shot."

2009-06-11T14:05:00.001+01:00

--
Tih Felix

Alice Kom: Fighting for Gay Rights in Cameroon

2009-06-11T13:21:00.001+01:00

Christi van der Westhuizen interviews ALICE NKOM, Cameroonian lawyer (Originally published by IPS)

Barrister-Alice-Nkom In 2003, Alice Nkom made a decision that has put her on a collision course with the police, prosecutors and judges of Cameroon. Nkom, who has been a barrister at the Cameroonian Bar for 40 years, was chatting with some young men whom she considers her own children.

She realised they were gay. Not only that, having gone after school to France to study and only ever living there as out gay men, they were oblivious to the extent of the persecution they faced for expressing their sexuality in Cameroon. Extortion and unfair prosecution of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are common occurrences in the Francophone west African state.

They were handsome and full of life, talking passionately about their plans. She was struck by the injustice of their situation and felt she had a duty to do something, otherwise ‘‘coming back to Cameroon means having to choose to go to jail for who you are, to have one’s dignity trampled upon all the time, to be a victim of the police’’.

She founded the Association for the Defence of Homosexuals and has ever since been acting as defence lawyer for LGBT people in Cameroon.

Christi van der Westhuizen spoke to her when she attended a recent workshop of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) in Cape Town, South Africa.

The meeting, which gathered LGBT activists from across Africa, was held to strategise around litigating against the myriad laws that still discriminate against LGBT people on the continent. IGLHRC is an international non-governmental organisation.

IPS: What is the legal status of LGBT people in Cameroon?

Alice Nkom: On Sep. 28, 1972, article 347 was introduced into the Cameroonian penal code which prescribes penalties of up to five years for anyone, whether man or woman, who is caught having sex with someone of the same sex.

(The situation recently became worse) when, on December 25, 2005, the archbishop of Yaoundé made LGBT people the theme of his Christmas sermon. This caused a witch hunt with LGBT people accused of being the root cause of all social ills, the root of unemployment and corruption, in Cameroon.

The archbishop said that high-profile people who were "homosexuals" forced other Cameroonians into same-sex activities in return for jobs. This launched a media frenzy where journalists abandoned their codes of ethics and published lists of names of people who were supposedly gay. Tabloids suddenly started selling. Photocopies were sold even more expensively than the originals.

This went on until Feb. 10, 2006 when the president of Cameroon told people to stop speculating about the vices and virtues of one another while trampling on people’s fundamental rights. He said the publications should cease because freedom of expression stops where people’s right to privacy starts. This ended the frenzy.

It had consequences as children (whose parents’ names were published in the newspapers) were attacked by their friends at school. Some (threatened) suicide if their parents could not ‘‘prove’’ that they were not gay or lesbian.

IPS: What is the reality of LGBT people’s lives today in Cameroon?

AN: Every day I hear about extortion here and there. It is not healthy for young people who are trying to enjoy their lives. There is a close relationship between one’s happiness and enjoyment of one’s sexuality.

They are unhappy because at any given time they can be subjected to arrest or blackmail - even when the law does not provide the police with the power to do so.

There is a criminal procedure code which is continuously violated when it comes to gay and lesbian people. The code does not provide the prosecutor the power to arraign somebody unless the person was caught in flagrante delicto (caught in the act).

A police officer does not have the right to come to your house or to bars to arrest you for homosexuality. But what happens is that people are just thought to be gay... (which) catches the attention of greedy police officers who are looking for someone to blackmail.

IPS: So people are being arrested on suspicion, even if they were not caught in the act?

AN: In none of the cases of homosexuality which I have defended was the person ever caught in flagrante delicto. I raise this concern every time but the judges never respond.

IPS: Have you had successes in defending people?

AN: Not the kind of successes that I would have wanted. In one case, nine people were charged. The judge wanted them to go for forensic anal tests, which means that not only were they spending seven months in jail (pending the case) but the judge wanted to force them to undergo a humiliating test to show that they were actually gay. Medical doctors refused to carry out the tests.

He released two of the men for unknown reasons. The remaining seven were sentenced to seven months in jail and then released for time served. In all, they spent 12 months and 12 days in jail. How did the judge manage to find them homosexual, given that he did not get the proof he was looking for? They were found guilty on the basis of personal beliefs.

In another case two people (tried to steal from someone at whose house they were staying). He called the police. The two thieves got the idea to say the complainant wanted to sleep with them. It turned into a "gay case". The prosecutor charged all three with homosexuality and they were sentenced to six months.

IPS: Are lesbians affected?

AN: In 2006, the principal of a private high school expelled 12 students on the eve of the final exams. He had been told that one had said to the other ‘‘whatever she did, she would belong to her’’. She was arrested. She had to say who her girlfriend was. Each person had to reveal another name and so they got a list of students.

The head of the school went on a media campaign to encourage all principals to eradicate homosexuality in their schools.

The grandmother of one of the girls accused another girl of "misleading" her granddaughter. They laid a charge with the police. The police arrested the granddaughter and her friend and another two girls who were mentioned during the discussions. They were sent to jail, four girls (all under 18).

As in all the other cases, it was not on the basis of in flagrante delicto – it was based on what other people had alleged. The prosecutor coerced them to not accept me as their advocate. A month later they received suspended sentences of three months each.

IPS: You were also locked up once.

AN: This was in 2006. I paid a visit to my clients in jail to prepare them psychologically for the court. I was in the meeting room taking pictures of them with my mobile phone. I was arrested. I told the prison boss, you can’t just take my mobile - it’s my mobile and those are their images, which they own.

I spoke to the attorney general and said to him you are here to do your job and I’ll do mine. You can’t arrest me without showing which law I violated. (She was released a few hours later and her phone was returned.)

IPS: How do your peers respond to your work?

AN: Many of them are very homophobic. Others are indifferent. I receive little support.

It’s very important to me that kids are taught from early to be tolerant, to respect difference. They can land in a place (abroad) where they are in the minority and where they need other people to respect them. Diversity is a good thing - it enriches our lives. If we don’t embrace it we will have terrorism, racism.

2008 Human Rights Report: Cameroon

2009-04-04T20:01:00.000+01:00

Cameroon, with a population of approximately 18 million, is a republic dominated by a strong presidency. The country has a multiparty system of government, but the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) has remained in power since it was created in 1985. The president retains the power to control legislation or to rule by decree. In 2004 CPDM leader Paul Biya won reelection as president, a position he has held since 1982. The election was flawed by irregularities, particularly in the voter registration process, but observers concluded that the election results represented the will of the voters. The July 2007 legislative and municipal elections had significant deficiencies in the electoral process, including barriers to registration and inadequate safeguards against fraudulent voting, according to international and domestic observers. Although civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, security forces sometimes acted independently of government authority.

The government's human rights record remained poor, and it continued to commit human rights abuses, particularly following widespread February riots to protest increased food and fuel costs. Security forces committed numerous unlawful killings. Security forces also engaged in torture, beatings, and other abuses, particularly of detainees and prisoners. Prison conditions were harsh and life threatening. Authorities arrested and detained anglophone citizens advocating secession, local human rights monitors and activists, persons not carrying government-issued identity cards, and other citizens. There were incidents of prolonged and sometimes incommunicado pretrial detention and infringement on citizens' privacy rights. The government restricted citizens' freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association, and harassed journalists. The government also impeded citizens' freedom of movement. Other problems included widespread official corruption; societal violence and discrimination against women; female genital mutilation (FGM); trafficking in persons, primarily children; and discrimination against pygmies, ethnic minorities, indigenous people, and homosexuals. The government restricted worker rights and the activities of independent labor organizations. Child labor, hereditary servitude, and forced labor, including forced child labor, were problems.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life

There were no reports that the government or its agents committed politically motivated killings; however, throughout the year security forces continued to commit unlawful killings. There were more of such reports than in the previous year and the government rarely prosecuted officers responsible for using excessive force. The rise of unlawful killings by security forces was mainly attributable to the armed forces' reaction to the violent unrest that gripped Douala and dozens of other cities, sparked by a combination of political and economic frustrations. The government reported at least three unlawful security force killings during the year.

During the February riots, which spread to 31 localities including Yaounde and Douala, and the subsequent government crackdown, security forces shot and killed demonstrators and rioters. While the government reported 40 persons killed, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as La Maison des Droits de l'Homme, stated that security forces killed over 100 persons (see section 2.b.).

There were no new developments in the following 2007 security force killings: the January police shooting of Michele Therese Sename Bella; the suicide of police officer William Etenga, who killed a taxi driver; the police shooting of two taxi drivers in Bamenda; and the shooting of three M'bororo men in Garoua by gendarmes.

There were reports of prisoners dying in custody due to security force abuse during the year.

There were new developments in the 2006 killing of Gregoire Diboule, allegedly by Ni John Fru Ndi, chairman of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), and 21 other SDF officials who belonged to a competing party faction. On November 5, the Mfoundi (Yaounde) High Court released 21 detainees due to their illegal pretrial detention. The court also ruled that the incarceration and arraignment of Mbah Justice Mbah, one of the co-accused, was illegal and acquitted him. However, the court did not dismiss the case and first hearings, which began on December 3, were subsequently delayed until February 26, 2009.

During the year societal violence and summary justice against persons suspected of theft continued to result in deaths. For example, the press reported 13 deaths during the year from mob violence or summary justice while in 2007 the press reported three deaths from such beatings and burning by security forces. In 2006 the press reported 43 reported deaths.

In late January an angry crowd in Tatum, a small locality in Bui Division in the North West Region, burned to death three bandits who had escaped from custody and tried to commit armed robbery; attempts by gendarmes to rescue the three thieves failed. No action had been taken against the perpetrators by year's end.

During the year mob violence was attributed in part to public frustration over police ineffectiveness and the release without charge of many individuals arrested for serious crimes.

There were no new developments in the January 2007 mob violence and summary justice-related case of Walters Akwafe.

b. Disappearance

There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances during the year.

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, there were credible reports that security forces tortured, beat, and otherwise abused prisoners and detainees, including demonstrators and a human rights worker arrested during the February riots. The government rarely investigated or punished any of the officials involved.

In a March 5 interview with La Nouvelle Expression newspaper, barrister Joseph Lavoisier Tsapy, a lawyer in West Region and a member of the Liberty and Human Rights League, described the treatment that security forces inflicted on individuals arrested during the February riots. Security forces repeatedly stripped, beat, and dumped detainees into ashes from burned tires and broken glass, resulting in numerous injuries (see section 2.b.). At year's end the Liberty and Human Rights League and other human rights organizations, in association with the parents and families of the victims, were still compiling information for a formal complaint.

There were reports that security forces detained persons at specific sites where they tortured and beat detainees. Security forces also reportedly subjected women, children, and elderly persons to abuse. For example, on March 4, during his trial in Douala, Bernard Songo, a student from the University of Douala arrested during the February riots, reported that police officers severely beat him and two co-detainees in the judicial police precinct cells. Journalists covering the trial reported that evidence of the beatings was visible on the victims' bodies.

Numerous international human rights organizations and some prison personnel reported that torture was widespread, but most reports did not identify the victims for fear of government retaliation or because of ignorance of, or lack of confidence in, the judicial system.

In Douala's New Bell Prison and other nonmaximum security penal detention centers, prison guards inflicted beatings, and prisoners were reportedly chained or at times flogged in their cells. Authorities also administered beatings in temporary holding cells within police or gendarme facilities.

Security forces reportedly subjected prisoners and detainees to degrading treatment, including stripping them, confining them in severely overcrowded cells, denying them access to toilets or other sanitation facilities, and beating them to extract confessions or information about alleged criminals. Pretrial detainees reported that prison guards sometimes required them, under threat of abuse, to pay "cell fees," a bribe paid to prison guards to prevent further abuse.

On February 26, during a visit to the Yaounde Kondengui Central Prison, Divine Chemuta Banda, chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms (NCHRF), learned that many of the SDF militants incarcerated in 2006 in connection with the death of Gregoire Diboule had been treated inhumanely and denied medical care.

Prison and Detention Center Conditions

Prison conditions remained harsh and life threatening. Prisons were seriously overcrowded and unsanitary. The government did not provide funds to improve serious deficiencies in food, health care, and sanitation, which were common in all prisons. However, following significant press coverage of prison conditions and subsequent riots and escape attempts, the government financed the construction of new prisons across the country including one in Yaounde and one in Moulvoudaye, Far North Region, both of which were operational by year's end.

Prisoners were kept in dilapidated, colonial-era prisons, where the number of inmates was as much as four to five times the intended capacity. Overcrowding was exacerbated by the large number of long pretrial detentions. Government officials accused of corruption were held in separate quarters and received special treatment. Some NGOs released a report claiming that cells meant for 30 or 40 persons held more than 100 detainees.

Health and medical care were almost nonexistent in prisons and detention cells located in gendarmeries and police stations. There were reports that prisoners died due to a lack of medical care.

Prisoners also died as a result of inmate abuse. For example, on January 13, prisoners in the New Bell Prison tried to lynch Ahmend Aliou, who subsequently died in his cell because prison wardens did not provide medical assistance. No action had been taken against prison officials by year's end. On January 14, following the lynching of a prisoner, the superintendent of the Douala New Bell Prison told the press that overcrowding, a lack of segregation within the prison populations, and inhuman detention conditions were the major reasons behind the frequent prison violence. Local NGOs added abysmal food, rampant corruption, and sexual abuse as contributing factors. In early August the Action of Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), an NGO that regularly visits prisoners, characterized New Bell Prison as "hell on earth."

Prisoners' families were expected to provide food for their relatives in prison. New Bell Prison contained seven water taps for approximately 3,500 prisoners, contributing to poor hygiene, illness, and death.

Individuals incarcerated in the Douala New Bell prison for homosexual acts suffered discrimination and violence from other inmates.

Corruption among prison personnel was widespread. Prisoners bribed wardens for special favors or treatment, including temporary freedom.

There were two separate prisons for women. There were also a few pretrial detention centers for women; however, women routinely were held in police and gendarmerie complexes with men, occasionally in the same cells. Mothers sometimes chose to be incarcerated with their children while their children were very young or if they had no other child care option. The secretary of state in charge of penitentiary administration acknowledged this was a serious problem and on September 24, stated at a training on detainee rights that, "Cameroonian prisons should no longer be perceived or managed as places of repression, torture, or various other abuses."

Juvenile prisoners were often incarcerated with adults, occasionally in the same cells or wards. There were credible reports that adult inmates sexually abused juvenile prisoners.

Pretrial detainees routinely were held in cells with convicted criminals.

Some high-profile prisoners were separated from other prisoners and enjoyed relatively lenient treatment.

Authorities held adult men, juveniles, and women together in temporary detention centers where detainees usually received no food, water, or medical care. Overcrowding was common. Detention center guards accepted bribes from detainees in return for access to better conditions, including permission to stay in an office instead of a cell. Detainees whose families were informed of their incarceration relied on their relatives for food and medical care.

In the North and Extreme North regions, the government continued to permit traditional chiefs, or Lamibe, to detain persons outside the government penitentiary system, in effect creating private prisons. Many citizens turned to the Lamibe for dispute resolution. Within the palaces of the traditional chiefdoms of Rey Bouba, Gashiga, Bibemi, and Tcheboa, there were private prisons that had reputations for serious abuse.

In 2007 there was a report that a Lamido used law enforcement officials to extort money and confiscate cattle from citizens. Authorities held these citizens without access to an attorney for days or weeks, and then sent them to trial in Garoua, where the charges would routinely be dismissed.

The government permitted international humanitarian organizations access to prisoners. Both the local Red Cross and the NCHRF made infrequent, unannounced prison visits during the year. The government continued to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit prisons.

On September 23, the directors of the prisons in Douala and Yaounde released new figures indicating that the Douala New Bell Prison, originally built for approximately 800 inmates, now held 4,000 detainees. The Yaounde Kondengui Prison, originally built for approximately 700 inmates, held 3,500 prisoners. In October penitentiary authorities in Bamenda publicly stated that 700 detainees occupied the prison initially intended to hold less than 50 prisoners.

d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention

The constitution and law prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, security forces continued to arrest and detain citizens arbitrarily.

Role of the Police and Security Apparatus

The national police, the National Intelligence Service (DGRE), the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Territorial Administration, and, to a lesser extent, the Presidential Guard are responsible for internal security. The Ministry of Defense, which includes the gendarmerie, the army, the army's military security unit, and the DGRE, are under an office of the presidency, resulting in strong presidential control of security forces. The national police include the public security force, judicial police, territorial security forces, and frontier police. The national police and the gendarmerie have primary responsibility for law enforcement. In rural areas, where there is little or no police presence, the primary law enforcement body is the gendarmerie.

Police were ineffective, poorly trained, underpaid, and corrupt. Impunity was a problem.

Individuals reportedly paid bribes to police and the judiciary to secure their freedom. Police demanded bribes at checkpoints, and influential citizens reportedly paid police to make arrests or abuse individuals involved in personal disputes.

Citizens viewed police as ineffective, which frequently resulted in mob justice (see section 1.a.).

In August the president signed decrees creating police stations and appointing police personnel in the Bakassi area, a region returned from Nigeria in August. In 2007 Mebe Ngo'o, the general delegate for National Security, created new mobile police units and precincts in Yaounde and Douala to improve professionalism and increase police visibility. During the year investigations resulted in sanctions against more than 50 police officers including corruption, falsification of official documents, abuse of authority, use of excessive force, extortion of money, arbitrary arrest, blackmailing, and aggravated theft.

On February 13, Mebe Ngo'o suspended Police Commissioner Francois Xavier Minyem, the officer in charge of inspecting units at the Littoral Provincial Delegation, for three months without pay for corruption.

On April 22, Mebe Ngo'o suspended Senior Police Commissioner Simon Menzouo of the East Region Judiciary Police, for corruption and the embezzlement of property seized as evidence.
On May 15, he also sanctioned Francis Melone Mbe, the director of border police, for corruption in connection with the issuance of passports.

In late August dozens of police officers completed a three-month training seminar that included citizens' rights, human rights, and individual freedoms.

Arrest and Detention

The law requires police to obtain an arrest warrant except when a person is caught in the act of committing a crime; however, police often did not respect this right in practice. The law provides that detainees must be brought promptly before a magistrate; however, this frequently did not occur. Police legally may detain a person in connection with a common crime for up to 24 hours and may renew the detention three times before bringing charges; however, police occasionally exceeded these detention periods. The law permits detention without charge by administrative authorities such as governors and senior divisional officers for renewable periods of 15 days. The law also provides for access to counsel and family members; however, detainees were frequently denied access to both legal counsel and family members. The law permits bail, allows citizens the right to appeal, and provides the right to sue for unlawful arrest, but these rights were seldom exercised.

Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that police and gendarmes arrested persons on spurious charges on Fridays at mid-day or in the afternoon. While the law provides for judicial review of an arrest within 24 hours, the courts did not convene on weekends, so individuals arrested on a Friday typically remained in detention until Monday at the earliest. Police and gendarmes made such "Friday arrests" after accepting bribes from persons who had private grievances. There were no known cases of policemen or gendarmes being sanctioned or punished for this practice. Security forces and government authorities reportedly continued to arbitrarily arrest and detain persons, often holding them for prolonged periods without charges or trial and, at times, incommunicado. However, there were fewer such cases reported than in 2006.

During the February riots security forces arrested 1,671 persons around the country according to March figures released by the Ministry of Justice (see section 2.b.). NGOs claimed the number was higher and reported that security forces arrested scores of onlookers not directly involved in demonstrations or rioting.

For example, on February 25, Yaounde gendarmes arrested Andre Blaise Essama, a computer specialist. In a June 18 interview with Le Messager newspaper, Essama explained that after leaving a business meeting, his route took him close to a demonstration. He pulled out his camera and started taking pictures. Emmanuel Anyon, a plainclothes gendarme officer, stopped Essama and took him to the gendarmerie headquarters where he was interrogated and subsequently incarcerated on charges of disturbing public order and looting. On March 20, the court released Essama due to the erroneous charges. Essama filed a complaint against the two gendarme officers, but no action had been taken by year's end.

On March 1, gendarmes of the Secretariat of State for Defense used excessive force to arrest singer Joe Kameni, alias Joe La Conscience, and his friend Leon Tengue, in front of a foreign embassy in Yaounde. The two men had been on a hunger strike to protest the government's closing of Radio Equinoxe and Equinoxe TV in Douala (see section 2.a.). On March 19, the Yaounde Court of First Instance sentenced Kameni and Tengue to six months in jail for illegal assembly and demonstration. On May 20, the president granted both men amnesty as part of a larger amnesty benefitting those convicted in the wake of the February unrest.

Other high-profile arrests during the year included Mboua Massok, a political activist arrested in Douala in January disturbing public order, and Lapiro de Mbanga, a popular singer arrested in Loum, Littoral Region in April for fomenting riots and looting. The police released Massok several hours after his arrest. On September 24, the Mungo Court sentenced Lapiro (an alias for Pierre Roger Lambo Sandjo) to three years' imprisonment a 277,000 CFA ($554,000) fine for his role in fomenting disorder and destruction of private and state property. However, his appeal trial was postponed until January 2009.

Police arbitrarily arrested persons without warrants during neighborhood sweeps for criminal and stolen goods. Citizens are required to carry identification with them at all times and police frequently arrested persons without identification during sweeps.

Prolonged pretrial detention was a serious problem. The criminal procedure code provides for a maximum of 18 months' detention before trial. However, according to government statistics released during the year, 70 percent of the 23,000 inmates held in the country were awaiting trial. In May the Cameroon Bar Association indicated that many of these inmates had been awaiting trial for five to 10 years. The high number of pretrial detainees was due in part to the complexity of cases, staff shortages, and corruption. The bar association linked longer detention periods to a shortage of lawyers and an inadequate tracking system that resulted in frequent loss of files.

The law specifies that, after an investigation has concluded, juveniles should not be detained without trial for longer than three months. In practice the government detained juveniles for longer periods of time. In December 2007 Foyer d'Esperance, an NGO based in Yaounde, reported that several juveniles were detained in the Yaounde Central Prison for between six months and one year.

In recent years there have been reports that some prisoners were kept in prison after completing their sentences or having been released under a court ruling.

Amnesty

On May 20, President Biya granted amnesty to hundreds of persons convicted for their participation in the February riots as well as other detainees, including 74 demonstrators in Douala, 61 in Yaounde, and 36 in Bamenda. The presidential pardons did not release those detainees whose appeals were still pending at year's end.

In May the superintendents of the Yaounde and Douala prisons stated that, despite their presidential amnesty, hundreds of prisoners would remain in jail until their court fees and damages were paid.

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

The constitution and law provide for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary remained subject to executive influence, and corruption and inefficiency remained serious problems. The court system is subordinate to the Ministry of Justice. The constitution names the president as "first magistrate," thus "chief" of the judiciary and the theoretical arbiter of any sanctions against the judiciary; however, the president has not filled this role. The constitution specifies that the president is the guarantor of the legal system's independence. He also appoints all judges with the advice of the Higher Judicial Council. However, the judiciary showed modest signs of growing independence. In September the Supreme Court nullified six municipal elections conducted in November 2007, including some involving senior CPDM officials.

The court system includes the Supreme Court, a court of appeals in each of the 10 regions, and courts of first instance in each of the country's 58 divisions.

The legal system includes both national and customary law, and many criminal and civil cases can be tried using either one. Criminal cases are generally tried in statutory courts, and customary court convictions involving witchcraft are automatically transferred to the statutory courts, which act as the court of first instance. Customary law, used in rural areas, is based upon the traditions of the ethnic group predominant in the region and is adjudicated by traditional authorities of that group. Customary law is deemed valid only when it is not "repugnant to natural justice, equity, and good conscience." However, many citizens in rural areas remained unaware of their rights under civil law and were taught that they must abide by customary laws. Customary law ostensibly provides for equal rights and status; however, men may limit women's rights regarding inheritance and employment, and some traditional legal systems treat wives as the legal property of their husbands.

Customary courts served as a primary means for settling family-related civil cases, such as in matters of succession, inheritance, and child custody. Customary courts may exercise jurisdiction in a civil case only with the consent of both parties. Either party has the right to have a case heard by a statutory court and to appeal an adverse decision by a customary court to the statutory courts.

Military tribunals may exercise jurisdiction over civilians when the president declares martial law and in cases involving civil unrest or organized armed violence. Military tribunals also have jurisdiction over gang crimes, banditry, and highway robbery. The government interpreted these guidelines broadly and sometimes used military courts to try matters concerning dissident groups who used firearms.

Trial Procedures

The law provides for a fair public hearing in which the defendant is presumed innocent. There is no jury system. Defendants have the right to be present and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner. Defendants generally were allowed to question witnesses and to present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf. Defendants also had access to government-held evidence relevant to their cases. Because appointed attorneys received little compensation, the quality of legal representation for indigent clients often was poor. The bar association and some voluntary organizations, such as the Cameroonian Association of Female Jurists, offered free assistance in some cases. Defendants could appeal their cases.

Lawyers and human rights organizations observed several violations of the criminal procedure code in the government's response to the February unrest. Some detainees in police or gendarmerie cells did not receive medical assistance or access to an attorney. Jean de Dieu Momo, a human rights lawyer, and ACAT representative Madeleine Afite publically denounced these violations. Afite stated that arrested minors received no assistance from their parents, attorneys, or human rights organizations, as is mandated by the code.

Judges tried persons en masse, while the law provides for individual trials.

For example, on March 3, the Douala-Ndokoti First Instance Court tried dozens of young men with no legal representation. No lawyer assisted any of the defendants. Informed of the situation by lawyers who were in the court house for other matters, Charles Tchoungang, chairman of the Cameroon Bar Association, demanded that the trials be suspended until the bar association could commit lawyers to assist them. The judge agreed to adjourn the trial, which resumed the following day with proper representation.

On March 4, police detained 155 youth for allegedly participating in the February riots and brought them before the Douala Court of First Instance dirty and dressed only in their underwear. Their lawyers, including human rights lawyer Alice Nkom, stated that the defendants had endured beatings and humiliating treatment while in custody. In response to the lawyers' protests, the presiding magistrate ordered that the defendants be dressed before the trial could begin. These individuals benefitted from President Biya's May 20 amnesty.

Corruption also marked some of the trials. According to several press reports, judicial authorities accepted illegal payments from detainees' families in exchange for a reduction in sentence or the outright release of their relatives, including juveniles. Political bias by judges (often instructed by the government) frequently stopped trials or resulted in an extremely long process with extended court recesses. Many powerful political or business interests enjoyed virtual immunity from prosecution and some politically sensitive cases were settled through bribes.

Political Prisoners and Detainees

There were reports of political detainees, which included anglophone citizens advocating secession through an illegal organization.

During the year the government continued to detain two individuals widely considered by human rights NGOs to be political prisoners because of irregularities in their trials and restricted access to counsel. Titus Edzoa, former minister of health and long-time aide to President Biya, and Michel Thierry Atangana, Edzoa's 1997 campaign manager, were arrested in 1997, three months after Edzoa resigned from government and launched his candidacy for president. They were convicted on charges of embezzling public funds and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies

The constitution and law provide for an independent civil judiciary; however, the judiciary remained subject to executive influence, and corruption and inefficiency remained serious problems.

f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence

The constitution and law prohibit such actions; however, these rights were subject to the "higher interests of the state," and there were credible reports that police and gendarmes harassed citizens, conducted searches without warrants, and opened or seized mail with impunity. The government continued to keep some opposition activists and dissidents under surveillance. Police sometimes detained family members and neighbors of criminal suspects.

The law permits a police officer to enter a private home during daylight hours without a warrant if he is pursuing a criminal suspected of committing a crime. A police officer may enter a private home at any time in pursuit of a criminal observed committing a crime.

During the year police put the houses of Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) officials and activists under surveillance, searched the houses of some SCNC leaders, and disrupted SCNC meetings in private residences. The SCNC is an anglophone group the government considers illegal because it advocates secession.

A prominent human rights organization in Yaounde also reported that security forces ransacked its offices during the February unrest.

An administrative authority may authorize police to conduct neighborhood sweeps without warrants. Such sweeps at times involved forced entry into homes in search of suspected criminals or stolen or illegal goods. Security forces sometimes sealed off a neighborhood, systematically searched homes, arrested persons, sometimes arbitrarily, and seized suspicious or illegal articles. In December security forces conducted sweeps in the Douala neighborhoods of Akwa and Douala III (Logbaba). During the operation, they seized stolen equipment including electrical and telephone wires stolen from public installations and arrested suspects.

Citizens without ID cards were detained until their identity could be established and then released. Several complained that police arbitrarily seized electronic devices and cell phones. Some registered their complaints with the police. Following the December raids in Douala, several persons who were arrested or whose houses were searched publicly complained about the motives of the security forces.

There continued to be accusations, particularly in the North and Far North regions, that traditional chiefs arbitrarily evicted persons from their land. In June in Bogo, Diamare Division, Far North Region, a villager filed a complaint to a local human rights NGO about the traditional ruler who seized his land. There was no further development by year's end.

Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

a. Freedom of Speech and Press

The law provides for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the government continued to restrict these rights in practice. The government arbitrarily arrested and detained journalists. Senior members of the government and the CPDM used their positions to harass journalists and encourage their arrest and detention. The government enforced media regulations irregularly, often implementing arduous requirements selectively to regime critics. This often created an environment of self-censorship for journalists and media outlets. Government officials used expansive libel laws to persecute journalists who criticized them.

On September 4, Michel Mombio, editor of the independent newspaper L’Ouest Republican was arrested in Bafoussam and charged with fraud, attempted blackmail, and libel after he wrote an article criticizing cabinet officials. Mombio was held incommunicado for two days and transferred without hearing to Yaounde, where he awaited trial at year's end. Police arrested at least three other journalists reporting on high level corruption during the year and detained them under similar circumstances.

Individuals generally were able to criticize the government publicly and privately without being subjected to government reprisal. However, there were numerous examples where government officials threatened, harassed, or denied equal treatment to individuals or organizations who criticized government policies or expressed views at odds with government policy.

For example, human rights activist Madeleine Afite reported threats from officials and anonymous callers in response to her assessment that more fatalities occurred during the February riots and subsequent government crackdown than the government acknowledged.

In March the youth organization Conseil Patriotique et Populaire de la Jeunesse (CPPJ) received threatening calls from military officials after releasing a statement asking government to address the socio-political issues underlying the February unrest. Security officials held incommunicado at least one CPPJ member who had signed the statement. The individual was subsequently released without charges.

The government published the daily newspaper the Cameroon Tribune. The newspaper did not report extensively on protests or political parties critical of the government, overtly criticize the ruling party, or portray government programs in an unfavorable light.

During the year approximately 200 privately owned newspapers were published; however, most appeared irregularly, primarily due to lack of funding. Only an estimated 25 were published on a regular basis. Newspapers were distributed primarily in urban areas, and most continued to criticize the government and report on controversial issues, including corruption, human rights abuses, homosexuality, and economic policies.

The government continued to disburse official funds to support private press outlets during the year. According to media reports, the government awarded funding selectively to outlets that were less critical of the government and with instructions to provide reporting favorable to the regime.

The government interfered with private broadcast, print, and radio media during the year.

Journalists were more subject to arrest, harassment, and intimidation than in the previous year. For example, security forces in the wake of the February unrest, acting under the command of local provincial government officials, restricted press freedom by arresting, detaining, physically abusing, threatening, and otherwise harassing journalists.

On February 12, gendarmes of Zoetele arrested Jean-Bosco Talla, the publisher of Le Front, a Yaounde biweekly newspaper, and his colleague Simon Djomo. Talla and Djomo were reporting on the unusual wealth of senior government officials from Zoetele when gendarmes bound and blindfolded them. Gendarmes secretly moved Talla and Djomo from Zoetele to Douala and back to Zoetele without charges or allowing them to contact a lawyer or family for approximately 24 hours. Gendarmes subsequently released them without charges.

On March 3, security forces in Yaounde who were reportedly members of Military Security (SEMIL) arrested Jacques Blaise Mvie, the publisher of La Nouvelle Presse newspaper. The same day the newspaper published an article on an alleged coup attempt and cited Minister of Defense Remy Ze Meka. Following his release three days later, Mvie alleged that Ze Meka had ordered the arrest. On March 6, SEMIL arrested Mvie again and interrogated him for several hours. The director of SEMIL told reporters that the rearrest was a normal procedure because Mvie incriminated them when he stated that SEMIL originally arrested him. SEMIL subsequently released Mvie, and no charges were filed by year's end.

On September 9, the independent daily newspaper La Nouvelle Expression reported that gendarmes apprehended and detained Michel Mombio on September 4 after his newspaper, L'Ouest Republican, printed articles critical of Madeleine Tchuente, the minister of scientific research and innovation, and Jacques Fame Ndongo, the minister of higher education. Police transferred Mombio to Yaounde, where he remained in prison at year's end, awaiting trial scheduled for early 2009.

Radio remained the most important medium reaching most citizens. There were approximately 70 privately owned unofficial radio stations operating in the country, three-fourths of them in Yaounde and Douala. The state‑owned CRTV broadcasts on both television and radio. In August 2007 the government issued the first licenses to two private televisions, STV and Canal 2 International, one private radio, Sweet FM, and one cable television network, TV+. The government levied taxes to finance CRTV programming, which allowed CRTV a distinct advantage over independent broadcasters.

The government required nonprofit rural radio stations to submit an application to broadcast, but they were exempt from paying licensing fees. Potential commercial radio and television broadcasters must submit a licensing application and pay an application fee when the application is submitted. Once the license is issued, stations must then pay an annual licensing fee, which was expensive for some stations. Although the government did not issue new broadcast licenses during the year, companies operated without them.

On February 21, the minister of communication indefinitely suspended broadcasts by Radio Equinoxe and Equinoxe TV, two Douala-based media outlets belonging to the same independent media group. Officially, the minister discontinued the broadcasts because the owners had failed to pay the broadcasting licenses fee. However, most broadcast stations defaulted on these payments and continued to operate legally. National and international observers concluded that the suspensions were politically motivated because the two outlets broadcast critical views of President Biya's removal of constitutional term limits. On July 4, the minister lifted the suspension after the stations had paid 40 million CFA ($80,000) of the required 100 million CFA ($200,000) fees.

On February 28, in an attempt to impose content restrictions, Minister of Communication Jean-Pierre Biyiti Bi Essam urged the owners of electronic media to use an "appeasement tone" in their coverage of the riots. On the same day, the broadcast of "Magic Attitude," a popular daily interactive program of the Yaounde-based Magic FM (a partner of the Voice of America), was suspended. Gendarmes raided the premises of the station without a warrant, interrupted programs, and removed all broadcasting equipment. The media reported that the raid was illegal because the minister of communication had not taken action against Magic FM, and the minister of defense (who commands gendarmes) had not authorized the raids. On July 4, the minister of communication lifted the ban; however, the seized equipment was never returned.

Unlike in the previous year, the National Communications Council, whose members were appointed by the president to review broadcasting license applications, did not meet. In addition, an official suspended the technical committee that reviews license applications and stated that it would not reconvene until the government reopened the previously closed media outlets. Several low-power, rural community radio stations functioned with funding from the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and foreign countries. The government prohibited these stations from discussing politics.

The law permits broadcasting by foreign news services but requires them to partner with a national station. The BBC, Radio France International, and Africa1 broadcast in partnership with CRTV.

Television had lower levels of penetration than print media but was more influential in shaping public opinion. The government closed Radio Equinox for its harsh criticism of the regime. The other five independent television stations skirted criticism of the government, although their news broadcasts sometimes focused on poverty, unemployment, and poor education, pointing to the role of government neglect and corruption.

During the year CRTV management continued to instruct staff to ensure that government views prevailed at all times during their coverage.

The government was the largest advertiser in the country. Some private media enterprises reported that government officials used the promise of advertising (or the threat of withholding it) to influence reporting of the government's activities.

The government and government officials used strict libel laws to suppress criticism. These laws authorize the government, at its discretion and the request of the plaintiff, to criminalize a civil libel suit or to initiate a criminal libel suit in cases of alleged libel against the president and other high government officials; such crimes are punishable by prison terms and heavy fines. The libel law places the burden of proof on the defendant. Government officials abused this law to keep local journalists from reporting on corruption and abusive behavior. In 2006 various government members and senior government officials filed nine libel suits against journalists. During the year seven government officials filed libel suits against journalists.

On June 7, the International Federation of Journalists asked the government to stop intimidating journalists, especially those covering corruption scandals.

Internet Freedom

There were no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that the government monitored e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. The Internet was available and used by citizens, although access was limited by cost and slow connections.

Academic Freedom and Cultural Events

Although there were no legal restrictions on academic freedom, state security informants reportedly operated on university campuses. Professors said that participation in opposition political parties or public discussion of politics critical of the government could adversely affect their professional opportunities and advancement.

Security officials harassed musical entertainers during the year for singing songs that were derogatory to government officials.

b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

Freedom of Assembly

The law provides for freedom of assembly; however, the government restricted this right in practice, particularly during and after the February demonstrations and riots.

The law requires organizers of public meetings, demonstrations, or processions to notify officials in advance but does not require prior government approval of public assemblies and does not authorize the government to suppress public assemblies that it has not approved in advance. However, officials routinely asserted that the law implicitly authorizes the government to grant or deny permission for public assembly. Consequently, the government often did not grant permits for assemblies organized by persons or groups critical of the government and used force to suppress public assemblies for which it had not issued permits.

Authorities refused to grant the SCNC permission to hold rallies and meetings, and security forces arrested and detained some activists.

Security forces forcibly disrupted the demonstrations, meetings, and rallies of citizens, trade unions, and groups of political activists throughout the year; demonstrators were injured, arrested, and killed.

On December 10, police forces confronted a group who had gathered in front of the Yaounde headquarters of l'Association Citoyenne de Defense des Interets (ACDIC). They arrested ACDIC President Bernard Njonga and at least a dozen other individuals. Police injured Theophile Nono and he required medical attention due to a head laceration. The police justified their actions by stating that ACDIC had not received approval for a gathering and that the gathering blocked a public street. Njonga was released on bail and was scheduled to appear in court in on charges of disturbing public order and conducting an unauthorized rally the following month.

On January 15, Fai Yengo Francis, the governor of Littoral Region, banned any public rallies and demonstrations in the region. The governor used the preservation of public order as a justification for his decision. Local and international observers claimed that the ban prevented opposition parties and anticonstitutional reform activists from exercising their rights. The ban was not applied to public events in support of the government and CPDM. Due to public criticism, the governor lifted the ban on July 29.

On January 19, the Sous-Prefet of Dschang, in the West Region, banned a rally organized by the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon, an opposition party, to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the death of one of its major leaders.

On February 13, in the Bessengue neighborhood the Douala GMI disrupted an SDF march to protest against constitutional reform. The police used water cannon, trucks, and tear gas to disperse demonstrators in addition to beatings with rubber batons.

During the February riots, which spread to 31 localities including Yaounde and Douala, and the subsequent government crackdown, security forces shot and killed demonstrators and rioters. While the government reported 40 persons killed, NGOs such as La Maison des Droits de l'Homme claimed that security forces killed over 100 persons.

For example, on February 23, Douala police shot and killed Lovet Ndima Tingha, a meat vendor, while police attacked a crowd gathered for a march organized by the SDF leading opposition party. The march protested President Biya's intention to remove constitutional term limits. The press reported that SDF organizers had decided to disband for fear of violence and that police attacked while the crowd dispersed. Human rights organizations assisted Tingha's family in filing a complaint against the police; no further information was available at year's end.

On February 26, GMI police officers in Bafoussam, West Region, responding to a violent demonstration, shot and killed 23-year-old Emanuel Tantoh. Human rights NGOs assisted Tantoh's family in filing a complaint against the police; however, no other information was available by year's end.

No action was taken against security forces responsible for deaths and injuries as a result of the forcible dispersion of demonstrators in 2006 or 2007.

There were no new developments in the September 2007 case in which a senior divisional officer and his deputy reportedly shot and killed high school students Jean Jores Shimpe Poungou Zok and Marcel Bertrand Mvogo Awono in Abong-Mbang, East Region during a demonstration against a four-month absence of electricity in the town. The government promised an investigation.

The trial continued during the year in the 2006 case of four leaders of the Association for the Defense of Students' Interests, who were charged with rebellion and disturbance of public order.

Freedom of Association

The law provides for freedom of association, but the government limited this right in practice.

The conditions for government recognition of political parties, NGOs, or associations are arduous, interminable, and unevenly enforced. The process forced most associations to operate in uncertainty, in which their activities were tolerated but not formally approved.

The law prohibits organizations who advocate for any type of secession, leading government officials to disrupt meetings of the SCNC on the grounds that the purpose of the organization rendered their meetings illegal.

c. Freedom of Religion

The law provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respected this right in practice.

The practice of witchcraft is a criminal offense under the law; however, individuals generally were prosecuted for this offense only in conjunction with another offense, such as murder. Witchcraft traditionally has been a common explanation for diseases of unknown cause.

Societal Abuses and Discrimination

The Jewish community was very small, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.

For a more detailed discussion, see the 2008 International Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/drl/irf/rpt.

d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of Refugees, and Stateless Persons

Although the constitution and law provide for freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, security forces routinely impeded domestic and international travel during the year.

In the wake of the February riots, roadblocks and checkpoints manned by security forces proliferated in cities and on most highways, where extortion of small bribes and harassment were commonplace. Police frequently stopped travelers to check identification documents, vehicle registrations, and tax receipts as security and immigration control measures. However, there were credible reports that police arrested and beat individuals who failed to carry their identification cards as required by law.

Foreign travel is generally respected. However, there was at least one case of foreign travel restriction.

On March 2, DGRE officers arrested SDF parliamentarian Jean Michel Nintcheu from Littoral Region at the Douala International Airport, while he was about to travel to France. Despite Nintcheu's parliamentary immunity, the DGRE officers confiscated his passport but released him after an hour of detention and without any formal charges. On June 10, officials returned Nintcheu's passport to him.

The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not use it; however, some human rights monitors and political opponents who had departed the country because considered themselves threatened by the government remained outside of the country, declaring themselves to be in political exile.

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

Approximately 100 persons had not returned home due to previous violence between the Bali and Bawock ethnic groups over land disputes and as a result of an attack by the Oku tribe on the Mbessa tribe.

In 2005 between 10,000 and 15,000 citizens in and around the Adamaoua Region villages of Djohong and Ngaoui were displaced following attacks and looting by unidentified armed groups from the Central African Republic (CAR). Officials from the Adamaoua Region administration reported that hundreds of IDPs remained.

During the year the government worked with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to protect and assist IDPs.

Protection of Refugees

The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol, and the government has established a system of providing protection to refugees. The government granted refugee status or asylum. In practice the government provided protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened.

The government also provided temporary protection to certain individuals who did not qualify as refugees under the 1951 convention and its 1967 protocol. However, some noncitizens claimed that refugee status was denied to long-term residents. At year's end the UNHCR estimated that the country provided temporary protection to approximately 82,000 refugees, of which 62,000 came from CAR, 12,000 were urban refugees (9,000 in Yaounde and 3,000 in Douala), 4,500 from Chad, and 2,500 from Nigeria.

The government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. During the year the government facilitated entry and provided assistance to some refugees from CAR and Chad.

Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government

The law provides citizens with the right to change their government peacefully; however, President Biya's and the CPDM party controlled the political process, including the judiciary and agencies responsible for the conduct and oversight of elections. Electoral intimidation, manipulation, and fraud limited the ability of citizens to exercise this right in past elections. In April the National Assembly passed a constitutional amendment that removed presidential term limits and added provisions for presidential immunity. While considerable national discussion of the proposal ensued, the National Assembly ultimately passed the revisions in a manner that allowed no debate and underscored the CPDM's unfettered control of all government branches. Neither the electorate nor their elected representatives had an opportunity to affect the outcome of the constitutional exercise.

Elections and Political Participation

In July 2007 legislative elections, observers witnessed poor supervision at the polling stations and lax application of the electoral law. An unnecessarily complex registration process effectively disenfranchised some voters. The government failed to implement some electoral improvements it had previously committed. For example, despite repeated public assurances, the government was unable to provide indelible ink--an internationally recognized safeguard against multiple voting--to many polling stations. Despite efforts to computerize voter registration, the lists still included numerous errors.

The Supreme Court received over 130 complaints from political parties after the elections, but disqualified the majority of them on technical grounds. However, the court ordered new elections in five constituencies for 17 parliamentary seats, which were held in 2007; the CPDM won 13 seats and opposition parties four. Observers noted some irregularities and low voter turnout.

In July the government's National Elections Observatory published its assessment of the 2007 legislative and municipal elections. The report cited shortcomings due to lack of coordination between the various electoral commissions and a lack of clear and uniform procedures for the various stages of the electoral process (especially the registration process).

In 2004 President Biya, who has controlled the government since 1982, was reelected with approximately 70 percent of the vote in an election widely viewed as more free and fair than previous elections. Although the election was poorly managed and marred by irregularities, in particular in the voting registration process, most international observers agreed that it reflected the will of the voters. The Commonwealth Observer Group, however, maintained that the election lacked credibility.

During its June electoral session, the National Assembly passed an amendment to the law that created Elections Cameroon, extending the deadline for the electoral body's creation from June to December.

Membership in the ruling political party conveyed significant advantages, including in the allocation of key jobs in parastatals and the civil service. The president appoints all ministers, including the prime minister, and also directly appoints the governors of each of the 10 regions. The president has the power to appoint important lower level members of the 58 regional administrative structures as well. Onerous requirements for registration of parties and candidates restricted political activity.

The right of citizens to choose their local governments remained circumscribed. The government greatly increased the number of municipalities run by presidentially appointed delegates, who have authority over elected mayors, effectively disenfranchising the residents of those localities. Delegate-run cities included most of the provincial capitals and some division capitals in pro-opposition regions; however, this practice was almost nonexistent in the southern regions, which tended to support the ruling CPDM party. In municipalities with elected mayors, local autonomy was limited since elected local governments relied on the central government for most of their revenue and administrative personnel.

There were more than 180 registered political parties in the country. Fewer than 10, however, had significant levels of support, and only five had seats in the National Assembly. The ruling CPDM held an absolute majority in the National Assembly; opposition parties included the SDF, based in the anglophone regions and some major cities. The largest of the other opposition parties were the National Union for Democracy and Progress, the Cameroon Democratic Union, and the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon.

On numerous occasions throughout the year, authorities refused to grant permission to hold rallies and meetings to individuals or organization who espoused views at odds with government policy. In response to growing public dissatisfaction to the proposed constitutional amendment, Littoral Region Governor Francis Fai Yengo banned public demonstrations or events. While officials enforced the ban for civil society and opposition groups, progovernment and pro-CPDM events were permitted to take place. For example, both NGOs l'Association Citoyenne de Defense des Interests and Nouveaux Droits de l' Homme were banned from holding public events to protest government actions during the year.

The government considered the SCNC illegal because it advocates secession and authorities refused to register it as a political organization. During the year security forces preemptively arrested approximately 40 leaders, members, and supporters of the SCNC to prevent them from participating in unauthorized political meetings.

For example, on February 9, Bamenda police preemptively arrested 19 SCNC activists gathered in a private residence. Police arrested the activists to prevent them from celebrating the Day of Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. On February 13, the Bamenda prosecutor released them on bail, pending formal charges and eventual trial.

In accordance with the previsions of the newly instituted penal code, officials released, pending trial, individuals who were detained for participating in illegal gatherings of the SCNC.

Women held 23 of 180 seats in the National Assembly, six of 61 cabinet posts, and a few of the higher offices within the major political parties, including the ruling CPDM.

Pygmies were not represented in the National Assembly or the higher offices of government.

Government Corruption and Transparency

The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption; however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. The World Bank's worldwide governance indicators reflected that corruption was a severe problem. The public perception was that judicial and administrative officials were open to bribes in almost all situations. Corruption was pervasive at all levels of government.

There were publicized prosecutions of government officials accused of corruption during the year. For example, the government sanctioned dozens of government employees for corruption and mismanagement.

On March 12, police arrested and detained Paulin Abono Moampamb, a former secretary of state and mayor of Yokadouma, a small town in East Region, for embezzlement of public funds. Moampamb was placed in pretrial detention, awaiting trial at year's end.

On March 31, police arrested and detained Polycarpe Abah Abah, a former minister of finance, and Urbain Olanguena Awono, a former minister of public health, for embezzlement. The two men were placed in pretrial detention, awaiting trial at year's end.

On August 1, police arrested and detained Jean Marie Atangana Mebara, a former minister of state and secretary general of the presidency, for corruption and embezzlement. Mebara was in detention awaiting trial at year's end.

There were new developments in the following high profile corruption cases.

On July 11, the Yaounde High Court sentenced Joseph Edou, the general manager of Credit Foncier, a real estate funding company, and Andre Boto'o a Ngon, the former board chairman of the company, to 40 years' imprisonment each for corruption. Twenty-one other former Credit Foncier employees were found guilty and given prison terms ranging from one to 45 years' imprisonment. The court also sentenced the 23 to pay 8.5 billion CFA ($17 million) and ordered the confiscation of their property.

On April 16, the Yaounde Court of Appeals reduced the prison sentence of Gerard Ondo Ndong, former general manager of FEICOM (a parastatal providing project finance to municipalities) from 50 to 20 years' imprisonment. The court also reduced the prison terms of three of his codefendants from 48 to 20 years' imprisonment.

The constitution and law require senior government officials, including members of the cabinet, to declare their assets; however the president had not issued the requisite decree by year's end.

There are no laws providing citizens with access to government information, and such access was difficult to obtain. Most government documents, such as statistics, letters exchanged between various administrations, draft legislation, and investigation reports, were not available to the public or the media.

Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights

A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing findings on human rights cases; however, government officials repeatedly impeded the effectiveness of local human rights NGOs during the year by harassing their members, limiting access to prisoners, refusing to share information, threatening violence, and using violence against NGO personnel.

Despite these restrictions, numerous independent, domestic human rights NGOs operated in the country, including the National League for Human Rights, the Organization for Human Rights and Freedoms, the Association of Women against Violence, the Movement for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms, and the Cameroonian Association of Female Jurists. The government collaborated with domestic NGOs to address child labor, women's rights, and trafficking in persons.

On February 16, the Douala antiriot police arrested, beat, dragged on the floor, and stripped naked Aicha Ngo Eheg, a human rights activist with "Cri des Femmes," a Douala-based human rights group. Ngo Eheg, along with other demonstrators, had gathered in the Douala neighborhood of Bepanda to march against constitutional reform. According to Ngo Eheg's public statement, the police targeted her because she tried to stop them from harassing a young demonstrator. At year's end Ngo Eheg had not decided whether to file a complaint against the police.

The government cooperated with international governmental organizations and permitted visits by UN representatives and other organizations such as the ICRC. In July Prime Minister Inoni met with representatives from Human Rights Watch and other international NGOs.

While the NCHRF remained hampered by a shortage of funds, during the year it conducted a number of investigations into human rights abuses, visited prisons, and organized several human rights seminars for judicial officials, security personnel, and other government officers. Although the commission infrequently criticized the government's human rights abuses publicly, its staff intervened with government officials in specific cases of human rights abuses by security forces. During the year the NCHRF continued its efforts to stop "Friday arrests" (the practice of detaining individuals on Friday to prolong the time before court appearance) and sought to obtain medical attention for jailed suspects. Government officials also attended several seminars organized by the commission. On February 5, the NCHRF launched its Web site, which provides information about the commission and its activities. In 2006 the president signed a decree appointing members to the commission and dismissing all incumbents except the chairman.

The National Assembly's Constitutional Laws, Human Rights and Freedoms, Justice, Legislation, Regulations, and Administration Committee is charged with reviewing any human rights related legislation the government submits for consideration. The government did not submit any such bills during the year.

The Ministry of Justice published its own 2007 human rights report during the year which focused primarily on enumerating government actions to address human rights issues, such as judicial and disciplinary action taken against corrupt officials.

Section 5 Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in
Persons

The law does not explicitly forbid discrimination based on race, language, or social status, but does prohibit discrimination based on gender and mandates that "everyone has equal rights and obligations." The government, however, did not enforce these provisions effectively. Violence and discrimination against women, trafficking in persons, and discrimination against ethnic minorities and homosexuals were problems.

Women

The law prohibits rape, although police and the courts rarely investigated and prosecuted rape cases. The media reported at least seven rape cases during the year, although no one was arrested. Due to social taboos associated with sexual violence, many rapes likely went unreported.

A 2005 survey cited by the Cameroon Tribune indicated that 39 percent of women living with a man (married or unmarried) were victims of physical violence, and 28 percent were victims of psychological violence. The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence, although assault is prohibited and is punishable by prison terms and fines. Women's rights advocates asserted that penalties for domestic violence were insufficient. Spousal abuse is not a legal ground for divorce.

Unlike in the previous year, NGOs did not lead public awareness campaigns to combat breast ironing during the year, a practice conducted by female family members.

While the law prohibits prostitution, it was tolerated and practiced predominantly in urban areas and places frequented by tourists.

In June 2007 the government signed the Anti-Sex Tourism Charter, which provides ethical guidelines for the tourism industry.

While the law prohibits sexual harassment, very few cases were reported or prosecuted during the year. The government did not conduct any public education campaigns on the subject and there were no statistics available on its occurrence.

Despite constitutional provisions recognizing women's rights, women did not enjoy the same rights and privileges as men. Some points of civil law were prejudicial to women.

The law allows a husband to oppose his wife's right to work in a separate profession if the protest is made in the interest of the household and the family; a husband may also end his wife's commercial activity by notifying the clerk of the commerce tribunal of his opposition based upon the family's interest.

Customary law is far more discriminatory against women, since in many regions a woman traditionally was regarded as the property of her husband. Because of the importance attached to customs and traditions, civil laws protecting women often are not respected.

Children

During the year the government made some efforts to protect children's rights and welfare, including participation in seminars on children's rights. During the year the minister of social affairs and other senior leaders made statements and presented government action plans regarding the improvement of the condition for children.

The law provides for a child's right to education, and schooling was mandatory through the age of 14 and free in public primary schools. Since parents had to pay uniform and book fees for primary school, and because tuition and other fees for secondary education remained costly, education was largely unaffordable for many children. The government took measures during the year to improve access to schools, such as the construction of new classrooms and the recruitment of new teachers, and provision of water fountains.

According to 2005 government statistics, 72 percent of girls between the ages of six and 14 were enrolled in school, compared to 81.3 percent of boys in the same age group. According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the secondary school enrollment ratio (gross) was 36 percent for boys and 29 percent for girls. The low education rate continued to be attributed to high costs, socio-cultural prejudices, early marriage, sexual harassment, unwanted pregnancy, and domestic chores.

The extent of child abuse was not known, although children's rights organizations targeted the problem. Newspaper reports often cited children as victims of kidnapping, mutilation, and even infanticide.

There were several credible stories of mothers (usually young, unemployed, and unmarried) abandoning their newborns in streets, garbage cans, and pit toilets.

The law does not prohibit FGM, which was practiced in isolated areas of the Far North, East, and Southwest regions.

Internal migration contributed to the spread of FGM to different parts of the country. The majority of FGM procedures were clitorectomies. The severest form of FGM, infibulation, was performed in the Kajifu region of the Southwest Region. FGM usually was practiced on infants and preadolescent girls. Public health centers in areas where FGM is frequently practiced counseled women about the harmful consequences of FGM; however, the government did not prosecute any persons charged with performing FGM.

On February 6, during the first International Day against Female Genital Mutilation, the minister of women's empowerment and the family condemned the practice and called on all citizens to join the fight against FGM.

While the minimum legal age for a woman to marry is 15, many families facilitated the marriage of young girls by the age of 12. Early marriage was prevalent in the northern regions of Far North, Adamaoua, North, and particularly the remote Far North Region, where many girls as young as nine faced severe health risks from pregnancies. There were no statistics on the prevalence of child marriage.

Although exact numbers were unavailable, the country had a significant number of displaced or street children, most of whom resided in urban areas such as Yaounde and Douala.

Beginning in January the Ministry of Social Affairs, in association with communities and various councils, established the "Project to Fight the Phenomenon of Enfants De la Rue (EDR)". The program gathered information on the phenomenon, offered psycho-social care, and bolstered the intake capacities of specialized centers. On April 9, in Maroua, Far North Region, the Ministry of Social Affairs launched the pilot phase of EDR. On April 14, the ministry also launched the program in Douala, for the Littoral and South West regions. The ministry reported that approximately 2,000 children lived in the streets of the major urban centers of the country. In April and May, a census conducted in Yaounde and Douala showed that 155 street children lived in Yaounde, and 280 street children lived in Douala. On May 14, the Minister of Social Affairs launched the operation designed to return 150 children to their families. On December 30, she revealed that the operation made it possible for 119 out of the 435 children identified in Yaounde and Douala to return home.

Trafficking in Persons

The law does not prohibit all forms of trafficking in persons, and there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country. The law criminalizes child trafficking and slavery and prohibits prostitution, forced labor, and other crimes related to trafficking in persons.

A 2000 International Labor Organization (ILO) study conducted in Yaounde, Douala, and Bamenda, reported that trafficking accounted for 84 percent of child laborers in those three cities. Local NGOs believed this statistic was still accurate. In most cases, intermediaries presented themselves as businessmen, approaching parents with large families or custodians of orphans and promising to assist the child with education or professional training. The intermediary paid parents an average of 6,000 CFA ($12) before transporting the child to a city where the intermediary would subject the child to forced labor with little remuneration. In four out of 10 cases, the child was a foreigner transported to the country for labor. The report also indicated that the country was a transit site for regional traffickers, who transported children from Nigeria, Benin, Niger, Chad, Togo, the Republic of the Congo, and the CAR for indentured or domestic servitude, farm labor, and sexual exploitation. Citizens also were trafficked to South Africa.

Women and children traditionally have faced the greatest risk of trafficking generally for sexual exploitation and forced labor. Most trafficking in children occurred within the country's borders, while most trafficked women were transported out of the country. According to anecdotal evidence from the NCHRF, women often were "hired" into hubs of prostitution, often in Europe. The method for trafficking women usually involved a marriage proposition by a foreign businessman. Women were often inducted into servitude upon arrival at a foreign destination. Credible reports indicated that traffickers used trafficking victims to recruit additional victims. Girls were internally trafficked from the Adamaoua, North, Far North, and Northwest regions to Douala and Yaounde to work as domestic servants, street vendors, or prostitutes.

For example, in 2007 a local law enforcement official reported that traffickers smuggled scores of children as young as eight years old into the country from Bakassi, Nigeria for a Nigerian fisherman. There was no action taken to address the problem due to the lack of effective administrative control.

Slavery is illegal in the country and the law provides punishment of 10 to 20 years' imprisonment for persons accused of slavery or trafficking in persons. However, there were credible reports of hereditary servitude by former slaves in some chiefdoms in the North Region. For example, there were reports that the Lamido (the traditional Muslim chief) of Rey Bouba in the North Region had hereditary servants inside his compound. Although the Lamido was replaced by his son in 2004, the hereditary servants remained, reportedly by choice for cultural reasons.

The law provides that any person who engages in crimes associated with trafficking in persons shall be punished by prison terms of between six months and 20 years.

Although statistics were unavailable because traffickers could be prosecuted under various sections of the penal code, the government reportedly prosecuted trafficking cases during the year. In January gendarmerie in the North West Region arrested three traffickers transporting seven children between the ages of 12 and 17 to the Center Region to work as forced laborers. The case was pending in Bamenda at year's end.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Insurance (MINLESI) is primarily responsible for fighting trafficking; however, the ministry was severely underfunded.

The government continued to fight trafficking through the use of an interagency committee and a program to find and return trafficked children. In addition, the government cooperated with the governments of Gabon, Nigeria, Togo, and Benin to fight trafficking through the exchange of information and preparation of common legislation on trafficking. The Interpol office in the country also played a significant role in the government's antitrafficking actions.

The government continued to work with local and international NGOs to provide temporary shelter and assistance to victims of trafficking. Catholic Relief Services worked to combat corruption in local schools that led to child prostitution. UNICEF was also actively engaged in combating girls' prostitution throughout the year.

The government continued to build awareness among local government and security officials in the areas where trafficking was an issue. Antitrafficking information or education campaigns and antitrafficking spots were broadcast on government radio and television. The government monitored immigration and emigration patterns for evidence of trafficking. Frontier police at airports, borders, and ports reported stopping many trafficking cases but did not provide details regarding specific cases.

The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be found at www.state.gov/g/tip.

Persons with Disabilities

The law provides certain rights to persons with disabilities, including access to public buildings, medical treatment, and education, and the government was obliged to provide part of the educational expense of persons with disabilities, to employ them where possible, and to provide them with public assistance when necessary. Access to public secondary education is free for persons with disabilities and children born of parents with disabilities. In practice, there were few facilities for persons with disabilities and little public assistance; lack of facilities and care for persons with mental disabilities was particularly acute. Society largely tended to treat those with disabilities as outcasts, and many felt that providing assistance was the responsibility of churches or foreign NGOs.

During the year First Lady Chantal Biya attended National Solidarity Action Day, the Ministry of Social Affairs sponsored an exhibition at the National Museum that allowed persons with disabilities to exhibit their handicrafts. For example, blind persons exhibited woven chairs.

National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

The population consists of more than 200 ethnic groups, among which there were frequent and credible allegations of discrimination. Ethnic groups commonly gave preferential treatment to fellow ethnic group members in business and social practices. Members of the president's Beti/Bulu ethnic group from southern parts of the country held key positions and were disproportionately represented in government, state-owned businesses, the security forces, and the ruling CPDM party. For example, the minister of defense, the delegate general for national security, and the minister of communication were all from the South Region, the former two being from the same division as the president.

On July 6, in Akonolinga, Central Region, several persons were injured and killed in ethnically motivated violence. The violence occurred when a soccer team from the city of Dschang, Menoua Division, West Region, a region predominated by ethnic Bamilekes, defeated the local soccer team. Members of the Yebekolo tribe sought out and beat ethnic Bamilekes in Akonolinga. The government investigated the incident, but no one had been arrested by year's end.

There were reports during the year that Alhadji Baba Ahmadou Danpullo, a wealthy businessman with ties to the government, deceived M'Bororo women into sexual situations, forcibly displaced the M'Bororo and seized their land and cattle, and used his money and influence with the government to order the beating and false imprisonment of members of the M'Bororo.

The commission established in 2007 to demarcate the borders between the Oku and the Mbessa tribes in both Bui and Boyo divisions in the North West Region begun during the year.

In 2007 the Bui Oku burned dozens of Mbessa houses, displacing more than 500 persons. The Oku claimed that the Mbessa were farming on their land. They also accused them of having caught and raped Oku women, a charge disputed by local authorities. Local territorial command officials reported that the investigation, although ongoing at year's end, was complicated by the allegations that traditional rulers threatened potential witnesses.

Northern areas of the country continued to suffer from ethnic tensions between the Fulani (or Peuhl) and the Kirdi. The Kirdi remained socially, educationally, and economically disadvantaged relative to the Fulani in the three northern regions.

Traditional Fulani rulers, called Lamibe, continued to wield great power over their subjects, often including Kirdi, sometimes subjecting them to tithing and forced labor. Isolated cases of slavery were reported, largely Fulani enslavement of Kirdi.

Natives of the North West and South West regions tended to support the opposition party SDF and consequently suffered disproportionately from human rights abuses committed by the government and its security forces. The anglophone community was underrepresented in the public sector. Although citizens in certain francophone areas--the East, Far North, North, and Adamaoua Regions--voiced similar complaints about under-representation and government neglect, anglophones said they generally believed that they had not received a fair share of public sector goods and services within their two regions. Some residents of the anglophone region sought greater freedom, equality of opportunity, and better government by regaining regional autonomy rather than through national political reform, and have formed several quasi-political organizations in pursuit of their goals.

Police and gendarmes subjected illegal immigrants from Nigeria and Chad to harassment and imprisonment. During raids, members of the security forces extorted money from those who did not have regular residence permits or who did not have valid receipts for store merchandise. Some members of the country's large community of Nigerian immigrants complained of discrimination and abuse by government officials. Illegal immigrants were subject to harassment on some occasions, although at a lower level than in previous years.

Indigenous People

Approximately 50,000 to 100,000 Baka, Bakola, and Bagyeli (Pygmies) primarily resided (and were the earliest known inhabitants) in the forested areas of the South and East regions. While no legal discrimination exists, other groups often treated the Baka as inferior and sometimes subjected them to unfair and exploitative labor practices. Baka reportedly continued to complain that the forests they inhabit were being logged without fair compensation. Some observers believed that sustained logging was destroying the Baka's unique, forest-oriented belief system, forcing them to adapt their traditional social and economic systems to a more rigid modern society similar to their Bantu neighbors.

Local Baka along the path of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline continued to complain that they were not compensated fairly for their land or had been cheated by persons posing as Baka representatives. In 2006 the committee in charge of the follow-up on the pipeline organized an evaluation seminar to determine compensation for the Bakola and Bagyeli. The committee agreed that despite improved access to education and healthcare, much remained to be done to improve living conditions for the pygmies. No further developments were reported during the year. On October 3, the Fondation Camerounaise d' Actions Rationalisees et de Formation sur l' Environnement conducted a study in 28 villages in the Center and South regions that confirmed the pygmies' complaints (Kribi Region) that they had not yet been fully compensated. The final conclusions of the study were not released by year's end.

An estimated 95 percent of Baka did not have national identity cards; most Baka could not afford to provide the necessary documentation to obtain national identity cards, which were required to vote in national elections. In 2004 Plan International and another NGO launched a program to educate Bakas about their political rights, which included the construction of a communal radio station in the region of Abong‑Mbang in Upper Nyong Division, East region.

In 2005 the Ministry of Social Affairs launched the Project to Support the Economic and Social Development of Bakas in South Region. The mission of the three-year project was to allow the issuance of birth certificates and national identity cards to 2,300 Bakas, as well as to help register hundreds of students in school. The program was still ongoing at year's end.

Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination

Homosexual activity is illegal and punishable by a prison sentence of six months to five years and a fine ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 CFA ($40 to $400). While authorities did not prosecute persons under this law during the year, homosexuals suffered from harassment and extortion by law enforcement officials. False allegations of homosexuality were used to harass enemies or to extort money.

There were new developments in the August 2007 case of three homosexuals arrested by gendarmes in Douala. On January 9, the Douala High Court sentenced Lazare Baeeg, Emmanuel Balep, and Tony Dikongue to six months in jail and fines of 50,000 CFA ($100) for homosexuality. Their lawyer appealed the decision, which was pending at year's end.

In October 2007 the Bonanjo High Court refused to release six Douala men held in New Bell Prison on charges of homosexuality. In January the judge held the first hearing on the case but adjourned it pending further discovery. There were no further developments on the case by year's end.

Section 6 Worker Rights

a. The Right of Association

The law allows workers to form and join trade unions; however, the government imposed numerous restrictions. The law does not permit the creation of a union that includes both public and private sector workers, or the creation of a union that includes different, even closely related, sectors.

The law requires that unions register with the government, permitting groups of no less than 20 workers to organize a union by submitting a constitution, bylaws, and nonconviction certifications for each founding member. The law provides for prison sentences and fines for workers who form a union and carry out union activities without registration. Government officials stated that the government provided union certification within one month of application; however, independent unions, especially in the public sector, have found it difficult to register. For example, the Syndicat National des Enseignants du Superieur was not officially registered but operated without government interference.

Registered unions were subject to government interference. The government chose the unions with which it would bargain; some independent unions accused the government of creating small nonrepresentative unions amenable to government positions and with which it could negotiate more easily. Some sections of labor law have no force or effect because the presidency has not issued implementing decrees.

The labor code explicitly recognizes workers' right to strike, but only after mandatory arbitration, and workers exercised this right during the year. During the year strikes occurred at some universities, the national railroad company (CAMRAIL), and Cameroon Postal Services . Arbitration decisions are legally binding, but often unenforceable when the parties refuse to cooperate. It was not uncommon for such decisions to be overturned or simply ignored by the government or employers. The provision of the law allowing persons to strike does not apply to civil servants, employees of the penitentiary system, or workers responsible for national security. Instead of strikes, civil servants were required to negotiate grievances directly with the minister of the appropriate department in addition to the minister of labor.

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

The constitution and law provide for collective bargaining between workers and management as well as between labor federations and business associations in each sector of the economy.

When labor disputes arose, the government chose the labor union with which it would negotiate, selectively excluding some labor representatives. Once agreements were negotiated, there was no mechanism to enforce implementation; some agreements between the government and labor unions were ignored by the government.

In November transport unions convened a press conference to address that the February agreements with the government had not been implemented. The Sous-prefet of Yaounde II banned the press conference and called it "illegal".

The constitution and law prohibit antiunion discrimination, and employers guilty of such discrimination were subject to fines of up to approximately one million CFA ($2,000). However, employers found guilty were not required to compensate workers for discrimination or to reinstate fired workers. The MINLESI did not report any complaints of antiunion discrimination during the year, although there were credible press reports of harassment of union leaders.

There are no export processing zones.

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The constitution and law prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were reports that such practices occurred. Prison authorities arranged for prison inmates to be contracted out to private employers or used as communal labor for municipal public works. Money generated from these activities was usually pocketed by prison administrators and not given to detainees.

Hereditary servitude occurred in the Northern regions.

In the South and East regions, some Baka, including children, continued to be subjected to unfair and exploitative labor practices by landowners, including forced work on the landowners' farms during harvest seasons without payment.

d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment

The law generally protects children from exploitation in the workplace and specifies penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment for infringement; however, child labor remained a problem. The government specifically prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children, but there were reports that it occurred in practice.

The law sets a minimum age of 14 for child employment, bans night work, and enumerates tasks that children under the age of 18 cannot legally perform. These include moving heavy objects, dangerous and unhealthy tasks, working in confined areas, and prostitution. The law also states that a child's work day cannot exceed eight hours. Employers were required to train children between the ages of 14 and 18, and work contracts must contain a training provision for minors. The prohibition against night work was not effectively enforced.

Child labor existed chiefly in urban areas and in the informal sector such as street vending, car washing, agricultural work, and domestic service. Many urban street vendors were less than 14 years of age. Children worked as household help, and some children were involved in prostitution. In the north there were credible reports that children from needy homes were placed with other families to do household work for pay.

There were reports that some parents gave their children to "marabouts" (traditional religious figures) in Maroua in the Extreme North, to learn the Koran and prepare them to become "marabouts" themselves. However, there were reports that some children were kept in leg chains and subjected to forced labor.

Parents viewed child labor as both a tradition and a rite of passage. Relatives often employed rural youth, especially girls, as domestic helpers, and these jobs seldom allowed time for the children to attend school. In rural areas, many children began work at an early age on family farms. According to some NGOs, the cocoa industry also employed child laborers. These children originated, for the most part, from the three northern and the North West regions.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and MINLESI were responsible for enforcing existing child labor laws through site inspections of registered businesses; however, the government did not allocate sufficient resources to support an effective inspection program. Moreover, the legal prohibitions do not include family chores, which in many instances were beyond a child's capacity. In 2005 the government employed 58 general labor inspectors to investigate child labor cases.

The ILO continued to work with specific contact persons in various ministries and agencies involved in antitrafficking activities; it also conducted nationwide investigations and cooperated with local organizations.

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

In June the government increased the minimum wage in all sectors to 28,246 CFA ($56) per month. However, the minimum wage did not provide for a decent standard of living for an average worker and family. MINLESI was responsible for enforcing the minimum wage nationally.

The law establishes a standard workweek of 40 hours in public and private nonagricultural firms and 48 hours in agricultural and related activities. There are exceptions for guards and firemen (56 hours a week), service sector staff (45 hours a week), and household and restaurant staff (54 hours a week). The law mandates at least 24 consecutive hours of weekly rest. Premium pay for overtime ranges from 120 to 150 percent of the hourly pay depending on amount and whether it is for weekend or late-night overtime. There is a prohibition on excessive compulsory service. MINLESI inspectors were responsible for monitoring these standards; however, they lacked the resources for a comprehensive inspection program.

The government sets health and safety standards. MINLESI inspectors and occupational health physicians were responsible for monitoring these standards; however, they lacked the resources for a comprehensive inspection program. The law does not provide workers with the right to remove themselves from situations that endanger health or safety without jeopardizing their continued employment.

Dissent violently repressed in Cameroon

2009-02-16T19:40:00.001+01:00

Cameroon's government has routinely used killings and torture to repress political dissent, according to a new Amnesty International report.

During a 10-year spell of gross human rights violations, Cameroonian security forces have habitually used excessive and unnecessary force – and the perpetrators have almost always enjoyed impunity.

“Political opposition is not tolerated in Cameroon,” said Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Africa. “Any dissent is suppressed through either violence or abuse of the legal system to silence critics.”

In late February 2008, security forces killed as many as 100 civilians during demonstrations against the escalating cost of living. Amnesty International has received photographs and testimonies suggesting that some of the victims were shot at point blank range, without any effort made to arrest them.

“Unfair trials, intimidation and harassment, including death threats, are routinely used by the authorities to quash criticism from politicians, human rights defenders and journalists,” said Tawanda Hondora.

“The silencing of the media is particularly worrying. If a journalist is deemed too critical of the government they are silenced -- and radio and TV stations are shut down.”

Journalist Michel Mombio was arrested in September 2008 and spent 10 days in custody. He was then transferred to the central prison in the capital, Yaoundé, and charged with fraud and blackmail. He was still in custody without trial in January 2009.

Journalists covering street protests in February 2008 were assaulted by members of the security forces. The victims included a cameraman from Canal 2 International television, who was beaten and arrested and then had his camera destroyed. He was only freed after soldiers forced him to pay them.

The report, Cameroon: Impunity underpins persistent abuse, also exposes the appalling prison conditions in Cameroon. Jails suffer from inadequate food and medical care, as well as overcrowding.

Minors are often held together with adults and there is inadequate separation of males from females, which has led to sexual and other forms of violence and exploitation. Prisons are reported to be infested with rats and cockroaches and some inmates have resorted to sleeping in the toilets for lack of a place to rest.

spacer Dissent violently repressed in Cameroon

2009-01-29T20:08:00.000+01:00

Cameroon's government have routinely used killings and torture to repress political dissent, according to a new Amnesty International report.

During a 10-year spell of gross human rights violations, Cameroonian security forces have habitually used excessive and unnecessary force – and the perpetrators have almost always enjoyed impunity.

“Political opposition is not tolerated in Cameroon,” said Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Africa. “Any dissent is suppressed through either violence or abuse of the legal system to silence critics.”

In late February 2008, security forces killed as many as 100 civilians during demonstrations against the escalating cost of living. Amnesty International has received photographs and testimonies suggesting that some of the victims were shot at point blank range, without any effort made to arrest them.

“Unfair trials, intimidation and harassment, including death threats, are routinely used by the authorities to quash criticism from politicians, human rights defenders and journalists,” said Tawanda Hondora.

“The silencing of the media is particularly worrying. If a journalist is deemed too critical of the government they are silenced -- and radio and TV stations are shut down.”

Journalist Michel Mombio was arrested in September 2008 and spent 10 days in custody. He was then transferred to the central prison in the capital, Yaoundé, and charged with fraud and blackmail. He was still in custody without trial in January 2009.

Journalists covering street protests in February 2008 were assaulted by members of the security forces. The victims included a cameraman from Canal 2 International television, who was beaten and arrested and then had his camera destroyed. He was only freed after soldiers forced him to pay them.

The report, Cameroon: Impunity underpins persistent abuse, also exposes the appalling prison conditions in Cameroon. Jails suffer from inadequate food and medical care, as well as overcrowding.

Minors are often held together with adults and there is inadequate separation of males from females, which has led to sexual and other forms of violence and exploitation. Prisons are reported to be infested with rats and cockroaches and some inmates have resorted to sleeping in the toilets for lack of a place to rest.

les incompatibilité de la nomination des memebres de ELECAM (elections cameroun)

2009-01-13T18:21:00.000+01:00

si le president de la republique ne respecte pas la loi est ce que les citoyens pouront obéir à ces lois

il a nommé les membres de ELECAM sans prendre encompte les proposiotions de la sociéte civlile, plus grave; il a violé l article 13....ou va le cameroun

Article 13.- Les fonctions de Président, de Vice-président et de membre du Conseil
Electoral sont incompatibles avec les fonctions ou la qualité de :
- Membre du Gouvernement et assimilés ;
- Membre du Conseil Constitutionnel ;
- Magistrat en activité ;
- Secrétaire Général de Ministère et assimilés ;
- Directeur Général d'un établissement public ou d'une entreprise du secteur
public et parapublic ;
- Directeur d'Administration centrale et assimilés ;
- personne exerçant un mandat électif national, régional ou local ;
- Gouverneur, Préfet et Sous-Préfet et leurs Adjoints, Chef de district en activité ;
- Chef traditionnel ;
- responsable ou personnel des forces de maintien de l'ordre en activité ;
- personne inéligible ou frappée d'incapacités électorales ;
- candidat aux élections contrôlées par Elections Cameroon ;
- membre d'un parti politique ou d'un groupe de soutien à un parti politique, à une liste de candidats ou à un candidat.
Joint au téléphone l'Honorable Monthé Nkouobité jean Président du MCNC pense que monsieur Biya veut gagner du temps en proposant une liste qu'il va changer dans 6 mois, quant au Dr Adamou Ndam Njoya de l'UDC, Anicet EKANE du Manidem ont déjà fais savoir qu'ils iront devant la court suprême pour annulation de ce décret

gaza

2009-01-12T16:48:00.001+01:00

israel go about killing innocent civilians on the pretext that they are fighting the hamas . almost 900 innocent souls gone they dont care. i have the impression that their objective is to exterminate the palestinians with the US supporting them "the pales tinians will one day enjoy the blessings of freedom and israel will experience the security they deserve" by bush.when he says "one day "what is he talking about why can the palestinians not experience the their freedom now mr Bush

democracy

2009-01-12T16:34:00.000+01:00

democracy is not frequent manifested in africa, but Ghana has taken a step foward waiting other african nations to follow. by following Ghanian example africa will be free of all inequalities thus freedom will be garantied and development will follow
long live democracy and freedom

Equality

2008-12-17T10:19:00.001+01:00

Religion and belief
Your religion or belief, or those of somebody else, should not interfere with your right to be treated fairly at work, at school, in shops or while accessing public services such as health care and housing. Learn more about religious discrimination in this section.

Disability
If you have a physical or mental impairment, you have specific rights that protect you against discrimination. Employers and service providers are obliged to make adjustments for you. Find out more, and what to do if you need help.

Gender
Women, men and transgender people should not be treated unfairly because of their gender, because they are married or because they are raising a family. This section explains your rights and how to use them.

Race
Wherever you were born, wherever your parents came from, whatever the colour of your skin, you have a right to be treated fairly. This section explains the rights that protect you against racial discrimination and prejudice.

Sexual orientation
Whether you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or straight should not put you at a disadvantage. Find out more about discrimination in the workplace, including harassment, on grounds of sexual orientation in this section.

Age
It is unlawful for your age to be the cause of less favourable treatment in your workplace or in vocational training. Find out more about age discrimination and how and where it may affect you.

quel avenir pour les droit de l homme au cameroun

2008-12-12T08:47:00.000+01:00

Bernard Njonga, le président de l'Association citoyenne de défense des intérêts collectifs (Acdic) n'oubliera pas de si tôt la journée d'hier, mercredi 10 décembre 2008. Journée au cours de laquelle il a été interpellé par les agents du Groupement mobile d'intervention (Gmi) alors qu'il s'apprêtait à faire un sit-in en son siège de Yaoundé. Une interpellation suivie d'une arrestation avec quelques-uns de ses collaborateurs et membres et qui les aura mené au commissariat central N°1 de Yaoundé. Où il doit certainement se remémorer la journée passée hier, histoire sans doute de trouver les motifs qui auraient concouru à son arrestation.
Car avant ce moment fatidique de 10h 20, il n'aura pas fait l'économie de ses efforts en vue de calmer la foule de paysans accouru de tous les recoins du pays suite à l'appel de son Ong à manifester sur le détournement de deux milliards du projet maïs "par des Gics fantômes". Une foule au milieu de laquelle on pouvait reconnaître les membres de l'Association de défense des intérêts des étudiants du Cameroun (Addec) venu offrir leur solidarité à cette revendication finalement citoyenne.

Dès les premières heures de cette journée où l'on célébrait partout sur l'étendue de la planète le 60è anniversaire de la déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme, de nombreux leaders paysans avaient pris d'assaut les alentours de la bâtisse de l'Acdic sis en face du Lion's club à la "Rue Ceper" au quartier Elig-Essono à Yaoundé. Dans la foule, les esprits étaient calmes même si d'aucuns s'impatientaient de voir enfin "les choses commencer à l'heure prévue", c'est-à-dire 7h30. L'un d'eux lâchait même à notre micro "je suis venu de l'Ouest pour apporter ma contribution à cette lutte. Nous manifestons pour sauver notre agriculture, marquer notre ras-le-bol à propos des détournements des financements accordés aux Gics fictifs, demander que ces financements aillent là où ils devraient aller, aviser les fonctionnaires véreux de leur responsabilité…"

Un confrère blanc
De contribution, il était question pour ces leaders de se joindre à l'Acdic afin de porter le message de cette dernière qui était un "appel à la manifestation citoyenne contre les détournements et la corruption au Minader (Ministère de l'Agriculture et du développement rural Ndlr) et contre la crise du maïs". Une crise qui puise sa source dans le fait que "depuis 2006, on n'autorise plus les importations de découpe de poulets congelés au Cameroun. Et les producteurs, grands comme petits, qui avaient abandonné leurs fermes ont repris le chemin des poulaillers (…) Mieux encore, les pouvoirs publics ont accordé deux fois des subventions aux éleveurs : 1,2 milliards et 41 millions de Fcfa pour les soutenir et les encourager à satisfaire la demande sur les marchés en qualité et en quantité, surtout pendant les fêtes de fin d'année".
Et pour donner plus de profondeur à leurs messages de soutien, ils ont recouru aux pancartes. Où ils prennent en grippe les fonctionnaires du Minader ; où ils réclament plus de transparence et d'équité. Ils lui demandent aussi de stopper la distraction des fonds. Bref, sur ces pancartes, ils écrivent que "les fonctionnaires bouffent et les paysans étouffent." Des pancartes qui, en ce début de matinée, ont été confinées dans le garage de l'enceinte de l’Acdic où les rayons de soleil leur donnent plus d'éclat. En attendant le début de la manifestation donc, ils déambulent dans l'environnement immédiat comme des écoliers qui attendent le coup de sifflet qui sonnera l'hallali de la récréation.

Cela dure jusqu'à neuf heures lorsque le président Njonga ressort de son bureau flanqué des commissaires du central N°1. Ils y étaient depuis au moins un quart d'heure, à l'abri des regards. Que s'y sont-ils dit ? Impossible de le savoir. Toujours est-il qu'après les avoir raccompagné à leurs voitures situées en contrebas et de l'autre côté de cette voie qui conduit à la direction de la police, M. Njonga peut confier à la presse : "je crois que chacun est là pour faire son travail. Au cours de nos entretiens, je leur ai expliqué le bien fondé de notre manifestation qui se veut pacifique. Il nous a seulement été recommandé de ne pas franchir la voie publique." Sur l'interdiction de la manifestation, il sera plus laconique, disant que "l'interdiction est écrite et, pour l'instant, je n'ai rien reçu comme document de la part des autorités."
Il n'en dira alors pas plus. Convaincu sans doute de ce que la manifestation doit avoir lieu puisqu'il faut "sauver les acquis de la campagne contre les poulets congelés importés, soutenir les producteurs, demander la mise en œuvre du renforcement des programmes de recherche à l'Irad (Institut des recherches agricoles pour le développement, Ndlr) sur les variétés de maïs, créer les centres de promotion de la maïsiculture dans les autres régions, accorder les subventions et les primes directes à la production".

Quelques minutes après, la foule grossie est priée par Bernard Njonga, à travers un mégaphone, de rejoindre l'intérieur de l'Acdic. Ici, la foule prend place en silence pendant que celui-ci continue de parlementer avec les agents des forces de l'ordre visiblement déterminés à empêcher toute manifestation. Des éclats de voix sans conséquence fusent même. Entre temps, une haie de policiers est formée et bloque l'entrée qui mène au quartier. Quelques habitants du coin seront surpris de subir les questions des agents qui insistent pour savoir s'ils viennent pour la manifestation. Mais tout se passe plutôt dans le calme, même si la tension semble perceptible de part et d'autre. Comme on peut le voir avec cette commissaire de police qui s'agite inlassablement pour faire passer des ordres qui ne varient pas : "tous les manifestants doivent regagner l'intérieur", vocifère-t-elle à l'endroit de ses obligés et même des curieux accourus.
Au passage, le reporter de Mutations est sommé de déguerpir des lieux par celle-là qui prétend lui enseigner les cours de journalisme, surtout en ce qui concerne la couverture des événements programmés. Malgré la témérité de ce dernier, elle n'en démord pas. Demandant à ses agents de faire place nette. Pourtant, un confrère de couleur blanche, camera au poing, filme sans être inquiété le moins du monde. On apprendra plus tard qu'il s'agissait d'un journaliste de la chaîne européenne Euronews.

Chants, colère et arrestations
Dans le ciel, le soleil brille de plus belle, même si la température est encore supportable. On en est là lorsqu'un camion du Gmi arrive pour se garer près les locaux du Lion's club situé à quelques pas du lieu des manifestations. Déversant une vingtaine de policiers casqués qui rejoint le contingent de la même taille présent depuis les aurores. Ils sont tous armés de matraques. Déjà, les manifestants ont pris place sur la route pentue qui passe devant l'Acdic. On entend des chants dont les paroles sont inintelligibles de loin. Une fanfare s'emploie pendant que les pancartes sont brandies. Il est 10h 20 et l'on craint déjà le pire. Tant des invectives et de petites échauffourées sont en train de naître entre les manifestants et les policiers. La colère monte. Les agents du Gmi s'avancent vers la foule en chants et l'irréparable survient.

Echanges de parole entre les deux camps et une rixe naît. Bernard Njonga est pris à partie et à la ceinture par les policiers qui le traînent vers leur camion. En descendant, deux, peut-être trois, policiers se retrouvent par terre. Le leader associatif est secoué ainsi que l'un de ses collaborateurs. La route traversée, il lui est demandé de "monter dans le camion". Déjà, d'autres collaborateurs arrivent à la hauteur de la voiture. Et dans une brutalité inqualifiable, Théophile Nono, ingénieur agronome et leader paysan basé à Bafoussam, est frappé au niveau du crâne par une matraque. Le sang lui gicle de la tête et il se renverse sur la chaussée, en proie aux douleurs qui lui arrachent des cris. Un autre leader paysan arrêté et qui a déjà pris place dans le camion connaît un sort similaire. Malgré ses plaintes en vue d'être autorisé à aller se faire soigner, Franklin Mowha venu de Baganté essuiera un échec.
Dans les minutes qui suivent, le camion se met en position départ, avec à son bord ses occupants de départ et neuf manifestants. Direction le commissariat central n°1. Dans l'espace aussi, le reste des manifestants qui chantaient bruyamment a été dispersé et s'est disséminé dans le quartier.

Les pancartes sont confisquées sans autre forme de procès. La circulation a aussi repris normalement. Mais les policiers continuent d'occuper les lieux. Au cas où… Trois quarts d'heure plus tard, Franklin Mowha sera autorisé à suivre des soins et rejoindra Théophile Nono à la "Clinique du docteur Ze Meka" en contrebas du siège de l'Acdic. Où il découvrira que son compagnon a déjà été suturé à la tête et a retrouvé ses esprits malgré les filets de sang qui lui embuent encore le visage. Il lui donnera par la même occasion les nouvelles de M. Njonga et des compagnons qui continuent d'être détenus. On apprendra tard le soir que deux autres manifestants ont été libérés. Et que M. Njonga a été enfermé avec cinq autres camarades dans une cellule du commissariat central N°1. Où ils méditent sur la conduite à tenir au cours de la visite de l’ambassadeur des Etats-Unis que des sources concordantes annoncent pour ce matin.

happy birth day Declaration of Human Rights

2008-12-10T18:50:00.000+01:00

“Sixty years ago, the best document ever written came together in Paris under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt. It is called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That’s the good news. The bad news is less than 5% of the world even knows about this document. Worse yet, many governments do not properly adhere to its tenants.

"The campaign reminds us that in a world still reeling from the horrors of the Second World War, the Declaration was the first global statement of what we now take for granted -- the inherent dignity and equality of all human beings."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

print a copy of the Declaration of Human Rights and put it in your wallet. Take it from a guy who has met his share of innocent people being abused: you never know when you just might need it.”

"In the course of this year, unprecedented efforts must be made to ensure that every person in the world can rely on just laws for his or her protection. In advancing all human rights for all, we will move towards the greatest fulfillment of human potential, a promise which is at the heart of the Universal Declaration."

High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour

lets countries like china, cameroon, zimbabwe, kenya, egypt and many others know that the human person has rights that have to be respected

If you are in a far-away land being tortured, raped, censored or held captive, this document is the “the chimes of freedom flashing.”

LETS SAVE GUARD THE HUMAN RIGHTS

Defending Human Rights and International Laws at the UN Human Rights Council and CERD

2008-12-09T10:03:00.000+01:00

Defending Human Rights and International Laws at the UN Human Rights Council and CERD

December 10, International Human Rights day again. Do we celebrate? did we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

Or is the UN (Committee on the Elimination of Human Rights) symptomatic of beaurocratic corruption?

http://kangaroocourtaustralia.com/

Its a very easy project: email the CERD and ask them

1. why they refuse to investigate Judicial corruption in the Australian Judiciary under ICERD.

2. whether International laws apply any more?

REF: G/SO AUS 215/4
http://rapidshare.com/files/101392885/OHCHR.23February2008.web.pdf.html

1. Communication to: Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers

2. Submitted for consideration under International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

You can only eliminate Genocide, if you hold these beaurocrats accountable

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=41838901905

another blogger arrested;where is the freedom of speech?

2008-12-03T09:07:00.000+01:00

The Egyptian authorities yesterday issued an arrest warrant against 20-year-old Egyptian blogger, Mohammad Adel. But Adel has been missing since last Thursday, and there is reason to believe that he is being held at a secret services facility renowned for its torture practice.

A group of bloggers demonstrated Monday before the prosecutor general’s office against the disappearance of Adel and the recently-issued arrest warrant.

Mohamed Adel, founder of "Dead" blog, is one of the most prominent MB bloggers who call for freedom and democracy in Egypt.

i call for a global manifestation for mohammad's release... tomorrow may be our turn

who owns the UN

2008-11-29T16:39:00.000+01:00

I came across the following and it was interesting to read:

In celebration of this US-Nato colonisation of the UN under Annan, the
then Chairman of the US Foreign Relations Committee Senator Jesse
Helms asked to address the Security Council and was allowed to do so
on 20 January 2000.
This was the first time someone from that US Senate office had ever
addressed the UN Security Council.
This is what Senator Helms told the Security Council on 20 January 2000.
"They (US citizens) know instinctively that the UN lives and breathes
on the hard-earned money of the American taxpayers. And yet they have
heard comments here in New York constantly calling the United States a
'deadbeat' . . . They see the majority of the UN members voting
against America in the General Assembly.
"They have read reports of raucous cheering of UN delegates in Rome,
when US efforts to amend the International Criminal Court Treaty to
protect American soldiers were defeated . . . Now, I grant you, the
money we (the US) spend on the UN is not charity. To the contrary, it
is an investment — investment from which the American people rightly
expect a return.
"They expect a reformed UN that works more efficiently, and which
respects the sovereignty of the United States . . . So, as the
representatives of the UN's largest investors, the American people, we
have not only a right, but a responsibility, to insist on specific
reforms in exchange for their investment . . . Most Americans do not
regard the United Nations as an end in and of itself — they see it as
just one part of America's diplomatic arsenal."

for the full article see :http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=994&cat=10

child soldier dead

2008-11-12T15:01:00.000+01:00

lets stand up and say NO...children have the right to live

child soldiers

2008-11-12T14:40:00.000+01:00

A child soldier practices with a machine gun in an ethnic Hema militia camp near Bunia in the Democratic Republic of Congo, June 15, 2003. REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen
REF: BUN07D

no-freedom-of-speech

2008-11-01T18:49:00.000+01:00

Human Rights Watch Calls for Immediate Release of Imprisoned Cameroonian Journalist

2008-10-31T11:27:00.000+01:00

ius Njawe, of Le Messager, was convicted of "spreading false information" after he published an article raising the possibility that President Paul Biya had suffered heart trouble during his absence from a soccer match. Njawe has been in prison in Douala since his arrest on December 24, 1997. His January 13th sentence to two years and 500,000 CFA francs was reduced on April 14 by a court of appeal to one year and 300,000 CFA francs, but the court of appeal upheld his conviction.

"Cameroon has a history of repressing freedom of the press," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director for Africa at Human Rights Watch. "The government of Cameroon must protect the right of Pius Njawe and all journalists to express themselves freely. We call for Mr. Njawe's immediate and unconditional release."

On Friday, May 29, 1998, authorities reportedly arrested Aimé Mathurin Moussi, editor of La Plume du Jour. Prior to this, fifteen journalists had been arrested in Cameroon during the past two years, according to the organization Reporters Sans Frontières. Three journalists were convicted of defamation within a few weeks of Njawe's sentencing in January. Some thirty cases have been brought against Le Messager since 1990, most of which were initiated by the government. The remaining cases were brought by individual government officials. To this, Mr. Njawe commented, "This looks like deliberate harassment, if not relentless persecution."

Freedom of expression

2008-10-31T11:05:00.000+01:00

Freedom of expression

* Journalist and human rights defender Philip Njaru was detained for several hours in January by the police in Kumba. Before his release, the police told him that they had arrested him for publishing articles accusing the police of extortion and arbitrary arrests.
* In March, the UN Human Rights Committee established that the Cameroonian government had in previous years failed to protect Philip Njaru from ill-treatment and intimidation by the security forces on the basis of his human rights activities. The Committee urged the government to take action against the perpetrators and grant him effective reparation.
* A court in Kumbo, Northwest province, found journalist Wirkwa Eric Tayu guilty of criminal defamation and sentenced him in August in absentia to a one-year prison term and a fine for publishing articles accusing local government officials of corruption. An appeal against the conviction and sentence was pending at the end of the year.
* In November, four members of the Cameroonian Public Sector Trade-Union (Centrale Syndicale du Secteur Public) – including the president, Jean Marc Bikoko and the vice-president, Brigitte Tamo – were arrested by gendarmes during a peaceful demonstration demanding a rise in civil servant pay. They were released after 10 hours in custody at the gendarmerie station in Enya, Yaoundé. Brigitte Tamo and two others were beaten by the gendarmes. The demonstration took place in front of parliament in Yaoundé where parliamentarians were discussing the 2008 budget. The authorities are not known to have taken any action against the gendarmes responsible for the ill-treatment.
* Four motorbike taxi riders, popularly known as bensikin, were shot dead by riot police in Bamenda on 15 October. The shootings happened during strike action against police harassment which started on 14 October. The authorities are not known to have taken action against the police

Cameroon gov’t. nabs 20 English-speaking separatists

2008-10-03T19:23:00.000+01:00

APA - Douala (Cameroon) Over 20 members of an English-speaking movement called ’Southern Cameroon National Council’ (SCNC), which has openly been advocating the "Independence" of English-speaking Cameroon, were on Wednesday arrested during street demonstrations in Bamenda (Northwest) and Buea (Southwest), sources told APA here.

Despite the tight security measures taken by the authorities to deter any demonstrations, the separatist militants were able to stage demonstrations in parts of the northwest and southwest provinces.

"At this moment, we cannot give specific figures. We will later assess the situation. But I can confirm that a few people have been arrested", Said a senior official from the office of the Governor of the province.

According to that official, those arrested were acting illegally, adding that the authorities had banned any demonstrations from 23 September to 05 October 2008 in the province.

The measure had been extended to the Southwest province, where a few protestors have also been arrested for questioning.

These protests, according to its organisers were "legal and beyond dispute", as they are part of the activities marking the independence of Southern Cameroon".

This separatist movement, which was et sup 15 years ago, marks every year on 01 October, the "Independence" of this part of the country, a date that actually commemorates the reunification of the English and French-speaking parts of Cameroon, which goes back to 01 October 1961.

English speakers in Cameroon, who live on one-fifth of the national territory and represent three million out the country’s 17 million inhabitants, accuse their French-speaking countrymen of having "colonised" them.

A claim described as "unfounded" by the government, but shared by the overwhelming majority of Anglophone Cameroonians, who oppose any scission of the country.

Cameroon singer jailed for riots

2008-09-27T19:35:00.000+01:00

Lapiro was arrested in April over riots earlier in the year

A court in Cameroon has sentenced one of the country's best-known singers, Lapiro de Mbanga, to three years in prison over anti-government riots.

Lapiro was convicted for taking part in riots in February that authorities said left at least 40 people dead.

The singer is the author of a song criticising a constitutional reform that will allow the President Paul Biya to seek re-election in 2011.

Lapiro's wife denied that her husband had taken part in the riots.

In comments to AFP news agency, she said he had actually "calmed people down so that they wouldn't set fire to the city hall," in Lapiro's home town of Mbanga.

The court also ordered the singer to pay 280m CFA francs ($640,000) in compensation for damage caused during the riots.

Mbanga was one of several Cameroonian towns that saw riots in February over the high cost of living and the constitutional reform.

Authorities had accused Lapiro, an influential member of the opposition Social Democratic Front, of being one of the orchestrators of the riots there, the BBC's Frederik Takang reports from Cameroon.

Lapiro's supporters have said the 51-year-old singer is victimised for his songs, which often criticise the government.

President Biya has been in power since 1982.

homosexuals human rights are greatly violated in cameroon

2008-09-27T19:29:00.000+01:00

Homosexuality in Camerooon
By Eric Beauchemin.

In Cameroon, homosexual acts are punishable by up to five years in prison and/or a fine. Over 30 people have been arrested in Cameroon over the past two years on charges of homosexuality. The number may sound small for a country of 16 million people, but the arrests have created tremendous fear among the Central African nation's gays.

Logo of Alternatives Cameroun, an organisation for gays, lesbians and bisexuals which has also helped to obtain the release of gays like Lorenzo

One of the men who recently served time for being gay is 22-year-old Lorenzo. In September of last year, two policemen arrested him at the beauty salon where he worked and told him he was being charged with embezzlement. He recounts:

"They took me to the police station, and it was there that I discovered that I hadn't been arrested for embezzlement but for statutory rape and homosexuality.

I was dumbfounded. I didn't know what to do. And then they threw me and five other guys who were also gay in prison. We weren't tried and I was never sentenced. We were just put in prison as if we were wild animals."

Prison life
Lorenzo and the other five men spent a total of seven months in jail. They were all in the same cell and were rarely allowed out. Everyone in the prison, both the guards and the inmates, knew they were gay.

Lorenzo, a gay man from Cameroon, requested that we not show his face to preserve his anonymity.

"Some of the prisoners called us ugly women and faggots all the time. They'd say you shouldn't be alive. They'd hit us and throw water at us. We were tortured. They tried to rape us. We couldn't leave our cell to get fresh air because we were afraid the big boys would threaten and hurt us. Some of the guards would make fun of us too. They thought we deserved to go to hell. We really couldn't leave our cell. It was like being in a prison within a prison."

A free man?
When Lorenzo was released, he had no money and nowhere to go. He moved back in with his mother and brothers and sisters. They only discovered that he was gay when he was jailed.
"My relationship with my family now is difficult. They watch me closely. They don't accept it when my friends come to visit me at home. My mother says they're all gay, even though some of them aren't. She thinks I'm possessed. Every day she calls me a homosexual. I feel rejected. I don't know what to do anymore. I'm really at my wits end. I have to start my life again from zero. I have nothing and I have no one to help me."

2008-09-08T20:26:00.000+01:00

Cameroon's government human rights record remain poor, and the government continues to commit numerous serious human rights abuses. The following human rights violations are reported:

* severe limits on citizens' ability to change their government
* numerous unlawful killings by security forces
* regular torture, beatings, and other abuses of persons, particularly detainees and prisoners, by security forces
* impunity among the security forces
* harsh and life-threatening prison conditions
* arbitrary arrest and detention of Anglophone citizens advocating secession, local human rights monitors/activists, and other citizens
* prolonged--and sometimes incommunicado--pretrial detention
* infringement on citizens' privacy rights
* restrictions on freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association
* abuse and harassment of journalists
* limits on freedom of movement
* widespread corruption
* violence, including rape, and discrimination against women
* trafficking in persons, primarily children
* societal discrimination against indigenous Pygmies and ethnic minorities
* discrimination against homosexuals
* restrictions on worker rights and the activities of independent labor organizations
* child labor, slavery, and forced labor, including forced child labor

The government took steps to advance human rights during the year. There was a more systematic effort to investigate, suspend and prosecute security force members accused of killings and other abuses. Control and administration of the prisons was moved to the Ministry of Justice, allowing for better tracking of prisoners from arrest to final trial sentencing. The government also opened a new Department of Human Rights in the Ministry of Justice to investigate any abuses committed in areas under the ministry's responsibility.

Eleven men accused of “practising homosexuality

2008-09-03T10:47:00.000+01:00

Eleven men accused of “practising homosexuality” were detained. Several dozen members of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) were awaiting trial for secessionist activities. One journalist was detained and another charged and convicted for their professional activities. At least17 prisoners were killed during a mutiny. Over 26,000 people from the Central African Republic (CAR) were living in refugee camps in eastern Cameroon. Students continued to be targeted by security officers.
Background

Several Cameroonian soldiers based in the Bakassi Peninsula were killed during an armed attack in November. Sources in Cameroon claimed that the attackers were Nigerian soldiers, while the authorities said that the attack was carried out by insurgents. Following the attack, members of the Nigerian Senate launched a petition demanding the return of Bakassi to Nigerian sovereignty.

The ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Rally (Rassemblement démocratique du people camerounais) won the July legislative and local elections, amid claims by opposition political parties that the elections were rigged.

The trial of more than 20 former senior managers of state companies continued during 2007. They included former directors of the Real-Estate Company of Cameroon (Société immobilière du Cameroun, SIC) and of the Special Fund for Communal Equipment and Intervention (Fonds spécial d’équipement et d’intervention communale, FEICOM). Emmanuel Gérard Ondo Ndong, the director general of FEICOM, Gilles-Roger Belinga, director general of SIC, and 20 of their former colleagues were found guilty of corruption and sentenced to between 10 and 50 years’ imprisonment. The trial of several former managers of the Autonomous Port of Douala was continuing at the end of the year.

One person was killed and 22 others abducted in June by bandits in the Extreme-North province. A further 10 refugees from the CAR and six Cameroonians were also abducted from Adamaoua province and reportedly taken to the CAR. The abductors reportedly demanded ransoms but it was not clear whether the ransoms had been paid by the end of the year.
Southern Cameroons National Council

About 40 members of the SCNC were arrested on 20 January as the organization’s National Vice-Chairman, Nfor Ngala Nfor, was about to address a press conference in Bamenda. Several SCNC members, including Nfor Ngala Nfor, were reportedly injured during the arrests. Although most of those arrested were released within a few hours, Nfor Ngala Nfor and at least 12 others were detained without trial for nearly two months. At the end of the year, nearly 40 members of the SCNC were awaiting trial on charges ranging from wearing SCNC T-shirts to agitating for secession. In December, the case against those arrested on 20 January was dismissed by the court after the prosecution repeatedly failed to produce witnesses.
Discrimination – detentions for ‘practising homosexuality’

Six men accused of “practising homosexuality” were arrested in July in Douala. In August, a further two men were arrested in Douala and three others in Yaoundé for the same offence. All 11 men continued to be held awaiting trial at the end of the year.

One man who had reportedly been detained for more than two years without trial on charges of “practising homosexuality” was released in February. The High Court in Yaoundé ruled that the state had failed to produce any evidence relevant to the charge.
Freedom of expression

* Journalist and human rights defender Philip Njaru was detained for several hours in January by the police in Kumba. Before his release, the police told him that they had arrested him for publishing articles accusing the police of extortion and arbitrary arrests.
* In March, the UN Human Rights Committee established that the Cameroonian government had in previous years failed to protect Philip Njaru from ill-treatment and intimidation by the security forces on the basis of his human rights activities. The Committee urged the government to take action against the perpetrators and grant him effective reparation.
* A court in Kumbo, Northwest province, found journalist Wirkwa Eric Tayu guilty of criminal defamation and sentenced him in August in absentia to a one-year prison term and a fine for publishing articles accusing local government officials of corruption. An appeal against the conviction and sentence was pending at the end of the year.
* In November, four members of the Cameroonian Public Sector Trade-Union (Centrale Syndicale du Secteur Public) – including the president, Jean Marc Bikoko and the vice-president, Brigitte Tamo – were arrested by gendarmes during a peaceful demonstration demanding a rise in civil servant pay. They were released after 10 hours in custody at the gendarmerie station in Enya, Yaoundé. Brigitte Tamo and two others were beaten by the gendarmes. The demonstration took place in front of parliament in Yaoundé where parliamentarians were discussing the 2008 budget. The authorities are not known to have taken any action against the gendarmes responsible for the ill-treatment.
* Four motorbike taxi riders, popularly known as bensikin, were shot dead by riot police in Bamenda on 15 October. The shootings happened during strike action against police harassment which started on 14 October. The authorities are not known to have taken action against the police.

Police and security forces
Prisons

In July, at least 17 prisoners were killed by members of the security forces during an operation to recapture prisoners who had escaped from Yoko prison. Prisoners had seized weapons and ammunition during their escape.

Following a strike by prison guards in protest at low pay and poor working conditions, which started in December 2006, 125 guards were suspended in January 2007. They and many others had been detained for several weeks.
Students killed

* On 17 November, 17-year-old Charles Mvogo and 15-year-old Shimpe Poungou Zok were shot dead by a security officer at Abong-Mbang during a demonstration against prolonged lack of electricity power at their school.
* On 9 November, Ngome Nkwele Herbert was killed during a demonstration against the detention of his colleagues by the Kumba police on 7 November following a demonstration over lack of electricity power at their school in Kumba.
* No progress was made in bringing to justice those responsible for the killing of Ivo Obia Ngemba and Moma Bennet who were shot by police during a peaceful protest on the campus of the University of Buea in November 2006.

Human Rights Violation

2008-09-03T10:38:00.000+01:00

« CPDM Reorganisation Grounds Gov't Business | Main | PELFORTH Makes More Winners, Contest Date Extended »
NGO Petitions UN On Human Rights Violation Case

By Peterkins Manyong

A British-based NGO has petitioned the United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on the recent incarceration of some Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, leaders.

The document, numbering four pages, dated March 8, was issued by the International Federation for the Protection of the rights of Ethnic, Religious, Linguistic and other Minorities (IFPRERLOM), expresses concern with regard to respect for the internationally recognised civil and political rights in Cameroon with reference to all its citizens including the wide variety of ethnic, cultural, linguistic and other groups and people in the country.

The document cites in particular the case of Nfor Ngala Nfor, SCNC Vice Chairman and thirteen others detained and recently released by the Northwest Administration."IFPRERLOM denounces this breach of International Law guaranteeing individual freedom of expression and assembly and the right to due legal process", reads the statement.

It calls on the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the right of opinion and expression to investigate these cases of arbitrary arrests and unlawful detention.

The Rapporteur, it further urges, should seek assurances from the government of Cameroon that all individuals, including those belonging to the various ethno-cultural and linguistically diverse peoples of particular concern to IFPRERLOM, are afforded rights as laid out by Internationally recognised standards of Human Rights.

"We also urge the serious consideration of a country visit to Cameroon, to observe, document and report on the situation with regards to freedom of expression and freedom of speech without fear of censorship and punishment.The statement equally condemns human rights violations in Iran, Nigeria and Iraq.

Another SCNC Diplomatic Offensive

Meanwhile, Nfor Ngala Nfor SCNC Vice Chairman, who was recently released from detention, where he spent nearly two months with 13 other activities, is in Geneva, Switzerland to continue the fight for Southern Cameroons Liberation.

A two page press release issued by Ngiewih Asunkwain, SCNC National Communication Secretary on behalf of Chief Ayamba, National Chairman, states that Nfor Nfor arrived in Geneva on Saturday March 24. The purpose of the trip is to join the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation, UNPO, delegation attending the current session of the United Nations Human Rights Committee meeting.

According to the release, Nfor Nfor, who has always represented the SCNC, arrived later than expected. The SCNC Communication Officer is convinced that the arrest of Nfor Nfor and others was a ploy by the Biya Regime to frustrate the trip because; the SCNC Vice Chairman would have exposed the blatant human rights abuses perpetrated by the Biya Regime.

The release equally calls on the UNPO and the International Community at large to support the SCNC liberation struggle.It also called on the International Community to send a fact finding mission to Southern Cameroons to investigate the gross human rights violations perpetrated by "the occupation forces of "La Republique du Cameroun".

equality

2008-07-15T17:03:00.000+01:00

, Religion and belief
Your religion or belief, or those of somebody else, should not interfere with your right to be treated fairly at work, at school, in shops or while accessing public services such as health care and housing. Learn more about religious discrimination in this section.

Disability
If you have a physical or mental impairment, you have specific rights that protect you against discrimination. Employers and service providers are obliged to make adjustments for you. Find out more, and what to do if you need help.

Gender
Women, men and transgender people should not be treated unfairly because of their gender, because they are married or because they are raising a family. This section explains your rights and how to use them.

Race
Wherever you were born, wherever your parents came from, whatever the colour of your skin, you have a right to be treated fairly. This section explains the rights that protect you against racial discrimination and prejudice.

Sexual orientation
Whether you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or straight should not put you at a disadvantage. Find out more about discrimination in the workplace, including harassment, on grounds of sexual orientation in this section.

Age
It is unlawful for your age to be the cause of less favourable treatment in your workplace or in vocational training. Find out more about age discrimination and how and where it may affect you.

2008-07-11T09:32:00.000+01:00

the concern of humanism necessarilly calls for equality amongst men since our main aim is maximun achievement and total fulfillment of each individual. in order to achieve this goal each community and the world at large has to make every efforts to eliminate all sorts of differences which contradicts the principle of equalitythereby instaling the spirit of equalism in every individual, encourage the participation of women and children in every field.