Cameroon's Unfolding Catastrophe
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FULL REPORT CAMEROON’S UNFOLDING CATASTROPHE Evidence of Human Rights Violations and Crimes against Humanity JUNE 3, 2019 Published by: Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, Box 524, Buea, Fako Division, Cameroon www.chrda.org and Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, 4770 Kent Ave., Montreal, Quebec, Canada www.raoulwallenbergcentre.org The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa is an independent, non-governmental, apolitical, and non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and advancement of human rights and the promotion of democracy as a political culture in Africa. It engages in different and sensitive issues related to the advancement of human rights and democracy through various projects and also seeks to foster research in these fields by offering opportunities to human rights activists, legal practitioners, graduate and undergraduate students to volunteer, intern, and study at the Centre and its partner institutions. The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights is a unique international consortium of parliamentarians, scholars, jurists, human rights defenders, NGOs, and students united in the pursuit of justice, inspired by and anchored in Raoul Wallenberg’s humanitarian legacy — how one person with the compassion to care and the courage to act can confront evil, prevail, and transform history. The Centre is organized around five pillars of pursuing justice, each of which reflects and represents Wallenberg’s humanitarian legacy. Publication Date: June 3, 2019 Launch: Concordia University, #RightsCity 2019, Montreal, Canada, June 3, 2019. This work is under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights are dedicated to the development of free, openly licensed legal information for human rights defenders, civil society, law students, and the general public. 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Citation: Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa and Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, “Cameroon’s Unfolding Catastrophe: Evidence of Human Rights Violations and Crimes against Humanity in the Anglophone Regions of Cameroon” (June 3, 2019) Online <www.chrda.org> and www.rwhrc.org Cameroon’s Unfolding Catastrophe June 2019 Contents Table of Figures4 Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................... 6 Summary background ................................................................................................... 8 Domestic and international responses ........................................................................ 10 Human rights violations and crimes against humanity ............................................ 12 What can be done ......................................................................................................... 13 FOREWORD….. ............................................................................................................... 15 THE CRISIS IN NUMBERS ............................................................................................ 17 1.HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................................... 18 A. Decolonization and Independence ........................................................................... 18 B. Marginalization of Anglophone Communities ........................................................ 19 C. The 2018 Elections .................................................................................................. 21 2.CRISIS IN THE ANGLOPHONE REGIONS ............................................................... 22 A. Protests, Violence, and Repression .......................................................................... 22 B. Militarization of the Anglophone regions: Organized and Structured Response by Cameroonian Forces ................................................................................................ 26 C. Razing Homes and Villages: An Established Military Tactic ................................ 27 D. Forced Mass Displacements .................................................................................... 29 E. Arbitrary and Severe Deprivations of Liberty and Inhumane Detention Conditions30 F. Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment ......................................... 31 G. Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination ........................................................... 33 H. Armed Separatist Forces and Groups ...................................................................... 34 i) Overview ............................................................................................................. 34 ii) Attacks against the State ..................................................................................... 35 iii) Attacks on Schools, Teachers, and Students....................................................... 35 iv) Attacks on and Abductions of Traditional Chiefs .............................................. 37 I. Views of the African Commission ........................................................................... 37 3.LEGAL ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................... 39 A. Serious Human Rights Violations by the State ........................................................ 41 i) The Right to Life and Security of the Person ..................................................... 41 1. State Deprivation of the Right to Life ............................................................. 41 Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa & Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights 2 Cameroon’s Unfolding Catastrophe June 2019 2. State Responsibility for the Killings by ASGs ................................................ 42 3. Duty to Investigate and Punish the Perpetrators ............................................. 43 ii) The Right to be Free from Arbitrary Arrest and Detention ................................ 45 1. Violations Attributed to the State .................................................................... 45 2. Right to a Fair Trial and the Use of Military Tribunals .................................. 47 3. State Responsibility in Connection with Violations Attributed to ASGs ....... 48 iii) Right to Be Free from Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Unusual Treatment or Punishment ................................................................................................................. 48 1. Incommunicado Detention and Enforced Disappearances ............................. 49 2. States’ Duty to Remedy Violations ................................................................. 50 iv) Women’s Rights to be Free from Violence ........................................................ 50 B. Crimes against Humanity ......................................................................................... 51 i) Contextual Elements of Crimes against Humanity ............................................. 53 1) “Attack directed against any civilian population” .......................................... 53 2) “Widespread or Systematic Attack” ................................................................ 53 ii) The Underlying Acts of Crimes against Humanity ............................................ 54 1) Murder ............................................................................................................. 54 2) Deportation or forcible transfer of population ................................................ 55 3) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty ........................ 55 4) Torture ............................................................................................................. 56 5) Rape and sexual violence ................................................................................ 56 6) Persecution ...................................................................................................... 56 CONCLUDING REMARKS ............................................................................................ 58 Annex I: Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions ............................................ 61 Annex II: Arbitrary Arrests and Detention ........................................................................ 63 Annex III: Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment ..................................... 64 Annex IV: Gender-Based Violence ................................................................................... 65 Annex V: ASG Attacks on the Military or Government Officials .................................... 66 Annex VI. Data on Burned Villages 2019......................................................................... 67 Annex VII: List of Abbreviations...................................................................................... 69 Endnotes………….. .......................................................................................................... 71 Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa & Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights 3 Cameroon’s Unfolding Catastrophe June 2019 Table of Figures Figure 1. Villages Burned between 2017–19. Source: CHRDA ............................................. 6 Figure 2. Demonstrations in Bamenda, 2016. Source: CHRDA ............................................