THIS IS THE REPORT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN THE CONFLICT AFFECTED REGIONS OF NORTH-WEST AND SOUTH-WEST REGIONS OF CAMEROON. 

INTRODUCTION

This report represents the summary of our monthly human rights monitoring and is divided into different human rights violations and abuses that we documented in the year 2023. The human rights issues raised in the report are related to the ongoing armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions and the Boko Haram Insurgency in the Far North Region. Cameroon is a country in the Central African Sub-region. In the last decade, Cameroon has been plunged into multiple political, socio-economic and security crises, ranging from the Boko Haram Insurgency in the Far North Region, the refugee crisis in the East region and the armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions. The Boko Haram Insurgency has claimed over 3000 lives, displaced over 250,000 and had a great toll on properties and livelihood of the people of the Far North Region since the first by Boko Haram attack on Cameroonian soil on March 2014. The Boko Haram Crisis has also forced over 120,000 Nigerians to seek refuge in Cameroons Far North Region. The political and security crisis in the Central African Republic has also forced over 332,000 CAR citizens to seek refuge in Cameroon’s East region.

The armed conflict in the North West and South West Region began as a protest in October 2016 when Anglo Saxon teachers and Common Law Lawyers went on strike, protesting against what they considered the marginalization of the Anglophones, especially at the level of Common Law Courts and the Anglo-Saxon Education System. The protests were led by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. The crisis later degenerated into an armed conflict in 2017 due to the poor management of same by the state. The over five years conflict has claimed at least 6000 lives, rendered over 638,421 other IDPs, and forced over 64,388 to flee to Nigeria as refugees. The human rights situation of these conflict affected regions continued to deteriorate in 2023 considering the volatiles security situation these regions. 

Download full report here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-d0v4rFq2f6sYQEtNvOh3jlxjPSN7kur/view?usp=drivesdk