10 prominent rights groups press UN Security Council to seek accountability for journalist Wazizi’s death

Cameroonian journalist, Samuel Wazizi’s life may be over but calls for justice are far from slowing down. Since government admitted he died in custody, calls have multiplied for a probe into the killings.

Human Rights Watch, HRW is not indifferent. The rights group is one of four Cameroonian and six international organizations that reacted to Wazizi’s death today.

The Cameroon government, they say, should ensure that the investigation into the journalist’s enforced disappearance and death in military custody is independent, effective, thorough, and impartial.

“The circumstances of Wazizi’s death underscore the dangers faced by Cameroonian journalists, particularly those who report on and investigate the crisis in the Anglophone regions of the country,” HRW says.

With the situation in Cameroon expected to come up at the June 12 UN Security Council meeting with UNOCA, the groups say “Cameroon’s international partners and UN Security Council members should publicly raise concerns about the grave human rights abuses in Cameroon, including against journalists, political opponents, and human rights defenders.”

They add: “The Security Council should also take the long-overdue step of formally adding Cameroon to its agenda so that it can more closely monitor the situation there.”

Some of the groups pressing for a probe into Wazizi’s death include: Action des chrétiens pour l’abolition de la torture (ACAT), Amnesty International, Cameroon Journalists’ Trade Union, Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA).

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