Anglophone Crisis: Separatists urged to respect children’s right to education

The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) has condemned the killing of three civilians in an attack by Ambazonia separatist fighters in Buea last week.

The separatists shot two drivers and another civilian in the Muea neighbourhood last Thursday in an attempt to enforce a two-week lockdown that has grounded thousands of schools in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon.

In its recent statement, CHRDA condemned the September 7 killings and stated that children must be allowed to enjoy their basic right to education.

“Education is a fundamental human right and must be respected as stated in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” CHRDA wrote.

The organisation was adding its voice to that of religious leaders, civil society organisations, and international actors who have called on separatists to allow children to go to school.

Schools are being disrupted this year for the eighth consecutive school year since 2016 when Ambazonia separatist leaders began calling for school boycotts across the two English-speaking Regions of Cameroon as part of civil disobedience.

Separatists’ threats and attacks on schools, students, and teachers have deprived about 700,000 children in the two Regions of school for over four academic years now, according to humanitarian groups.

Earlier this month, separatists killed two head teachers in the North West Region for promoting school resumption ahead of a nationwide school kickoff on September 4.

The killings were widely condemned.

The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa urged “all parties in the conflict, to refrain from all forms of attack on education and unarmed civilians.”