Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Cameroon Government to fully respect the freedom of expression of all Cameroonians and revoke the controversial decree recently signed by the Senior Divisional Officer (SDO) of Mfoundi.
The organization says the SDO’s decree violates international law and could be used to target critics discriminately and violate rights.
According to HRW, under international human rights law, the right to free speech may be restricted only on limited grounds, such as national security or to protect the rights of others, and even then, restrictions must be necessary, proportionate, and not discriminatory.
However, the decree of the SDO did not meet that threshold.
On July 16, Emmanuel Mariel Djikdent, SDO of Mfoundi in the Centre Region, decreed that “anyone who dangerously insults the [state] institutions or the person who embodies them” could be banned from staying in the Division.
His controversial order comes amid tensions in the country over the extension of the mandates of Parliamentarians to 2026.
A move that was seen as a tactic to bar some opposition parties and their leaders from running for the office of President next year.
However, the SDO tries to justify that his decision to ban those insulting republican institutions is to “preserve public order.”
HRW says the decree has rightly worried media professionals and opposition party leaders, who have criticised it as a backward step for the right to freedom of expression.
“These announcements are the latest in a series of troubling government decisions that appear to be aimed at stifling opposition and dissent ahead of the presidential elections in 2025,” said HRW.
“It is becoming increasingly difficult to speak freely in Cameroon,” said Lewis Mudge, HRW’s Central Africa Director.
After the SDO, the Minister of Communication and government spokesperson, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, said that even though there is freedom of expression, Cameroonians should not take advantage of it to insult President Paul Biya.
Regime barons, including the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, have openly threatened opposition leaders and even elected MPs with arrest.
Paul Biya is 91 years old and will likely seek reelection in 2025. Critics argue that his government is taking every necessary step to ensure the four-decade regime remains in power.
