Following rising security and humanitarian concerns in the two Anglophone regions of Cameroon, the United Nations regional office for central Africa alongside nine human rights organizations are urging members of the United Nations Security Council “to add Cameroon to its agenda as a regular standalone item”.
In an open letter to Members of the UN Security Council meeting today June 4, 2019, the human rights organizations say focus should be on the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in Cameroon.
To the human rights organizations “without expeditious action, the situation is likely to worsen” in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon.
They regret that the situation continues to degenerate as humanitarian bodies have no access to affected regions to offer help to victims of the crisis.
On those perpetrating human rights violations in the regions, human rights organizations state that both government forces and separatist fighters are responsible.
They urge government to investigate and punish military men found guilty of committing crimes. On the other hand, separatist leaders are to answer questions too on instructions of killings and destruction they have been giving to their fighters.
Human rights groups that signed the open letter include Amnesty International, Human rights Watch, Global Centre for Responsibility to Protect, Actions by Christians for the Abolition of Torture, Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), Nouveau Driot de L’Homme Cameroun(NDH-Cameroun),World Organisation Against Torture, Presbyterian Church (USA) and Reseau des Defenseur de Driot Humains en Afrique Central (Central Africa Human Rights Defenders Network).
While accusing the United Nations Security Council for “largely maintaining silence on the crisis”, the organizations retraced how the crisis started in 2016 with Anglophone Cameroonians denouncing “under representation and cultural marginalization by the central government”.
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