Cameroon Conflict Research Group submits evidence to UK Parliament
The report authored by Dr Roxana Willis, Joseph McAulay, Ndjodi Ndeunyema and Dr James Angove (all of the University of Oxford) documents human rights abuses that have been committed during the conflict in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon since 2016.
The Cameroon Conflict Research Group submitted a report documenting evidence of human rights abuses in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon since 2016.
The 100-page report considers evidence of human rights abuses that have been committed by the state security forces and by armed separatist groups in the Anglophone regions. Suspected human rights violations include extra-judicial killings, torture, destruction of property, fair trial violations, and inhumane and degrading conditions of detention. These violations breach both Cameroonian national laws and international human rights laws that bind Cameroon.
The report considers photographic and video-graphic media material received via the messaging service WhatsApp between August 2018 and up to October 2019. The report also comments on the reporting on the human rights abuses by international organisations, non-governmental organisations and reports by mainstream news media, and delivers recommendations to policy-makers.
The report is available to download as a PDF at: http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Cameroon-Anglophone-Crisis-Report-online.pdf
Voices from the Cameroon Conflict
The ‘Voices from the Cameroon Conflict’ project (funded by the GCRF, the John Fell Fund, the KE Seed Fund, the British Academy, and University College, Oxford) seeks to include narratives about the Cameroon conflict from marginalised actors. The conflict started after in 2016 Anglophone lawyers and teachers protested against marginalisation by the Francophone majority government, which was responded to violently. The diaspora has played a notable role in demanding independence. Conversely, the experiences of individuals who are unable to escape the conflict regions, and who must experience the violence in day-to-day life, have not been heard. The project’s research further highlights a lack of opportunity for Anglophones to participate meaningfully (and non-violently) in politics, and the need to fully integrate affected communities in dialogue and peacebuilding.