In a May 29 release, Mandela Center International (MCI) reported that four soldiers of the 31st Motorized Infantry Battalion (BIM) of the Cameroonian army based in Tchollire, North Region, shot and killed Souleymanou Bouba, age 22, on April 28. Prosecutions related to these matters are conducted through the Military Tribunal. In some cases, preliminary investigations are entrusted to a mixed commission of inquiry, including civilian members with relevant professional backgrounds. Investigations concerning police-perpetrated killings may be conducted by the General Delegation of National Security through its Special Division for Services Control. The Ministry of Defense, through the Secretariat of State in charge of the National Gendarmerie (SED), is responsible for investigating whether killings attributed to defense and security forces are justifiable. There were also credible reports that armed groups in the Northwest and Southwest Regions, as well as Boko Haram and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-West Africa (ISIS-WA) in the Far North Region, committed unlawful killings. No specific racial or ethnic communities were disproportionately targeted among the victims. As in the previous year, most of the killings were associated with the crisis in the Northwest and Southwest Regions (see also section 1.g., Abuses in Internal Conflict). There were reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary and unlawful killings through excessive use of force in the course of their official duties. ARBITRARY DEPRIVATION OF LIFE AND OTHER UNLAWFUL OR POLITICALLY MOTIVATED KILLINGS Respect for the Integrity of the Person A. Impunity remained a serious problem.Īrmed separatists, Boko Haram, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-West Africa, and criminal gangs also committed significant human rights abuses, some of which were investigated by the government. Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings enforced disappearances torture and other ill-treatment by the government and nonstate armed groups harsh and life-threatening prison conditions arbitrary arrests or detention political prisoners or detainees serious problems with the independence of the judiciary arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy punishment of family members for offenses allegedly committed by an individual serious abuses in a conflict, including abductions and physical abuse, by nonstate armed groups serious restrictions on freedom of expression, including violence, threats of violence, or unjustified detentions of journalists and censorship substantial interference with the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of association serious restrictions on freedom of movement inability of citizens to change their government peacefully through free and fair elections serious and unreasonable restrictions on political participation serious government corruption lack of investigations and accountability for gender-based violence crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting members of ethnic groups, including the Massaga and Oliti communities in the Southwest Region and herders and farmers in the Northwest Region trafficking in persons crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons and the existence or use of laws criminalizing same-sex sexual conduct between adults.Īlthough the government took steps to identify, investigate, prosecute, and punish officials who committed human rights abuses or corruption, it did not do so systematically and rarely made public the outcome of such procedures. There were credible reports that members of the security forces committed some abuses. Civilian and military authorities at times did not maintain effective control over the security forces. The Rapid Intervention Battalion reports directly to the president. The army shares some domestic security responsibilities it reports to the minister delegate at the presidency in charge of defense. The national police report to the General Delegation of National Security and the national gendarmerie reports to the Secretariat of State for Defense in charge of the Gendarmerie. The national police and the national gendarmerie are responsible for internal security. He was last reelected in 2018 in an election observers described as marked by irregularities. Paul Biya has served as president since 1982. The ruling party won 152 of 180 National Assembly seats. The country held legislative elections in February 2020 that were marked by irregularities. The ruling political party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, has remained in power since its creation in 1985. He legislative and judicial branches of government.
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