Fako Lawyers Association WEEP for the University of Buea, describes Bar. Agbor Balla’s Dismissal as a Human Rights Violation and political intrusion into the University management
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Concerns are on the upsurge relating to the quick and wrongful dismissal of a lecturer and human rights defender from teaching at the University of Buea-Cameroon. The dismissal has seen Human Rights activists and institutions describing it as a human rights violation and also attempts to silence a prominent human rights defender in Cameroon. Human Rights Watch earlier decry the dismissal of Barrister Agbor Nkongho Felix from the University of Buea and labeled it as “No Room for Debate in Cameroon Classrooms”.
The Human Rights expert was dismissed from the University of Buea on the 6th of May 2020 under the pretext that his first-semester examination questions set under the course titled “Constitutional and political History” was against Article 40 and 42 (paragraph 1) of decree no. 93/027 of 19 January 1993, modified and completed by decree no. 2005/342 of 10 September 2005. the questions read thus: “The Anglophone Crisis since 2016 was caused by lawyers and teachers strike. Assess the validity of this statement?” along with other questions tracing the historical background starting from the 1961 Federal Constitution of Cameroon. The Fako Lawyers Association made it clear that their interest is on the part of the Human Rights Violation of their learned colleague. they write “the circumstances of the said dismissal which was ventilated on social media platforms raises pertinent human rights concerns which the Mandate of the Fako Lawyers Association obliges it to deplore.”
the Fako Lawyers Association also said in the press released that the alike question was set by a lecturer in the University of YaoundéII- Soa while the said lecturer was not being summoned or dismissed by the university authorities. The question reads “The Anglophone problem in Cameroon in its new developments since 2016, is it nationalism or ethnicity? Discuss.”
Taking into cognizance the circumstance surrounding Barrister Agbor Balla’s Dismissal, the Fako Lawyers describe the dismissal as “political victimization and infringement of his human rights”
Human Rights and Legal Research Centre with interest in issues relating to Human Rights Violations joins the Fako Lawyers Association and other Human Rights organizations to promote the protection and respect of the rights of Human Rights Defenders and the Rule of Law in Cameroon.
below is the full press release from the Fako Lawyers Association
Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.
