Cameroon should abolish death penalty from its national legislation and commute all death sentences/OMCT/CHRDA
3 min read
Following the death sentence against four accused persons by the military tribunal in Buea on 7 September 2021, two international Human Rights Institutions have caution Cameroonian authorities to consider reversing the decision which they considered a threat to an increase in violence.
According to a joint position paper on 7 October 2021 by The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), it is “the first time since the beginning of the Anglophone Crisis four men have been sentenced to death after a court found them guilty of a deadly shooting at a school in 2020.”
The two International NGOs also said they are worried that the death penalty might become the new punitive tool of the Cameroonian authorities to address this crisis. The accused persons were standing trial before the Court for the massacre of at least seven students during a shooting at a school in the Southwest Region on 24 October 2020 are awaiting the execution of the judgement.
Since the beginning of the crisis in 2016, at least 790,000 people have been forcibly displaced, allegedly 4,000 killed and torture has been routine. A number of illegal arrests, kidnappings and other gross human rights violations have been new normal in most communities. On 20 August, 2019, the leader of the Anglophone separatist movement, Sisiku Julius Ayuk and nine other leaders of the separatist movement were sentenced to life imprisonment by the military court in Yaoundé. The Separatist fighters have continued to attack the educational facilities together with other rights violations.
According to OMCT and CHRDA, it is not the first time that the Cameroonian government uses the death penalty as deterrence against insurgent groups. To fight the Boko Haram terrorists in the northern part of the country since 2014, a similar tactic involving massive arbitrary arrests of hundreds of people, including without further investigation and charging them with offences punishable by death, was a common practice. For instance, in 2020, three women were sentenced to death after fleeing Boko Haram Not only were they minor, but also pregnant or nursing mothers for some. This new trend towards the use of the death sentence to address a security crisis is extremely worrying.
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The OMCT and the CHRDA call on the Cameroonian government to:
- Renew its moratorium on the death penalty as a first step towards its abolition in all circumstances, in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Human Rights Council and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights;
- Ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aiming at the abolition of the death penalty;
- Abolish death penalty from its national legislation and commute all death sentences;
- Ensure that all the safeguards guaranteeing the rights of those facing the death penalty are respected, as well as giving them the possibility to appeal;
- Provide reparation, rehabilitation and guarantees of non-repetition to victims of serious crimes and their families;
- Develop a peaceful approach to terminate the Anglophone Crisis through dialogue
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The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is the largest global NGO group actively standing up to torture and protecting human rights defenders worldwide. It has more than 200 members in 90 countries. Its international Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) is an independent, nongovernmental, apolitical and non-profit making organization created in 2005, dedicated to the protection and advancement of human rights and the promotion of democracy as a political culture in Africa. The CHRDA is based in Buea in the Southwest region of Cameroon.
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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.
