CHRDA proves war crimes and crimes against humanity in Cameroon, accused government in their recent human rights report

The time has come for the international community to speak and encourage negotiations between the Cameroon government and Separatist activist (Ambazonian leaders). It is time for the international community to act in the Cameroon case and look for lasting solutions to crisis rocking the two English Speaking Regions of Cameroon download the full report hereCHRDA, Cameroon Human Rights Report 

page 51 to 52 of the report read, “By 2018, the violence and severe human rights violations had increased in occurrence and spread across the entire geographic area of the two Anglophone regions, representing a systematic expansion of military activity, accompanied by patterns of reprisal killings and attacks on entire villages, which suggest systematic and planned patterns of attack. This evidence is consistent with orders given by the Biya regime to militarize the region in 2017 and to “declare war” on the secessionists.
Legal Framework: Crimes against humanity are prohibited acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack. Crimes against humanity may take place during war or peacetime. The Human Rights Committee, General Comment 29, at para 12, further notes that the prohibition against crimes against humanity persists even in emergencies. These crimes derive from customary international law and have the character of peremptory norms of general international law and international conventional law that is already widely recognized.
In 2001, the International Law Commission stated that the prohibition of crimes against humanity has been “clearly accepted and recognized” as a peremptory norm of international law. The International Court of Justice has also indicated that the prohibition on certain acts, such as State-sponsored torture, has the character of jus cogens. This view necessarily means that a prohibition on the perpetration of such acts on a widespread or systematic basis would also have the character of jus cogens. Because international crimes such as crimes against humanity and torture form part of jus cogen norms, they are non-derogable. Section 8 of Cameroon’s Code of Military Justice of 2017 grants the Military Tribunal exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate on certain matters, which include” Download the full report hereCHRDA, Cameroon Human Rights Report

Berinyuy Cajetan, Publisher

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.