Response from Cameroon government about violations of Bagyeli rights by the CamVert oil palm concession is insufficient, according to UN CERD Committee

On 13 December 2024, the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) - the treaty body which supervises implementation of the International Convention of the same name - replied to the Cameroonian government requesting further information on steps taken to protect indigenous Bagyeli communities’ rights, including measures to revoke the concessions granted to oil palm company CamVert until the free, prior and informed consent of affected Bagyeli communities is received. 

Following a submission made by Forest Peoples Programme and partners under CERD’s early warning and urgent action procedure in March 2023, CERD wrote to Cameroon in August 2023 and again, in the absence of a reply, in December 2023.  

In this latest communication, CERD notes that Cameroon’s eventual response to its 2023 letters did not contain “sufficient information on all allegations.” It highlights in particular the allegations that Bagyeli communities have not granted their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) to the CamVert oil palm concession which overlaps their ancestral lands and forests, that they have been left with no judicial effective recourse to prevent the destruction of their forest, and that, more broadly, there is a lack of adequate recognition and respect of indigenous peoples’ traditional or customary ownership of lands. 

In its letter CERD reminds Cameroon of its April 2022 concluding observations, which recommended that measures be adopted to ensure FPIC is obtained from indigenous peoples for all projects affecting their territories and that they receive just and fair compensation for lands and resources previously taken without their consent.  

The original submission under CERD’s early warning and urgent action procedure, made by FPP together with Cameroonian partners BACUDA and GDA on 20 March 2023  on behalf of 7 Bagyeli communities, alleged the grant of the concession discriminated against Bagyeli communities, who (as hunter-gatherers) rely disproportionately on forest areas. In addition, it noted that Cameroon’s land laws - largely based on colonial land rules - were inadequate to protect the rights to lands, territories and natural resources of the Bagyeli people.  

The Committee requested the government to submit updated information on the case in its next periodic report, due in June this year. 

READ THE LETTER HERE