Shadow Report Submitted to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights re: Cameroon

In its 67th Ordinary Session, held between 13 November and 3 December 2020, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights examined the combined fourth-sixth periodic reports of the Republic of Cameroon. As part of the review process, Association Okani and Forest Peoples Programme jointly submitted a shadow report highlighting continued issues with the respect, protection and fulfilment of the human rights of forest indigenous peoples in Cameroon.  

The shadow report suggests four main recommendations that the Commission should make to Cameroon:

• Although the State points to the protection of indigenous peoples in its Constitution, protections for indigenous peoples are not integrated in national legislation. This is in part because “indigenous peoples” are still not defined by the Government; a study and report aiming to do this has now been stalled for over 8 years. Okani and FPP suggest the Commission urge the State to finalise this report.
•  Forest indigenous peoples suffer significantly because of a lack of direct political representation under the current administrative system. With a few exceptions, forest indigenous communities are subsumed into neighbouring Bantu communities for administrative purposes, and Bantu chiefs therefore act as their representatives vis-à-vis the State. This prevents indigenous communities from representing their own specific social, economic and cultural interests, and substantially precludes their participation in decision-making that affects them. Okani and FPP suggest the Commission recommend that the State urgently take steps to ensure indigenous communities are afforded their own, direct political representation within the administrative system.
• • The current land laws of Cameroon continue to be based on colonial-era conceptions of property, and do not adequately recognise and protect customary property rights, despite the fact that large areas of the country continue to be occupied by communities on a customary basis. These laws have a significant negative impact on all traditional communities in Cameroon, but are particularly discriminatory against indigenous peoples, whose sustainable hunting and gathering customs mean that they do not “develop” much of the land they own, occupy and use – which renders it automatically ineligible for land titling under Cameroon’s property laws. Forest indigenous communities are currently suffering an onslaught of land grabbing and forced displacement, without consultation, free, prior and informed consent, or just compensation, as a result of the allocation of their “unoccupied” lands to third parties by the government. Okani and FPP suggest the Commission recommend that the State take steps to recognise and protect fully existing customary rights to land, including those of indigenous peoples.
• The authors of this report want to highlight a number of serious concerns with human rights violations within conservation in Cameroon. The approach of Cameroon to conservation is unfortunately replete with human rights violations against indigenous populations, including forced displacement or extensive expropriation of traditional lands to create protected areas, large-scale criminalisation of traditional hunting activities (without consultation, consent or compensation), and physical abuse of indigenous peoples by ecoguards. Okani and FPP suggest the Commission recommend that the State urgently revise its approach to conservation to bring it in line with its human rights obligations under other articles of the Charter.

You can read the full shadow report here.

Association Okani also made an oral intervention (remotely) during the Commission’s session, highlighting the experiences of forest indigenous peoples. The Commission’s concluding observations on Cameroon stemming from the review are not yet published.