Cameroon: Indigenous Bagyeli communities appeal to UNCERD in protest at the arrival of CamVert on their traditional lands

The establishment of the oil palm plantation will involve mass clearing of their traditional forest lands – which include culturally important sites, and which remain a key source of food and medicine for the affected Bagyeli peoples. It will cause irreparable damage to their ancestral lands, and will lead to extremely serious violations of other human rights.

These fears are not without foundation – several other Bagyeli communities within the Ocean Division have already suffered this fate, and are now in a state of extreme marginalisation and impoverishment. 

Neither the project nor the state has secured the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of the Bagyeli, as required by various international law instruments ratified by Cameroon. [1]Article

In November 2019, several Bagyeli communities wrote to CamVert expressing their concerns and making specific requests, including for CamVert to hold consultations in their communities to explain the project to them, and for participatory mapping and titling of their territories. These concerns have not been addressed.

Procedural irregularities

Not only has this case caused controversy due to the detrimental impact the plantation would have on the area’s biodiversity, it has also drawn the attention of a wide range of actors due to the speed and facility with which CamVert (a previously unknown company with no demonstrable experience in the oil palm industry) has acquired a vast expanse of forest.

Concerns have been raised over the legally dubious nature of this acquisition. To our knowledge, no decree legally attributing the declassified land to CamVert exists, despite the fact that CamVert (who claims to be aspiring to RSPO certification) has been actively working in the area since at least September 2019 (hiring staff, preparing lodgings, starting an oil palm nursery, and more recently, felling trees and planting).

What is more, Article 9(3) of Decree No. 95/531/PM of 23 August 1995 [2] states that declassification may not take place if clearing a declassified area will:

1. prevent the needs of local people for forest products from being satisfied;
2. threaten the survival of persons living on the forest edge whose way of life is linked to the forest concerned;
3. upset the ecological balance.

In view of the extreme dependence of communities – particularly Bagyeli communities – on the area for their livelihoods and the significant biodiversity within the FMU, it is difficult to see how this requirement could have been satisfied. Communities’ access to land is already greatly diminished by both the Campo Ma’an National Park and the neighbouring HEVECAM plantation, and the establishment of an oil palm plantation in this zone is likely to have devastating impacts on local populations’ land access, livelihoods, and ability to carry out traditional practices.

Social agreements

On 26 March 2020, a cahier des charges (social agreement) was signed between CamVert and the affected Bagyeli population, the latter represented by one Bagyeli person. There are several serious issues with both the process for the development and signing, and the content of this cahier des charges.

Firstly, the content of the agreement was developed without adequate consultation with affected Bagyeli communities.

Secondly, the signing ceremony took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, days after the government of Cameroon had issued strict restrictions to movement between towns and villages and on meeting sizes. This meant that the process could not be sufficiently participatory, that accompanying NGOs were unable to assist Bagyeli communities through the process, and that CamVert was putting Bagyeli communities at risk of exposure to the virus through their travel to the area that was previously untouched.

Thirdly, the Bagyeli person chosen by CamVert to sign the document on behalf of the Bagyeli population had no mandate from the Bagyeli communities he was supposed to represent and had no understanding of what he was signing (the person in question cannot read or write in French, the language of the cahier des charge).

Finally, in relation to the content of the agreement, the compensation offered by CamVert to Bagyeli communities remains vague, culturally inappropriate, and entirely inadequate in relation to the significant loss of forest resources they will suffer. The agreement is valid for 25 years, with no option for revisions to the agreement before then.

Submission to CERD

At the start of October 2020, affected Bagyeli communities, along with some Mvae and Yassa communities (dominant local Bantu tribes), wrote again to CamVert, the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife and the President of the Republic, expressing their concerns with the proposed project.

The declassification of FMU 09-025 for reallocation to CamVert:

1. Fails to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of the indigenous Bagyeli people to their customary lands, territories and natural resources, and reflects a discriminatory non-recognition of indigenous peoples’ customary land ownership and use in Cameroon;
2. Has taken place without a proper consultation process or the implementation of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC);
3. Does not envisage adequate compensation to the affected Bagyeli communities; and
4. Creates a very significant risk of causing grave harm and impoverishment to these communities, whose enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights are likely to be severely detrimentally affected if the oil palm plantation proceeds.

Bagyeli communities remain unanimous in their opposition to the project and appeal to CERD to request that the State of Cameroon to return their customary lands, and provide legal security for their continued ownership of them. The communities are hopeful the State may listen to CERD, since it has unfortunately not listened to them.

See the CERD Early Warning / Urgent Action submission on CamVert for more details on the case

See a previous submission to CERD relating to the Biopalm case, and the Committee’s response here.

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[1] For State obligations to protect and respect indigenous peoples’ property rights, including the obligation not to encroach upon such lands without free, prior and informed consent, see e.g. African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights: article 14;  Endorois v Kenya (2010); International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination: article 5(d)(v); Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (1997), General Recommendation No. 23 on the rights of indigenous peoples, Concluding Observations: Cameroon (2014), esp para 16; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: arts 1 and 27; Human Rights Committee (1994), General Comment No 23 (1994); Poma Poma v Peru (2009), Communication No. 1457/2006; Concluding Observations: Cameroon (2017), esp para 45; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: arts 11, 15; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2009), General Comment No. 21, esp para 36; Concluding Observations: Cameroon (2019) esp. para 12.

[2] Forest Law Decree