Johannesburg, 6 January 2025: Cameroon authorities must immediately reverse the suspension of civil society organisations (CSOs) protecting human rights defenders in Central Africa, said CIVICUS today.
The global civil society alliance condemned the decision by Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration Mr. Atanga Nji to suspend various civil society organisations, including the Réseau des Défenseurs des Droits Humains en Afrique Centrale (REDHAC). On 6th December 2024 several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and associations were suspended on unsubstantiated charges of illicit financing, money laundering and terrorist financing.
This suspension undermines freedom of association as a foundation of democratic and accountable governance in Cameroon. Such intimidatory tactics continue to severely restrict citizens’ fundamental freedoms and rights to interact and organise to collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests.
The Cameroonian authorities have a duty to protect the freedom of association and are accountable to its citizens. The nation is a signatory to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The unjustified suspension of REDHAC and other CSOs violates these commitments and is a deliberate attempt to stifle civic freedoms.
The CIVICUS Monitor, an online platform that tracks threats to civil society in countries across the globe, rates civic space or the space for civil society in Cameron as repressed.
“REDHAC is a civil society organisation defending and promoting human rights activists in Central Africa. It speaks courageously about human rights issues affecting the people of Cameroon. Cameroonian authorities should immediately reverse this decision and allow REDHAC and its staff to resume their work, and the minister and other government officials must stop attempts to restrict and intimidate CSOs and human rights activists from doing their work,” said Paul Mulindwa, CIVICUS’ Advocacy and Campaigns Officer responsible for Africa.
Background
There is deep concern over ongoing grave human rights violations and abuses in Cameroon. In the last four years, civil society organisations have called on the Government of Cameroon to respect, protect and comply with its human rights obligations as a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). They have asked for an end to human rights violations and abuses.
Given Cameroonian authorities' failure to deliver justice and accountability, civil society has also called on African and international human rights bodies and mechanisms to investigate, monitor, and publicly report on Cameroon’s situation.
Despite reported and documented human rights violations and abuses, the government has not taken credible steps to identify and punish accountable officials.
Alleged violations include: arbitrary and unlawful killings; torture and cruel, inhumane, or degrading punishment; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious restrictions on freedom of expression and censorship of media; violence and threats of violence against journalists and unjustified arrests or prosecutions; stifling the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association; and serious government restrictions and harassment of domestic and international human rights organisations.