IV 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1111 
Calling on the Government of Cameroon, armed separatist groups, and all 
citizens to respect human rights and adopt nonviolent approaches to 
conflict resolution. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 2, 2018 
Ms. BASS (for herself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. RUSH, Mr. KIND, Mr. 
MCGOVERN, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. MOORE, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. 
COHEN, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. FUDGE, 
Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, and Mr. GARRETT) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs 
RESOLUTION 
Calling on the Government of Cameroon, armed separatist 
groups, and all citizens to respect human rights and 
adopt nonviolent approaches to conflict resolution. 
Whereas 
Anglophone 
Cameroonians 
have 
long 
felt 
marginalized by official actions and policies of the Gov-
ernment of Cameroon; 
Whereas beginning in late 2016, protests organized by law-
yers, teachers, and students were violently repressed by 
the Government of Cameroon, leading to numerous 
deaths and imprisonments, including of journalists, law-
yers, and an Anglophone judge on the country’s Supreme 
Court; 
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Whereas, in January 2017, the Government ordered the sus-
pension of internet services in the northwest and south-
west Anglophone regions of Cameroon, the suspension 
lasting for 93 days and having a major, debilitating effect 
on the economy, educational institutions, freedom of ex-
pression, and social communication of the region’s 5 mil-
lion residents; 
Whereas the conflict escalated in late September and early 
October 2017, when Cameroonian security forces brutally 
cracked down on unarmed civilians peacefully dem-
onstrating, resulting in dozens of deaths and leaving over 
100 injured; 
Whereas, in 2017, armed separatists launched a campaign to 
pressure school officials in the Anglophone region to go 
on strike as part of a boycott against the Government of 
Cameroon, and began burning school buildings and 
threatening education officials with violence if they did 
not comply with a boycott of schools in the Anglophone 
regions; 
Whereas human rights monitors have documented armed sep-
aratists killing tribal chiefs and targeting civilians who 
are perceived to be supporting or working with the Gov-
ernment of Cameroon, and reports indicate that armed 
separatists have killed over 80 Cameroonian security 
force personnel; 
Whereas numerous credible reports from human rights mon-
itors, including the United Nations High Commissioner 
for Human Rights, have documented the excessive use of 
force 
by 
government 
security 
forces 
against 
Cameroonians living in the Anglophone regions, including 
the burning of villages, the use of live ammunition 
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against protestors, arbitrary arrest and detention, tor-
ture, and sexual abuse; 
Whereas the United States Department of State has ex-
pressed serious concern over the Government’s use of 
force to restrict free expression, and the use of violence 
against individuals protesting the Government’s discrimi-
natory policies in the country’s Anglophone regions; 
Whereas both the Government of Cameroon security forces 
and armed separatists have been documented targeting 
and brutally killing civilians, including women and chil-
dren; 
Whereas the Government of Cameroon has repeatedly re-
stricted freedoms of expression by shutting down the 
internet, harassing and detaining journalists, refusing li-
censes to independent media, and intensifying political 
attacks against the independent press; 
Whereas the United Nations Office for the Coordination of 
Humanitarian Affairs said that since December 2017, 
the violence has resulted in the internal displacement of 
over 500,000 people across Cameroon; 
Whereas the office of the United Nations High Commissioner 
for Refugees reports that more than 20,000 Cameroonian 
refugees have registered in Nigeria; 
Whereas emergency officials in Nigeria have reported that 
the number of refugees having fled from Cameroon since 
October 2017 exceeds 40,000; 
Whereas some of those who have fled to Nigeria have been 
deported to Cameroon, where they are at risk of unfair 
trial and torture; and 
Whereas the United States Department of State has ex-
pressly called on the Government of Cameroon to respect 
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the rights, including the right to due process, of 47 
Cameroonians forcibly returned from Nigerian custody to 
Cameroonian authorities, many of whom had reportedly 
submitted asylum claims in Nigeria: Now, therefore, be 
it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) strongly condemns the abuses committed by 
the Government of Cameroon, security forces, and 
armed separatist groups, including extrajudicial 
killings and detentions, the use of force against non-
violent civilians and protestors, and violations of the 
freedoms of press, expression, and assembly; 
(2) affirms that the United States continues to 
hold the Government of Cameroon responsible for 
upholding the rights of all citizens, regardless of po-
litical views or beliefs or the regions in which they 
reside; 
(3) urges all parties, including political opposi-
tion groups, to exercise restraint and to ensure that 
protests remain peaceful; 
(4) urges the Government of Cameroon to— 
(A) initiate a credible, good, and full faith 
effort to work with religious and community 
leaders in the Anglophone region to address 
grievances and seek nonviolent solutions to re-
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solve conflict, including possibly involving an 
independent mediator in such negotiations; 
(B) respect the fundamental rights of all 
Cameroonian citizens, including political activ-
ists and journalists; 
(C) ensure that any security operations are 
conducted in accordance with international 
human rights standards, including efforts to en-
sure security forces only use force under appro-
priate circumstances; 
(D) investigate all allegations of human 
rights violations committed in the Anglophone 
regions and take the necessary measures to pre-
vent arbitrary detention, torture, enforced dis-
appearances, deaths in custody, and inhumane 
prison conditions; 
(E) promptly charge or release all those 
detained in the context of the Anglophone cri-
sis, including the 47 Anglophone activists ar-
rested in Nigeria, and ensure that any future 
detainees are treated with due process, in line 
with Cameroon’s penal code; 
(F) ensure that detainees are treated fairly 
and humanely, with proper judicial proceedings, 
including a registry of those detained by the 
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