H. Res. 358 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
July 23, 2019. 
Whereas many Anglophone Cameroonians have long felt 
marginalized by official actions and policies of the Gov-
ernment of Cameroon, including the abolishment of a fed-
eral form of government, which was the constitutional 
basis under which English-speaking Southern Cameroons 
entered into the union, and replacing it with a unitary 
state dominated by the Francophone majority; 
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, 
teachers, lawyers, and an Anglophone judge on the coun-
try’s Supreme Court; 
Whereas the conflict escalated in late September and early 
October 2017, when Cameroonian security forces brutally 
cracked down on peaceful Anglophone civilian demonstra-
tors, resulting in dozens of deaths and leaving over 100 
injured; 
Whereas, in 2017, separatists launched a campaign to pres-
sure school officials in the Northwest and Southwest 
Anglophone regions to go on strike as part of a boycott 
against the Government of Cameroon, and reportedly 
began burning school buildings, threatening education of-
•HRES 358 EH 
ficials with violence if they did not comply with a boycott, 
and kidnapping for ransom children and teachers who de-
fied the boycott; 
Whereas numerous human rights monitors have documented 
armed separatists killing traditional leaders and targeting 
civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, who 
are perceived to be supporting or working with the Gov-
ernment of Cameroon, and reports indicate that armed 
separatists have killed scores of security force personnel; 
Whereas the security forces of the Government of Cameroon 
have attacked medical facilities and health workers in the 
Northwest and Southwest regions; 
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 Cameroonian 
civilians living in the Anglophone regions, including the 
burning of villages, the use of live ammunition against 
protestors, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, sexual 
abuse, and killing of civilians, including women, children, 
and the elderly; 
Whereas the Department of State has expressed serious con-
cern over the manner in which the government has used 
force to unlawfully restrict the rights to free expression 
and peaceful protest that are protected under the 
Cameroonian Constitution and international law; 
Whereas the government has charged journalists, social activ-
ists, and members of political opposition parties with ter-
rorism-related crimes and prosecuted them in military 
tribunals;
•HRES 358 EH 
Whereas the Government of Cameroon arrested opposition 
leader Maurice Kamto and roughly 150 members of the 
Cameroon Renaissance Movement party following peace-
ful protests on January 26, 2019, charging them with 
crimes that could result in the death penalty and han-
dling their cases at the Military Tribunal even though 
they are civilians; 
Whereas the Government of Cameroon continued to place 
bans on Cameroon Renaissance Movement’s attempts to 
hold peaceful protests, and civil society reported that se-
curity forces interfered with MRC registration processes 
in Yaounde´, Douala, and Bafoussam in February 2019; 
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 stated in April 2019 that more 
than 530,000 people were internally displaced in areas 
affected by the Anglophone conflict; 
Whereas the Office of the United Nations High Commis-
sioner for Refugees reports that more than 32,000 
Cameroonian refugees have registered in Nigeria; 
Whereas the Department of State has expressly called on the 
Government of Cameroon to respect the rights, including 
the right to due process, of 47 Cameroonians forcibly re-
turned in January 2018 from Nigerian custody to 
Cameroonian authorities, many of whom had reportedly 
submitted asylum claims in Nigeria; and
•HRES 358 EH 
Whereas 10 of the 47 Cameroonians forcibly returned from 
Nigeria now face charges before a military court punish-
able by the death penalty, while the other 37 reportedly 
remain in detention without charge: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) strongly condemns the abuses committed in 
Cameroon’s Anglophone regions by the Government of 
Cameroon security forces and armed groups, including 
extrajudicial killings and detentions, the use of force 
against nonviolent 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 political views or 
beliefs or the regions in which they reside, in accordance 
with Cameroon’s international obligations and Cam-
eroon’s own Constitution; 
(3) urges all parties, including political opposition 
groups, to exercise restraint and to ensure that protests 
remain peaceful; 
(4) urges the Government of Cameroon to— 
(A) initiate broad-based dialogue without pre-
conditions and make a credible, full faith effort to 
work with religious and community leaders in the 
Anglophone region to address grievances and seek 
nonviolent solutions to resolve conflict and constitu-