Title: Calling on the Government of Cameroon, armed separatist groups, and all citizens to respect human rights and adopt nonviolent approaches to conflict resolution.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Condemns the abuses committed by the government of Cameroon, security forces, and armed separatist groups.
Urges all parties, including political opposition groups, to exercise restraint and to ensure that protests remain peaceful.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1111 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               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 Government of Cameroon;
Whereas beginning in late 2016, protests organized by lawyers, teachers, and 
        students were violently repressed by the Government of Cameroon, leading 
        to numerous deaths and imprisonments, including of journalists, lawyers, 
        and an Anglophone judge on the country's Supreme Court;
Whereas, in January 2017, the Government ordered the suspension of internet 
        services in the northwest and southwest Anglophone regions of Cameroon, 
        the suspension lasting for 93 days and having a major, debilitating 
        effect on the economy, educational institutions, freedom of expression, 
        and social communication of the region's 5 million residents;
Whereas the conflict escalated in late September and early October 2017, when 
        Cameroonian security forces brutally cracked down on unarmed civilians 
        peacefully demonstrating, 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 separatists killing tribal 
        chiefs and targeting civilians who are perceived to be supporting or 
        working with the Government of Cameroon, and reports indicate that armed 
        separatists have killed over 80 Cameroonian security force personnel;
Whereas numerous credible reports from human rights monitors, 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 against protestors, arbitrary 
        arrest and detention, torture, and sexual abuse;
Whereas the United States Department of State has expressed serious concern over 
        the Government's use of force to restrict free expression, and the use 
        of violence against individuals protesting the Government's 
        discriminatory 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 children;
Whereas the Government of Cameroon has repeatedly restricted freedoms of 
        expression by shutting down the internet, harassing and detaining 
        journalists, refusing licenses 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 expressly called on the 
        Government of Cameroon to respect 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 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;
            (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 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 resolve conflict, including 
                possibly involving an independent mediator in such 
                negotiations;
                    (B) respect the fundamental rights of all 
                Cameroonian citizens, including political activists and 
                journalists;
                    (C) ensure that any security operations are 
                conducted in accordance with international human rights 
                standards, including efforts to ensure security forces 
                only use force under appropriate circumstances;
                    (D) investigate all allegations of human rights 
                violations committed in the Anglophone regions and take 
                the necessary measures to prevent arbitrary detention, 
                torture, enforced disappearances, deaths in custody, 
                and inhumane prison conditions;
                    (E) promptly charge or release all those detained 
                in the context of the Anglophone crisis, including the 
                47 Anglophone activists arrested 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 Cameroonian security 
                forces, and with full access to legal resources; and
                    (G) release human rights defenders, civil society 
                activists, political prisoners, journalists, trade 
                unionists, teachers, and any other citizens who have 
                been arbitrarily arrested and detained without trial or 
                charge; and
            (5) urges the separatist groups to--
                    (A) engage with regional and government officials 
                to peacefully express grievances and credibly engage in 
                nonviolent efforts to resolve the conflict;
                    (B) immediately stop committing human rights 
                abuses, including killings of civilians, torture, 
                kidnapping, and extortion;
                    (C) end the school boycott and immediately cease 
                attacks on schools, teachers, and education officials, 
                and allow for the safe return of all students to class; 
                and
                    (D) immediately release all civilians illegally 
                detained or kidnapped.
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