Title: Calling on the Government of Cameroon and armed groups to respect the human rights of all Cameroonian citizens, to end all violence, and to pursue a broad-based dialogue without preconditions to resolve the conflict in the Northwest and Southwest regions.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution strongly condemns the government of Cameroon's abuses in the country's Anglophone regions, including the use of violence and violations of press freedoms. It urges the government to initiate dialogues with separatist groups and civil society, follow through on initiatives developed to address various grievances, and comply with international human rights standards. The resolution also urges separatist groups to immediately stop committing human rights abuses and end their incitement of violence and hate speech.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 358 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 358

 Calling on the Government of Cameroon and armed groups to respect the 
 human rights of all Cameroonian citizens, to end all violence, and to 
  pursue a broad-based dialogue without preconditions to resolve the 
            conflict in the Northwest and Southwest regions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 7, 2019

Ms. Bass (for herself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Kind, Mr. Walberg, 
 Mr. Castro of Texas, Mr. Meadows, Ms. Omar, and Mr. Wright) submitted 
   the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                            Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Calling on the Government of Cameroon and armed groups to respect the 
 human rights of all Cameroonian citizens, to end all violence, and to 
  pursue a broad-based dialogue without preconditions to resolve the 
            conflict in the Northwest and Southwest regions.

Whereas many Anglophone Cameroonians have long felt marginalized by official 
        actions and policies of the Government of Cameroon, including the 
        abolishment of a federal 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 lawyers, 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 country'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 demonstrators, resulting in dozens of deaths and leaving over 
        100 injured;
Whereas, in 2017, separatists launched a campaign to pressure 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 officials with 
        violence if they did not comply with a boycott, and kidnapping for 
        ransom children and teachers who defied 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 
        Government 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 monitors, 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 concern 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 activists, and members of 
        political opposition parties with terrorism-related crimes and 
        prosecuted them in military tribunals;
Whereas the Government of Cameroon arrested opposition leader Maurice Kamto and 
        roughly 150 members of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement party following 
        peaceful protests on January 26, 2019, charging them with crimes that 
        could result in the death penalty and handling 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 security forces interfered with MRC registration 
        processes in Yaounde, Douala, and Bafoussam in February 2019;
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 
        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 Commissioner 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 returned in January 2018 from Nigerian custody 
        to Cameroonian authorities, many of whom had reportedly submitted asylum 
        claims in Nigeria; and
Whereas ten of the 47 Cameroonians forcibly returned from Nigeria now face 
        charges before a military court punishable by the death penalty, while 
        the other thirty-seven 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 Cameroon'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 
                preconditions 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 
                constitutional reforms that would protect minority 
                concerns, such as reconstituting a Federal system;
                    (B) follow through on the initiatives developed to 
                address grievances, including the Commission of 
                Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, the Ministry of 
                Decentralization, and the National Commission for 
                Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration, that 
                currently offer no visible evidence of having played a 
                constructive role in resolving the crisis;
                    (C) respect the fundamental rights of all 
                Cameroonian citizens, including political activists and 
                journalists;
                    (D) 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;
                    (E) transparently 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;
                    (F) promptly charge or release all those detained 
                in the context of the Anglophone crisis, including the 
                Cameroonians forcibly returned from Nigeria, and ensure 
                that any future detainees are treated with due process, 
                in line with Cameroon's penal code;
                    (G) allow unfettered access to humanitarian and 
                health care workers in accordance with humanitarian 
                principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and 
                independence;
                    (H) release the leaders and members of the Cameroon 
                Renaissance Movement party who were arrested following 
                their peaceful protests, and ensure that this party, 
                like others, can participate unfettered in upcoming 
                municipal, parliamentary, and regional elections;
                    (I) 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;
                    (J) 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
                    (K) ensure that Cameroon's antiterrorism 
                legislation is used only to prosecute offenses that 
                would be considered acts of terrorism under 
                international legal standards, and cease to use this 
                legislation to sanction activities that are protected 
                by national and international guarantees of freedom of 
                expression, peaceful assembly, and association with 
                others; and
            (5) urges the separatist groups to--
                    (A) engage with Cameroonian government officials, 
                as well as civil society and religious leaders, in a 
                broad-based dialogue without preconditions 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, use of child 
                soldiers, torture, kidnapping, and extortion;
                    (C) end the school boycott immediately and cease 
                attacks on schools, teachers, and education officials, 
                and allow for the safe return of all students to class;
                    (D) end incitement to violence and hate speech on 
                the part of the diaspora; and
                    (E) immediately release all civilians illegally 
                detained or kidnapped in the Anglophone Northwest and 
                Southwest regions.
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