[governance] Human Rights situation in Cameroon

[Nyangkwe Agien Aaron]

NDLS Human Rights Lawyer Charged with Treason in Cameroon // The Law School
// University of Notre Dame
<http://law.nd.edu/news/notre-dame-llm-alum-charged-with-treason-in-cameroon-2/>

NDLS Human Rights Lawyer Charged with Treason in Cameroon // The Law
Schoo...
Notre Dame Law School is the oldest Roman Catholic law school in the nation
and brings together centuries of Cat...
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NDLS Human Rights Lawyer Charged with Treason in Cameroon
[image: Felix]
Felix Agbor Nkongho, ’06 LL.M., has been charged with treason, terrorism,
and other capital offenses by a military court in Cameroon after recently
leading a series of protests in English-speaking regions of the country. Media
reports
<http://www.cameroon-info.net/reactions/cameroon-anglophone-crisis-these-are-the-charges-levied-against-balla-fontem-and-mancho-280053.html>
indicate
that his trial will begin on February 1 in the capital city of Yaoundé.
Sean O’Brien, director of the LL.M. program in International Human Rights
Law and Nkongho’s professor at Notre Dame, has filed a petition for urgent
action with the Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights
Council. Working with alumni of the LL.M. program, he successfully urged
Amnesty International to issue a statement
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2017/01/cameroon-arrests-and-civil-society-bans-risk-inflaming-tensions-in-english-speaking-regions/>
calling
for Cameroon to “immediately and unconditionally” release Nkongho and his
colleague.
“Felix is a well recognized and highly respected human rights defender. He
has been targeted because of the effectiveness of his non-violent advocacy
on behalf of the legal, educational, and cultural rights of Anglophone
Cameroonians,” O’Brien said. “He should be released.”
French and English are both official languages in the African country, but
English-speaking citizens like Nkongho think that government policies are
discriminatory to English-speakers, particularly in the education and
judicial systems.
A longtime human rights officer and legal adviser to various United Nations
field missions, Nkongho is president of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil
Society Consortium, a non-governmental organization that advocates on
behalf of English-speaking residents. The group objects to the government’s
use of only French in courts and schools in Cameroon’s southwest and
northwest provinces, which marginalizes and limits access to justice for
English-speaking residents. Lawyers, teachers, and students have been
striking
<http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/tensions-rise-cameroon-teachers-demand-respect-anglo-saxon-heritage-1593018>
and
protesting since October 2016.
“West Cameroonians’ education, culture, language and economic aspirations
have been severely undermined,” Nkongho wrote in a recent press release.
“The people are thus very determined to secure their Anglo-Saxon heritage
and aspirations as we enshrined in the constitution of 1961.”
Residents from English-speaking regions say they are excluded from civil
service jobs, Nkongho said. Judges and administrators are often sent to
manage court systems in English speaking regions without any knowledge of
the language or the common law legal system.
The consortium is an organization made up of civil society organizations,
professionals and trade unions to advocate for the rights of
English-speakers in Cameroon. The group’s efforts are a part of a wider
protest against government officials, and began on the day that schools
were meant to reopen for the second term of the school year.
English-speaking residents account for about 20 percent of Cameroon’s 23
million people, said Nkongho. According to the Cameroonian constitution,
which was adopted in 1972, both English and French are official languages
with “the same status.” It also states, “The State shall guarantee the
promotion of bilingualism throughout the country.”
Cameroon’s president Paul Biya, who has led the country since 1982, rarely
makes statements in English. Most official documents, public exams, and
news from the state broadcaster are in French.
The civil disobedience campaign, launched by the consortium, is expected to
continue despite Nkongho’s arrest and trial.
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News Page // The Law School // University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame Law School is the oldest Roman Catholic law school in the nation
and brings together centuries of Cat...
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-- 
Aaron Agien NYANGKWE
P.O.Box 5213
Douala-Cameroon
Tel. 237 673 42 71 27
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