Cameroon Government’s Response to Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Within the Context of the Anglophone Armed Conflict

By Muriel Mesette Kinkoh

Introduction

During armed conflict, civilians are typically in grave peril, with severe consequences such as loss of life, property and means of subsistence, widespread displacement, and human rights violations.  Sexual violence is a human rights violation that has been used in most armed conflicts either as a weapon of war or as a general practice, and the Anglophone armed conflict in Cameroon is not left out. The United Nations defines conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) as “rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization, forced marriage and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women, men, girls or boys that is directly or indirectly linked to a conflict” (1). Within the context of the Anglophone armed conflict in Cameroon, sexual violence has been reportedly used both by state and non-state armed groups on civilians, presenting a serious humanitarian concern. Horrible crimes have been committed against women, men, and children, leaving a lasting impact on both the victims and the communities in which they live. Survivors frequently experience bodily harm, psychological distress, social stigma, unwanted pregnancies, and STDs. This greatly aggravates the conflict and hampers the restoration of peace and stability in the affected regions, and the situation is made worse by the fact that offenders act with impunity. With this in mind, this paper aims to present current trends and patterns of sexual violence within the context of the Anglophone crisis, examine legislation and mechanisms for addressing such crimes and to establish corporate responsibility in preventing and curbing sexual violence in armed conflict.

1. Prevalence and patterns of conflict-related sexual violence in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions

With an alarming prevalence rate, conflict-related sexual violence has been a major problem in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions amid the ongoing crisis. According to reports from different human rights organizations, parties in the conflict are using sexual violence as a weapon of war. These crimes primarily affect women and girls. In the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, differing patterns of sexual violence associated to the conflict have been reported; these generally involve rape, forced marriages, sexual assault, abductions and other forms of violence based on gender. In addition to targeting specific individuals, these activities frequently target entire communities in an attempt to bring about fear and maintain population control.

While there were 1,065 cases of CRSV reported in  Cameroon’s Anglophone regions in 2019, 289 of them involved rape or sexual assault (2).  According to an Al-Jazeera report from 2021, there were over 500 instances of gender-based violence, such as forced marriage, denial of financial resources, and emotional abuse, as well as close to 500 other cases of rape and sexual or physical assault recorded in the two English-speaking regions between January and March of that year (3). According to the same report, 4,300 cases of gender-based and sexual assault were reported in the two regions in 2020. More than half of those cases involved rape or physical or sexual assault, with children as the victims in over 30% of those cases (4) . In March 2020, twenty women were raped by troops in Ebam, in the Southwest region (5). A study on Sexual and Reproductive Health conducted in the Northwest region in 2023 indicated that the conflict increased adolescent and youth vulnerability to sexual violence and transactional sex, having effects such as “unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted Infections, unsafe abortions, maternal mortality, and psychosocial distress”. The study also reported 72 cases of rape in the Northwest region (6). These figures of conflict-related sexual and GBV in these two regions are probably significantly underestimating the actual toll, as many of these crimes go unreported because of stigma, fear of retaliation, lack of access to healthcare facilities, lack of sufficient resources allocated to supporting survivors of CRSV, and lack of access to justice. Protection and assistance for victims is mostly provided by humanitarian and non-governmental organizations. In this regard, many women and girls have fled these regions and now live as IDPs in other regions of the country, while those who have stayed back live in anxiety and persistent fear of sexual violence and other forms of violence (7).

1. An assessment of existing legal frameworks and mechanisms for addressing CRSV in Cameroon

Cameroon has ratified a number of treaties and conventions which condemn sexual violence. These include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. These treaties provide a legal basis for addressing sexual violence as a human rights violation. Under the ICC’s jurisdiction, sexual violence is regarded as a crime against humanity and a war crime.

Under international humanitarian law, all forms of sexual violence are prohibited, and all parties in armed conflict are urged to integrate this prohibition into national laws, military codes and in the training manuals of weapon bearers. Under treaty law – the Fourth Geneva convention, as well as Additional Protocol I (relating to international armed conflicts) and Additional Protocol II (relating to non-international armed conflicts) – rape and other forms of sexual violence are prohibited (8).

Additionally, the UN Security Council adopted the following Resolutions on the prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence: S/RES/1820 (2008), S/RES/1888 (2009), S/RES/1960 (2010), S/RES/2106 (2013), and S/RES/2467 (2019), which all came after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace, and Security (9). These resolutions stress the need of holding offenders accountable and demand the protection of women and girls throughout armed situations. To nationalize the UNSCR 1325, Cameroon adopted a National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 on Women Peace and Security in 2018 (10). In addition, several capacity-building workshops have been organized by the government, in collaboration with international organizations, to train military personnel on sexual and gender-based violence and their implications on peace and security (11).

Although Cameroon has ratified a number of international treaties that support gender equality and condemn violence against women, the country has not made much headway in getting these provisions incorporated into national legislation. Section 296 of the Cameroon Penal Code criminalizes rape and provides penalties of imprisonment for from five (5) to ten(10) years (12). However, because this law focuses more on individual acts than structural causes, there are worries that it may not effectively address the root causes of conflict-related sexual violence. In addition, there remain several challenges in effectively addressing this issue, particularly that of denial and lack of acknowledgement, impunity and stigmatization (13).

• Policy proposals
• The government of Cameroon could design and adopt initiatives and policies aimed at preventing and addressing sexual violence in conflict.
• Furthermore, the government needs to take concrete steps in combating impunity by adopting justice mechanisms to hold perpetrators of sexual violence accountable.
• In order to aid survivors of CRSV in their recovery from their traumatic experiences, the government, development partners and civil society organizations could set up support services that include psychosocial and medical support, as well as legal support for victims.
• The government should develop strategies to incorporate international treaties into national legislation and provide technical and material capacity for their effective operation, as well as, strengthen existing legal frameworks to address these crimes.
• Continuous sensitization on dispositions of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law must be done to inform the overall population.
• Finally, victims of CRSV need to play a bigger role by reporting cases so as to facilitate interventions and response of stakeholders