[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 895 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 895
Strongly condemning ongoing violence and human rights abuses stemming
from Cameroon's Anglophone crisis.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 1, 2022
Ms. Bass submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Strongly condemning ongoing violence and human rights abuses stemming
from Cameroon's Anglophone crisis.
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, since 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 have
been reportedly--
(1) burning, damaging, looting, and destroying school buildings;
(2) killing, beating, abducting, threatening, and terrorizing students
and educational professionals with violence if they did not comply with a
boycott;
(3) harassing and intimidating families into keeping their children out
of school; and
(4) kidnapping for ransom children and teachers who defied the boycott
in various schools, such as Kumbo (Bui division), Fundong (Boyo division)
and Limbe (Fako division);
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 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 of Cameroon 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 of Cameroon has charged journalists, social activists,
and members of political opposition parties with terrorism-related
crimes and prosecuted them in military tribunals;
Whereas the indiscriminate nature of violent clashes between Cameroonian
security forces and separatist groups often results in the death of
innocent bystanders, including American missionary Charles Wesco, who
was killed in October 2018 by crossfire in the Northwestern city of
Bamenda;
Whereas the Government of Cameroon arrested over 500 members and supporters of
the opposition Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) following peaceful
protests in September 2020, and allegedly subjected many detainees to
harsh and inhumane detention conditions, including isolated
imprisonment, denial of access to lawyers, and physical abuse;
Whereas over 100 of those arrested in late 2020 remain in detention, including
47 sentenced to prison in December 2021;
Whereas the Government of Cameroon continued to place bans on MRC'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 High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that as of
December 2021, more than 575,500 people were internally displaced in
areas affected by the Anglophone conflict, and there were an additional
383,500 returnees to the Northwest and Southwest regions;
Whereas the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports
that roughly 72,000 Cameroonian refugees have registered in Nigeria;
Whereas, on July 23, 2019, the House of Representatives unanimously passed House
Resolution 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;
Whereas, effective January 1, 2020, the Trump Administration terminated
Cameroon's eligibility for African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)
benefits, citing deep concerns over ``persistent gross violations of
human rights being committed by the Cameroonian government against its
own citizens'';
Whereas, on June 7, 2021, the United States responded to continued conflict in
Cameroon by imposing visa restrictions on individuals undermining the
peaceful resolution of the ongoing crisis;
Whereas a prominent Cameroonian lawyer and opposition member of the senate,
Henry Kemende was shot dead by suspected separatist fighters in the city
of Bamenda on January 11, 2022; and
Whereas multiple brutal massacres have taken place and allegations of rape and
gross violations of internationally recognized human rights continue,
and as of December 2021, Human Rights Watch estimated that at least
4,000 lives have been lost during the crisis since late 2016: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) continues to strongly condemn 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) reaffirms that the United States has held and 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) reiterates its call to all parties, including political
opposition groups, to immediately exercise restraint and to
ensure that protests remain peaceful;
(4) continues to urge 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 regions 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 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 and ensure that
any future detainees are treated with due process, in
accordance 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 future
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 and medical
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;
(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, and to
hold those responsible for such actions accountable;
(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; and
(6) urges the Secretary of State to hold individuals
accountable for gross violations of internationally recognized
human rights and for perpetuating the conflict in the Northwest
and Southwest regions of Cameroon.
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