[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 224 (Friday, January 1, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8012-S8015]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CALLING ON THE GOVERNMENT OF CAMEROON AND SEPARATIST ARMED GROUPS FROM
THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING NORTHWEST AND SOUTHWEST REGIONS TO END ALL
VIOLENCE, RESPECT THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF ALL CAMEROONIANS, AND PURSUE A
GENUINELY INCLUSIVE DIALOGUE TOWARD RESOLVING THE ONGOING CIVIL
CONFLICT IN ANGLOPHONE CAMEROON
Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged from further consideration
and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 684.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 684) calling on the Government of
Cameroon and separatist armed groups from the English-
speaking Northwest and Southwest regions to end all violence,
respect the human rights of all Cameroonians, and pursue a
genuinely inclusive dialogue toward resolving the ongoing
civil conflict in Anglophone Cameroon.
There being no objection, the committee was discharged and the Senate
proceeded to consider the resolution.
Mr. BOOZMAN. I ask unanimous consent that the Risch amendment to the
resolution be agreed to; that the resolution, as amended, be agreed to;
that the Risch amendment to the preamble be agreed to; that the
preamble, as amended, be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider
be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment (No. 2736), in the nature of a substitute, was agreed
to as follows:
(Purpose: In the nature of a substitute)
Strike all after the resolving clause and insert the
following: ``That the Senate--
(1) strongly condemns abuses committed by state security
forces and armed groups in the Northwest and Southwest
regions of Cameroon, including extrajudicial killings and
detentions, the use of force against civilians and nonviolent
protestors, torture, rape, kidnappings, and other forms of
violence against women, and violations of the freedoms of
press, expression, and assembly;
(2) urges all parties to the Anglophone conflict in
Cameroon, including political opposition groups, to--
(A) conclude and uphold an immediate ceasefire;
(B) guarantee unfettered humanitarian access and assistance
to the Northwest and Southwest regions;
(C) exercise restraint and ensure that political protests
are peaceful; and
(D) establish a credible process for an inclusive dialogue
that includes all relevant stakeholders, including from civil
society, to achieve a sustainable political solution that
respects the rights and freedoms of all of the people of
Cameroon;
(3) affirms that the United States Government continues to
hold the Government of Cameroon responsible for safeguarding
the safety, security, and constitutional rights of all
citizens, regardless of their region of origin or the regions
in which they reside, or their religious beliefs or political
views;
(4) urges the Government of Cameroon to--
(A) initiate a credible, inclusive, good-faith effort to
end the armed conflict in the Northwest and Southwest regions
of Cameroon by addressing the root causes of the crisis and
grievances and seeking nonviolent solutions to resolve the
conflict, including possibly involving an independent
mediator in negotiations;
(B) follow through on initiatives developed to address the
grievances that sparked the conflict, including the National
Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and
Multiculturalism, the Ministry of Decentralization and Local
Development, and the National Disarmament, Demobilization,
and Reintegration Committee;
(C) fully implement recommendations of the Major National
Dialogue held in late 2019;
(D) respect the rule of law and the constitutional rights
of all Cameroonians, including members of the political
opposition, civil society activists, and journalists;
(E) allow for credible, independent, and transparent
investigations of all allegations of human rights abuses
committed in the Northwest and Southwest regions;
(F) release all political prisoners and journalists
currently detained and immediately stop all arbitrary
detention, torture, forced disappearances, deaths in custody,
and inhumane prison conditions; and
(G) work with United States law enforcement to thoroughly
investigate and prosecute those responsible for the murder of
Charles Wesco;
(5) urges the Anglophone armed separatist groups to--
(A) engage peacefully with government officials to express
grievances and engage in nonviolent efforts to resolve the
conflict, including participation in a credible and inclusive
dialogue, possibly involving an independent mediator;
(B) immediately cease human rights abuses, including
killings of civilians, torture, kidnapping, and extortion;
(C) immediately end coercive and violent enforcement of the
school boycott in the Northwest and Southwest regions and
attacks on schools, teachers, and education officials, and
allow for the peaceful and safe return of all students to
class; and
(D) publicly condemn the illegal detention and kidnapping
of civilians;
(6) urges the Department of State, Department of the
Treasury, and United States Agency for International
Development, in coordination with other relevant Federal
departments and agencies, to--
(A) consider imposing targeted sanctions on individual
government and separatist leaders ``responsible for
extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of
internationally recognized human rights'';
(B) press the Government of Cameroon to provide unfettered
humanitarian access to vulnerable populations in the
Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon;
(C) support credible efforts to address the root causes of
the conflict and to achieve sustainable peace and
reconciliation, possibly involving an independent mediator,
and efforts to aid the economic recovery of and fight
coronavirus in the Northwest and Southwest regions;
(D) support humanitarian and development programming,
including to meet immediate needs, advance nonviolent
conflict resolution and reconciliation, promote economic
recovery and development, support primary and secondary
education, and strengthen democratic processes, including
political decentralization, enshrined as a fundamental
principle of state governance in the Constitution of
Cameroon;
(E) continue to limit security assistance to Cameroon and
ensure that United States training and equipment is not being
used to facilitate human rights abuses in the Northwest and
Southwest regions;
(F) prioritize efforts to help develop and sustain
effective, professional civilian oversight of law enforcement
and security services in Cameroon to ensure they are held
accountable for abuses; and
(G) engage in an ongoing effort to ensure that the crisis
in the Anglophone regions is discussed in international fora,
including the United Nations Security Council, that focus on
urgent international diplomatic engagement and response; and
(7) urges members of the international community to--
(A) join in a strategic collective effort to pressure the
Government of Cameroon and separatist armed groups, including
through the use of available diplomatic and punitive tools,
to immediately conclude and uphold a ceasefire, participate
in an inclusive and meaningful dialogue to address the root
causes of the conflict and pending grievances, and seek
nonviolent solutions to the conflict, including by possibly
involving an independent and credible international mediator;
(B) mobilize and coordinate funding for local and
international organizations to provide humanitarian and
development assistance, including to fight coronavirus, to
communities affected by the crisis in the Northwest and
Southwest regions of Cameroon;
(C) leverage bilateral relationships to encourage key
partners of Cameroon, particularly France, to help foster a
peaceful resolution to the crisis in the Northwest and
Southwest regions of Cameroon, potentially with the
involvement of an independent mediator, and implement a
mutually agreed-upon program to address longstanding
grievances and marginalization; and
(D) use regional and international fora, including the
African Union, the Economic Community of Central African
States, and the United Nations Security Council to--
(i) discuss the ongoing crisis in the Northwest and
Southwest regions of Cameroon;
(ii) push for a cessation of violence, an expedient
resolution, and the implementation of a mutually agreed-upon
program for addressing the root causes and pending
grievances; and
(iii) maintain calls for the investigation and prosecution
of human rights abuses and crimes committed against
civilians.
The resolution (S. Res. 684), as amended, was agreed to.
The amendment (No. 2737), in the nature of a substitute, was agreed
to as follows
(Purpose: To amend the preamble)
Strike the preamble and insert the following:
[[Page S8013]]
Whereas Cameroon is beset with multiple security
challenges, including a Boko Haram insurgency in the Far
North region, cross-border conflict and criminality by
Central African militia groups to the east, and a civil war
involving the Government of Cameroon and Anglophone
separatist armed groups in the Northwest and Southwest
regions;
Whereas the official actions and policies of the
Francophone-dominated Government of Cameroon have repressed
English-speaking Cameroonians politically and economically
throughout the history of Cameroon, dating back to the
reunification of British-administered Southern Cameroons and
French Cameroun under a federal system in October 1961;
Whereas, in June 1972, following a national referendum, a
new constitution was adopted that abolished the federal
system, changed the name of the country from the Federal
Republic of Cameroon to the United Republic of Cameroon, and
gave additional powers to the presidency;
Whereas Paul Biya, the oldest head of state in Africa, has
been the President of Cameroon since 1982, maintaining his
grip on power by centralizing authority in the executive,
undermining the Constitution of Cameroon, impeding democratic
governance through corrupt practices, using security services
to repress the opposition, and conducting elections marred by
widespread irregularities and allegations of fraud;
Whereas key decentralization reforms enacted in the
Constitution of Cameroon in 1996, which mandated the
establishment of a decentralized unitary state, ``equality of
all citizens before the law'', the equal status of French and
English as official languages, and the establishment of local
authorities with ``administrative and financial autonomy'',
remain largely unrealized, though an enabling law was adopted
in December 2019;
Whereas, throughout his tenure, President Biya has spent
extended periods in Europe, pursued government policies
exclusively benefitting the Francophone majority in Cameroon,
and crippled many parastatals and private enterprises in the
Northwest and Southwest regions, further marginalizing
English-speaking Cameroonians;
Whereas, in October 2016, English-speaking lawyers,
students, and teachers in the Northwest and Southwest regions
of Cameroon took to the streets to peacefully protest
marginalization of English-speaking Cameroonians by the
Government of Cameroon in the legal and education systems, as
exemplified by the appointment of French-speaking judges and
teachers in the Northwest and Southwest regions and the
publishing of important legislation solely in the French
language;
Whereas those peaceful protests by English-speaking
lawyers, students, and teachers were met with excessive force
by the police and gendarmerie of Cameroon, which led to gross
human rights violations, the arrest of lawyers, teachers, and
Anglophone civic leaders, and their detention in the
notorious Kondengui prison in Yaounde;
Whereas, amid broader protests across the Northwest and
Southwest regions demanding greater autonomy from the central
government of Cameroon, on October 1, 2017, the 56th
anniversary of the end of British trusteeship over Southern
Cameroons, the Anglophone crisis escalated as separatist
armed groups declared independence from Cameroon;
Whereas, in 2017, Anglophone separatist armed groups
responded to the repressive and violent actions of the
Government of Cameroon by targeting government officials and
facilities as well as civilians and traditional leaders seen
as sympathetic to the Government of Cameroon and brutally
enforcing ``ghost town operations'' (general strikes) and
school boycotts in the Northwest and Southwest regions;
Whereas lengthy government-imposed shutdowns of the
internet and social media in the Northwest and Southwest
regions, totaling 240 days between 2017 and 2018, had a
devastating impact on the economies and educational
institutions in the regions, undermined freedom of
expression, prevented the free flow of information related to
the conflict, and restricted the ability of local communities
to interact and communicate;
Whereas the conflict in the Northwest and Southwest regions
of Cameroon has caused considerable instability and human
suffering, with more than 3,000 deaths linked to the conflict
as of 2018, with more recent figures difficult to ascertain
due to lack of access to the Northwest and Southwest regions,
and according to United Nations agencies, as of 2020,
approximately 3,000,000 people in Cameroon are in need of
humanitarian assistance, approximately 60,000 Cameroonian
refugees have fled to Nigeria, and approximately 700,000
persons are internally displaced;
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 2019 Country Report on
Human Rights Practices for Cameroon documented killings of
civilians, kidnappings, abductions, and hostage taking,
beatings, attacks on health workers and media, restrictions
on movements of persons and goods, and use of child soldiers
by armed Anglophone separatists;
Whereas the United Nations Children's Fund estimates that
more than 855,000 children are out of school due to the
conflict, and the Department of State added Cameroon to the
Child Soldiers Prevention Act List in the 2020 Trafficking in
Persons Report as a foreign government ``identified during
the previous year as having governmental armed forces,
police, or other security forces, or government-supported
armed groups that recruit or use child soldiers'';
Whereas United States citizen Charles Wesco was shot and
killed near the town of Bamenda, Cameroon, on October 30,
2018, and, in November 2018, the Department of State stated,
``In memory of American missionary Charles Wesco and all
others who have lost their lives in the Anglophone Crisis, we
urge all sides to end the violence and enter into broad-based
reconciliatory dialogue without preconditions.'';
Whereas, in June 2019, the Government of Switzerland
announced that, together with the Centre for Humanitarian
Dialogue, it was facilitating a dialogue between the
Government of Cameroon and armed opposition groups to support
a resolution of the Anglophone crisis;
Whereas, in September 2019, President Biya hastily
announced a Major National Dialogue, chaired by Prime
Minister Ngute from September 30 to October 4, 2019, in
Yaounde, ``to examine the ways and means to respond to the
deeply-held aspirations of the populations in the Northwest
and Southwest'';
Whereas, though the Major National Dialogue led to some
concessions by the Government of Cameroon on broader
democratization issues, such as the release of some political
prisoners, including the leader of the Cameroon Renaissance
Movement, Maurice Kamto, and some of his associates after
nine months of detention, it failed to bring separatist
groups to the table;
Whereas, since the Major National Dialogue, the killing of
civilians and other atrocities continue to be recorded across
the Northwest and Southwest regions, including in towns and
villages such as Babanki, Bamenda, Bangem, Buea, Mamfe,
Muyuka, Pinyin, and Ngarbuh, and the Government of Cameroon
recently has resumed its attack on the political opposition,
placing Mr. Kamto under house arrest and detaining dozens of
his supporters;
Whereas national and international outrage followed the
massacre of at least 23 people, including 15 children and 2
pregnant women, by government security forces and allied
militia on February 14, 2020, in Ngarbuh, Donga Mantung
division, in the Northwest region, and a commission of
inquiry established by Cameroonian authorities ultimately led
to the arrest and charging of 3 soldiers for murder;
Whereas, on June 5, 2020, amidst increasing concern over
attacks on freedom of the press and detention of journalists
on politically motivated charges in recent years, Cameroon
authorities confirmed that an Anglophone journalist covering
the conflict, Samuel Ajiekah Abuwe, known as Wazizi, who was
arrested in August 2019 and transferred to a military
facility, died in custody shortly after his arrest, an
acknowledgment that led to widespread condemnation and calls
for an independent inquiry;
Whereas the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) of the
Government of Cameroon, which has been accused of torture and
extrajudicial killings and implicated in massacres like that
of February 14, 2020, has received training and support from
the United States, potentially in contravention of legal
requirements that ``no assistance shall be furnished . . . to
any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the
Secretary of State has credible information that such unit
has committed a gross violation of human rights'';
Whereas, in February 2019, the Department of State
announced that it would withhold some security assistance to
Cameroon, including equipment and training, citing credible
allegations of human rights violations by state security
forces and a lack of investigation, accountability, and
transparency by the Government of Cameroon in response;
Whereas, on December 26, 2019, the United States terminated
the designation of Cameroon as a beneficiary under the
African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 3701 et seq.)
because ``the Government of Cameroon currently engages in
gross violations of internationally recognized human
rights'';
Whereas a European Parliament resolution, passed on April
18, 2019, urged inclusive political dialogue to resolve the
Anglophone crisis, called for the conflict to be considered
by the United Nations Security Council, and urged the
European Union to ``use the political leverage provided by
development aid and other bilateral programmes to enhance the
defense of human rights in Cameroon'';
Whereas France maintains considerable interests in
Cameroon, including significant economic and security
cooperation, but has not adequately used its influence to
stem atrocities committed in the Anglophone regions or
support stronger international action to seek resolution to
the conflict;
Whereas the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian
Coordinator for Cameroon stated on January 24, 2019, that
``Cameroon can no longer be a forgotten crisis; it needs to
be high on our agenda'', and, on June 22, 2020, a group of
former world leaders and 5 Nobel Peace Laureates called on
the United
[[Page S8014]]
Nations Security Council and the United Nations Secretary-
General, the African Union, the Commonwealth of Nations, and
La Francophonie to ``ensure that Cameroon's Anglophone
conflict is on the agenda of the forthcoming UN Security
Council meeting and all UNOCA sessions before the UNSC'';
Whereas, on May 13, 2019, an Arria-formula meeting on the
humanitarian crisis in Cameroon was held for the United
Nations Security Council, but a formal meeting on the
situation in Cameroon has not yet been placed on the United
Nations Security Council agenda;
Whereas, on July 1, 2020, in Resolution 2532 (2020), the
United Nations Security Council unanimously underlined its
support of the appeal of the United Nations Secretary-General
for a global ceasefire in all conflicts as the world battles
the COVID-19 pandemic; and
Whereas there is a significant Cameroonian diaspora in the
United States, and Cameroon is a longstanding security
partner and aid recipient of the United States, participating
in the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP) led
by the Department of State and in United States-supported
efforts to counter Boko Haram and the Islamic State-West
Africa, both of which have mounted terrorist operations in
the Far North region of Cameroon since 2014: Now, therefore,
be it
The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
S. Res. 684
Whereas Cameroon is beset with multiple security
challenges, including a Boko Haram insurgency in the Far
North region, cross-border conflict and criminality by
Central African militia groups to the east, and a civil war
involving the Government of Cameroon and Anglophone
separatist armed groups in the Northwest and Southwest
regions;
Whereas the official actions and policies of the
Francophone-dominated Government of Cameroon have repressed
English-speaking Cameroonians politically and economically
throughout the history of Cameroon, dating back to the
reunification of British-administered Southern Cameroons and
French Cameroun under a federal system in October 1961;
Whereas, in June 1972, following a national referendum, a
new constitution was adopted that abolished the federal
system, changed the name of the country from the Federal
Republic of Cameroon to the United Republic of Cameroon, and
gave additional powers to the presidency;
Whereas Paul Biya, the oldest head of state in Africa, has
been the President of Cameroon since 1982, maintaining his
grip on power by centralizing authority in the executive,
undermining the Constitution of Cameroon, impeding democratic
governance through corrupt practices, using security services
to repress the opposition, and conducting elections marred by
widespread irregularities and allegations of fraud;
Whereas key decentralization reforms enacted in the
Constitution of Cameroon in 1996, which mandated the
establishment of a decentralized unitary state, ``equality of
all citizens before the law'', the equal status of French and
English as official languages, and the establishment of local
authorities with ``administrative and financial autonomy'',
remain largely unrealized, though an enabling law was adopted
in December 2019;
Whereas, throughout his tenure, President Biya has spent
extended periods in Europe, pursued government policies
exclusively benefitting the Francophone majority in Cameroon,
and crippled many parastatals and private enterprises in the
Northwest and Southwest regions, further marginalizing
English-speaking Cameroonians;
Whereas, in October 2016, English-speaking lawyers,
students, and teachers in the Northwest and Southwest regions
of Cameroon took to the streets to peacefully protest
marginalization of English-speaking Cameroonians by the
Government of Cameroon in the legal and education systems, as
exemplified by the appointment of French-speaking judges and
teachers in the Northwest and Southwest regions and the
publishing of important legislation solely in the French
language;
Whereas those peaceful protests by English-speaking
lawyers, students, and teachers were met with excessive force
by the police and gendarmerie of Cameroon, which led to gross
human rights violations, the arrest of lawyers, teachers, and
Anglophone civic leaders, and their detention in the
notorious Kondengui prison in Yaounde;
Whereas, amid broader protests across the Northwest and
Southwest regions demanding greater autonomy from the central
government of Cameroon, on October 1, 2017, the 56th
anniversary of the end of British trusteeship over Southern
Cameroons, the Anglophone crisis escalated as separatist
armed groups declared independence from Cameroon;
Whereas, in 2017, Anglophone separatist armed groups
responded to the repressive and violent actions of the
Government of Cameroon by targeting government officials and
facilities as well as civilians and traditional leaders seen
as sympathetic to the Government of Cameroon and brutally
enforcing ``ghost town operations'' (general strikes) and
school boycotts in the Northwest and Southwest regions;
Whereas lengthy government-imposed shutdowns of the
internet and social media in the Northwest and Southwest
regions, totaling 240 days between 2017 and 2018, had a
devastating impact on the economies and educational
institutions in the regions, undermined freedom of
expression, prevented the free flow of information related to
the conflict, and restricted the ability of local communities
to interact and communicate;
Whereas the conflict in the Northwest and Southwest regions
of Cameroon has caused considerable instability and human
suffering, with more than 3,000 deaths linked to the conflict
as of 2018, with more recent figures difficult to ascertain
due to lack of access to the Northwest and Southwest regions,
and according to United Nations agencies, as of 2020,
approximately 3,000,000 people in Cameroon are in need of
humanitarian assistance, approximately 60,000 Cameroonian
refugees have fled to Nigeria, and approximately 700,000
persons are internally displaced;
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 2019 Country Report on
Human Rights Practices for Cameroon documented killings of
civilians, kidnappings, abductions, and hostage taking,
beatings, attacks on health workers and media, restrictions
on movements of persons and goods, and use of child soldiers
by armed Anglophone separatists;
Whereas the United Nations Children's Fund estimates that
more than 855,000 children are out of school due to the
conflict, and the Department of State added Cameroon to the
Child Soldiers Prevention Act List in the 2020 Trafficking in
Persons Report as a foreign government ``identified during
the previous year as having governmental armed forces,
police, or other security forces, or government-supported
armed groups that recruit or use child soldiers'';
Whereas United States citizen Charles Wesco was shot and
killed near the town of Bamenda, Cameroon, on October 30,
2018, and, in November 2018, the Department of State stated,
``In memory of American missionary Charles Wesco and all
others who have lost their lives in the Anglophone Crisis, we
urge all sides to end the violence and enter into broad-based
reconciliatory dialogue without preconditions.'';
Whereas, in June 2019, the Government of Switzerland
announced that, together with the Centre for Humanitarian
Dialogue, it was facilitating a dialogue between the
Government of Cameroon and armed opposition groups to support
a resolution of the Anglophone crisis;
Whereas, in September 2019, President Biya hastily
announced a Major National Dialogue, chaired by Prime
Minister Ngute from September 30 to October 4, 2019, in
Yaounde, ``to examine the ways and means to respond to the
deeply-held aspirations of the populations in the Northwest
and Southwest'';
Whereas, though the Major National Dialogue led to some
concessions by the Government of Cameroon on broader
democratization issues, such as the release of some political
prisoners, including the leader of the Cameroon Renaissance
Movement, Maurice Kamto, and some of his associates after
nine months of detention, it failed to bring separatist
groups to the table;
Whereas, since the Major National Dialogue, the killing of
civilians and other atrocities continue to be recorded across
the Northwest and Southwest regions, including in towns and
villages such as Babanki, Bamenda, Bangem, Buea, Mamfe,
Muyuka, Pinyin, and Ngarbuh, and the Government of Cameroon
recently has resumed its attack on the political opposition,
placing Mr. Kamto under house arrest and detaining dozens of
his supporters;
Whereas national and international outrage followed the
massacre of at least 23 people, including 15 children and 2
pregnant women, by government security forces and allied
militia on February 14, 2020, in Ngarbuh, Donga Mantung
division, in the Northwest region, and a commission of
inquiry established by Cameroonian authorities ultimately led
to the arrest and charging of 3 soldiers for murder;
Whereas, on June 5, 2020, amidst increasing concern over
attacks on freedom of the press and detention of journalists
on politically motivated charges in recent years, Cameroon
authorities confirmed that an Anglophone journalist covering
the conflict, Samuel Ajiekah Abuwe, known as Wazizi, who was
arrested in August 2019 and transferred to a military
facility, died in custody shortly after his arrest, an
acknowledgment that led to widespread condemnation and calls
for an independent inquiry;
Whereas the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) of the
Government of Cameroon, which has been accused of torture and
extrajudicial killings and implicated in massacres like that
of February 14, 2020, has received training and support from
the United States, potentially in contravention of legal
requirements that ``no assistance shall be furnished . . . to
any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the
Secretary of State has credible information that such unit
has committed a gross violation of human rights'';
[[Page S8015]]
Whereas, in February 2019, the Department of State
announced that it would withhold some security assistance to
Cameroon, including equipment and training, citing credible
allegations of human rights violations by state security
forces and a lack of investigation, accountability, and
transparency by the Government of Cameroon in response;
Whereas, on December 26, 2019, the United States terminated
the designation of Cameroon as a beneficiary under the
African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 3701 et seq.)
because ``the Government of Cameroon currently engages in
gross violations of internationally recognized human
rights'';
Whereas a European Parliament resolution, passed on April
18, 2019, urged inclusive political dialogue to resolve the
Anglophone crisis, called for the conflict to be considered
by the United Nations Security Council, and urged the
European Union to ``use the political leverage provided by
development aid and other bilateral programmes to enhance the
defense of human rights in Cameroon'';
Whereas France maintains considerable interests in
Cameroon, including significant economic and security
cooperation, but has not adequately used its influence to
stem atrocities committed in the Anglophone regions or
support stronger international action to seek resolution to
the conflict;
Whereas the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian
Coordinator for Cameroon stated on January 24, 2019, that
``Cameroon can no longer be a forgotten crisis; it needs to
be high on our agenda'', and, on June 22, 2020, a group of
former world leaders and 5 Nobel Peace Laureates called on
the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations
Secretary-General, the African Union, the Commonwealth of
Nations, and La Francophonie to ``ensure that Cameroon's
Anglophone conflict is on the agenda of the forthcoming UN
Security Council meeting and all UNOCA sessions before the
UNSC'';
Whereas, on May 13, 2019, an Arria-formula meeting on the
humanitarian crisis in Cameroon was held for the United
Nations Security Council, but a formal meeting on the
situation in Cameroon has not yet been placed on the United
Nations Security Council agenda;
Whereas, on July 1, 2020, in Resolution 2532 (2020), the
United Nations Security Council unanimously underlined its
support of the appeal of the United Nations Secretary-General
for a global ceasefire in all conflicts as the world battles
the COVID-19 pandemic; and
Whereas there is a significant Cameroonian diaspora in the
United States, and Cameroon is a longstanding security
partner and aid recipient of the United States, participating
in the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP) led
by the Department of State and in United States-supported
efforts to counter Boko Haram and the Islamic State-West
Africa, both of which have mounted terrorist operations in
the Far North region of Cameroon since 2014: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) strongly condemns abuses committed by state security
forces and armed groups in the Northwest and Southwest
regions of Cameroon, including extrajudicial killings and
detentions, the use of force against civilians and nonviolent
protestors, torture, rape, kidnappings, and other forms of
violence against women, and violations of the freedoms of
press, expression, and assembly;
(2) urges all parties to the Anglophone conflict in
Cameroon, including political opposition groups, to--
(A) conclude and uphold an immediate ceasefire;
(B) guarantee unfettered humanitarian access and assistance
to the Northwest and Southwest regions;
(C) exercise restraint and ensure that political protests
are peaceful; and
(D) establish a credible process for an inclusive dialogue
that includes all relevant stakeholders, including from civil
society, to achieve a sustainable political solution that
respects the rights and freedoms of all of the people of
Cameroon;
(3) affirms that the United States Government continues to
hold the Government of Cameroon responsible for safeguarding
the safety, security, and constitutional rights of all
citizens, regardless of their region of origin or the regions
in which they reside, or their religious beliefs or political
views;
(4) urges the Government of Cameroon to--
(A) initiate a credible, inclusive, good-faith effort to
end the armed conflict in the Northwest and Southwest regions
of Cameroon by addressing the root causes of the crisis and
grievances and seeking nonviolent solutions to resolve the
conflict, including possibly involving an independent
mediator in negotiations;
(B) follow through on initiatives developed to address the
grievances that sparked the conflict, including the National
Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and
Multiculturalism, the Ministry of Decentralization and Local
Development, and the National Disarmament, Demobilization,
and Reintegration Committee;
(C) fully implement recommendations of the Major National
Dialogue held in late 2019;
(D) respect the rule of law and the constitutional rights
of all Cameroonians, including members of the political
opposition, civil society activists, and journalists;
(E) allow for credible, independent, and transparent
investigations of all allegations of human rights abuses
committed in the Northwest and Southwest regions;
(F) release all political prisoners and journalists
currently detained and immediately stop all arbitrary
detention, torture, forced disappearances, deaths in custody,
and inhumane prison conditions; and
(G) work with United States law enforcement to thoroughly
investigate and prosecute those responsible for the murder of
Charles Wesco;
(5) urges the Anglophone armed separatist groups to--
(A) engage peacefully with government officials to express
grievances and engage in nonviolent efforts to resolve the
conflict, including participation in a credible and inclusive
dialogue, possibly involving an independent mediator;
(B) immediately cease human rights abuses, including
killings of civilians, torture, kidnapping, and extortion;
(C) immediately end coercive and violent enforcement of the
school boycott in the Northwest and Southwest regions and
attacks on schools, teachers, and education officials, and
allow for the peaceful and safe return of all students to
class; and
(D) publicly condemn the illegal detention and kidnapping
of civilians;
(6) urges the Department of State, Department of the
Treasury, and United States Agency for International
Development, in coordination with other relevant Federal
departments and agencies, to--
(A) consider imposing targeted sanctions on individual
government and separatist leaders ``responsible for
extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of
internationally recognized human rights'';
(B) press the Government of Cameroon to provide unfettered
humanitarian access to vulnerable populations in the
Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon;
(C) support credible efforts to address the root causes of
the conflict and to achieve sustainable peace and
reconciliation, possibly involving an independent mediator,
and efforts to aid the economic recovery of and fight
coronavirus in the Northwest and Southwest regions;
(D) support humanitarian and development programming,
including to meet immediate needs, advance nonviolent
conflict resolution and reconciliation, promote economic
recovery and development, support primary and secondary
education, and strengthen democratic processes, including
political decentralization, enshrined as a fundamental
principle of state governance in the Constitution of
Cameroon;
(E) continue to limit security assistance to Cameroon and
ensure that United States training and equipment is not being
used to facilitate human rights abuses in the Northwest and
Southwest regions;
(F) prioritize efforts to help develop and sustain
effective, professional civilian oversight of law enforcement
and security services in Cameroon to ensure they are held
accountable for abuses; and
(G) engage in an ongoing effort to ensure that the crisis
in the Anglophone regions is discussed in international fora,
including the United Nations Security Council, that focus on
urgent international diplomatic engagement and response; and
(7) urges members of the international community to--
(A) join in a strategic collective effort to pressure the
Government of Cameroon and separatist armed groups, including
through the use of available diplomatic and punitive tools,
to immediately conclude and uphold a ceasefire, participate
in an inclusive and meaningful dialogue to address the root
causes of the conflict and pending grievances, and seek
nonviolent solutions to the conflict, including by possibly
involving an independent and credible international mediator;
(B) mobilize and coordinate funding for local and
international organizations to provide humanitarian and
development assistance, including to fight coronavirus, to
communities affected by the crisis in the Northwest and
Southwest regions of Cameroon;
(C) leverage bilateral relationships to encourage key
partners of Cameroon, particularly France, to help foster a
peaceful resolution to the crisis in the Northwest and
Southwest regions of Cameroon, potentially with the
involvement of an independent mediator, and implement a
mutually agreed-upon program to address longstanding
grievances and marginalization; and
(D) use regional and international fora, including the
African Union, the Economic Community of Central African
States, and the United Nations Security Council to--
(i) discuss the ongoing crisis in the Northwest and
Southwest regions of Cameroon;
(ii) push for a cessation of violence, an expedient
resolution, and the implementation of a mutually agreed-upon
program for addressing the root causes and pending
grievances; and
(iii) maintain calls for the investigation and prosecution
of human rights abuses and crimes committed against
civilians.
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