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Amnesty International Report 2017/18

sought life-saving treatment out of fear of 

arrest. In addition, dozens of members of the 

security forces, including soldiers and 

gendarmes, were killed in attacks perpetrated 

by Anglophone insurgents in the South and 

North West regions during the year.

UNFAIR TRIALS

Unfair trials continued before military courts, 

which were often marred by irregularities.

On 10 April, Radio France Internationale 

correspondent Ahmed Abba was sentenced 

to 10 years’ imprisonment, convicted by the 

Yaoundé Military Court of “complicity with 

and non-denunciation of terrorist acts”. The 

trial was marred by irregularities, including 

documents not being disclosed to defence 

lawyers. Ahmed Abba had been arrested in 

Maroua in July 2015 and was tortured while 

held incommunicado for three months at a 

facility run by the General Directorate of 

External Research. On 21 December the 

Appeal Court of the Yaoundé Military Court 

ordered his initial sentence to be reduced to 

24 months, which he had already served. 

The Court upheld the charge of “non-

denunciation of terrorism”.

The appeal of Fomusoh Ivo Feh, who was 

arrested in December 2014 for forwarding a 

sarcastic text message about Boko Haram 

and sentenced to 10 years in prison, had not 

begun at the end of the year. Scheduled to 

begin in December 2016, his hearings had 

been adjourned at least seven times.

On 30 October, journalists Rodrigue Tongué, 

Felix Ebole Bola and Baba Wamé were 

acquitted by the Yaoundé Military Court, 

having been initially charged in October 2014 

with “non-denunciation of information and 

sources”. Facing trial alongside the 

journalists were opposition party leader 

Aboubakary Siddiki, and Abdoulaye 

Harissou, a well-known notary detained since 

August 2014. The Yaoundé Military Court 

sentenced Aboubakary Siddiki to 25 years’ 

imprisonment on charges including hostility 

against the homeland, revolution, and 

contempt of the President. Abdoulaye 

Harissou was sentenced to three years’ 

imprisonment, and subsequently released 

having already served this sentence. Their 

trial was marred by irregularities. During their 

initial period of detention, the two men had 

been held incommunicado for more than 40 

days in an illegal facility run by the General 

Directorate of External Relations and 

subjected to torture.

DETENTION

Prison conditions remained poor, marked by 

chronic overcrowding, inadequate food, 

limited medical care, and deplorable hygiene 

and sanitation. Maroua prison housed around 

1,500 detainees, more than four times its 

intended capacity. The population of the 

central prison in Yaoundé was approximately 

4,400, despite a maximum capacity of 1,500. 

The main factors contributing to 

overcrowding included the mass arrests since 

2014 of people accused of supporting Boko 

Haram, the large number of detainees held 

without charge, and the ineffective judicial 

system. The government finalized the 

construction of at least 10 new cells for the 

prison in Maroua.

REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS

At least 250,000 refugees from the Central 

African Republic lived in harsh conditions in 

crowded camps or with host families along 

border areas of southeastern Cameroon. 

Some 60,000 refugees from Nigeria lived in 

the UN-run Minawao camp in the Far North 

region; around 30,000 others struggled to 

cope outside the camp, facing food 

insecurity, lack of access to basic services, 

harassment by the security forces and the 

risk of refoulement as they were perceived to 

be supporters of Boko Haram.

On 2 March, Cameroon, Nigeria and 

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, signed a 

“Tripartite Agreement for the Voluntary 

Repatriation of Nigerian Refugees Living in 

Cameroon”. However, between January and 

September, Cameroon forcibly returned at 

least 4,400 Nigerians. These forced returns 

were part of a larger deportation operation 

carried out by Cameroon. Human Rights 

Watch estimated that, since 2015, 

Cameroonian authorities and security forces 

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had summarily deported more than 100,000 

Nigerians living in areas located along the 

Cameroon-Nigeria border, often with 

unnecessary and excessive use of force. 

Some of those forcibly returned, including 

children, weakened by living for months or 

years with limited or no access to food and 

health care, died during the deportations.

In December, UNHCR reported having 

registered more than 5,000 Cameroonians, 

mainly women and children, who had fled 

the Anglophone areas of Cameroon to 

Nigeria.

RIGHT TO AN ADEQUATE STANDARD 

OF LIVING

The conflict with Boko Haram led to the 

internal displacement of around 240,000 

people in the Far North region and 

exacerbated the hardships experienced by 

communities, limiting their access to basic 

social services, and disrupting trade, farming 

and pastoralism. In December, almost 3.3 

million people, of whom 61% were in the Far 

North region, were in need of humanitarian 

assistance, including food and medical care. 

Humanitarian access continued to be 

restricted by the ongoing conflict.

RIGHT TO EDUCATION

Dozens of schools were closed in the English-

speaking regions between November 2016 

and September 2017, following strikes and 

boycotts called for by trade unions and 

members of civil society. Extreme elements 

within Anglophone pro-secession groups 

carried out attacks on education facilities that 

“breached the boycott”.

Between January and September 2017, 

more than 30 schools were burned and 

severely damaged. In the Far North region, 

139 primary schools in the departments of 

Logone and Chari, Mayo Sava and Mayo 

Tsanaga remained closed because of 

insecurity and at least eight were occupied by 

security forces, affecting almost 40,000 

children.

DEATH PENALTY

People accused of supporting Boko Haram 

continued to be sentenced to death following 

unfair trials in military courts; none were 

executed during the year. The cases were all 

prosecuted under the deeply flawed 2014 

anti-terrorism law.

1. Cameroon’s secret torture chambers: Human rights violations and 

war crimes in the fight against Boko Haram (

AFR 17/6536/2017

)

2. Cameroon: Arrests and civil society bans risk inflaming tensions in 

English-speaking regions (

Press release

, 20 January)

CANADA

Canada

Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by Julie 

Payette (replaced David Johnston in October)

Head of government: Justin Trudeau

Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples 

continued, in particular the failure to 

protect their rights to lands and resources. 

Urgent measures were required to ensure 

the safety of Indigenous women and girls 

while a national inquiry was under way. 

There was a substantial increase in 

numbers of asylum-seekers crossing the 

border from the USA irregularly.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS

Government commitments to respect and 

protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples were 

contradicted by the failure to address 

violations of treaty-protected Indigenous 

hunting and fishing rights by the planned 

flooding of the Peace River Valley in the 

province of British Columbia for the Site C 

dam.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal 

issued three non-compliance orders against 

the federal government for discrimination in 

services for First Nations children and 

families.

The Public Inquiry Commission on Relations 

between Indigenous Peoples and Certain 

Public Services in Québec held hearings 

throughout the year.

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