Cameroon

Human rights defenders in Cameroon have been subjected to arbitrary detention, judicial harassment, acts of intimidation and threats. Freedom of expression and freedom of association are very limited. In particular members of human rights organisations and journalists are targeted.

The human rights community in Cameroon comprises of non governmental organisations, members of student unions, trade unions, refugee communities, religious communities, human rights lawyers, journalists and development workers. It is hard to determine the number of human rights defenders in Cameroon as due to the danger they face they often work in secrecy. A number of government-backed human rights organisations have been established in Cameroon but these tend to undermine and contradict the work of independent human rights organisations and attempt to discredit them by labeling them as organisations opposed to the government. Members of human rights organisations have been subjects of police surveillance and instances of judicial harassment, arbitrary detention and physical assaults against human rights defenders have been reported. Journalists have been sued for libel.