SATURDAY,FEBRUARY22,2020 | THEGLOBEANDMAIL O OPINION | O3
I
t is an odd thing to live somewhere gripped by
deadly conflict. One may imagine that the pain
and challenges of one’s day-to-day life would
also weigh heavily on the outside world. But
that is not usually the case. In many crises, the rest
of the world does not know – or does not want to
know.
If you live in the English-speaking regions of
Cameroon, for instance, you might wonder why
the atrocities that have been happening on your
doorstep for the past three years are rarely men-
tioned in the global media or at United Nations
meetings. There are no consequences for Cam-
eroon’sgovernment soldiers and radicalized sep-
aratist militias’ actions, which have looted and
burned homes and schools, while killing and muti-
lating civilians. Some 656,000 English-speaking
Cameroonians have abandoned their besieged vil-
lages. And on Feb. 14, state forces allegedly per-
petrated a massacre in the remote locality of Ngar-
buh, killing at least 20 people – including many
children. Only then did the crisis manage to make
the news.
The Camerooniangovernment, led by Paul Biya,
who has served as President since 1982, has signed
numerous UN conventions promising to uphold
human rights; yet, it repeatedly violates them
without repercussions. Cameroonians are left to
feel that impunity will triumph so long as the UN
lacks the power or will to enforce its high-minded
conventions.
To cite Juan Mendez – an Argentine lawyer,
torture survivor and former UN rapporteur and
adviser on the prevention of genocide – one must
be a grain of sand in the eyes of the world’s diplo-
mats and decision-makers. That is how suffering
gets attention: with persistent irritation of interna-
tional bodies such as the United Nations Human
Rights Council (UNHRC).
With a firmly lodged grain of sand, would the
UN be able to end Cameroon’s impunity using in-
ternational law? Yes, if the 2005 Responsibility to
Protect doctrine (R2P) is invoked.
The UNHRC meets in Geneva at the end of the
month, and it is doubtful that the worsening secu-
rity situation in Cameroon will be on its agenda.
However, the council surely has enough informa-tion on what is happening in Cameroon to consid-
er R2P. In 2016, peaceful demonstrations by En-
glish speakers were met with disproportionate
force. In 2017, the UNHRC received a report detail-
ing the UN’s concerns about the lack of freedom of
expression or assembly in Cameroon, the arbitrary
detention and torture of journalists and opposi-
tion politicians, the lack of independence among
the judiciary and the people running elections,
and discrimination against the English-speaking
minority.
In 2018 and 2019, the conflict in Cameroon spi-
ralled out of control. International human-rights
groups have reported that the francophone-dom-
inated government allows the military to use le-
thal force against armed separatists and civilians
alike. As a result, some separatist militias have be-
come increasingly extremist and violent, and so-
cial-media platform WhatsApp is now saturated
with videos of torture and death perpetrated by
both sides. Moderate anglophone activists and in-
nocent civilians are caught in the middle, and cru-
el violence and horrific acts increased in the period
around legislative and municipal elections held on
Feb. 9, with no end in sight – all this, before the
alleged Valentine’s Day massacre.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
visited Cameroon in May, 2019, and urged the gov-
ernment to hold members of its security forces
committing abuses to account. This diplomatic
language was echoed by the Council of the Europe-
an Union. However, it is not just a few rogue ele-
ments committing human-rights violations: Crack-
ing down on the English-speaking regions is ac-
tually government policy.In August, 2019, a group that included Lawyers’
Rights Watch Canada, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre
for Human Rights, and the Centre for Human
Rights and Democracy in Africa made a submis-
sion to the UNHRC about the unfolding human-
rights catastrophe, calling for the council to help
end the violence and investigate grave human-
rights violations, including crimes against human-
ity – for which the UN could invoke R2P.
Adopted in the wake of the 1994 Rwandan geno-
cide, R2P has three pillars. First, it stipulates that
countries have a duty to protect their own citizens
from the four mass-atrocity crimes: genocide,
crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and war
crimes. Second, the international community must
encourage and assist states if they are unable to
fulfill their duty to protect their citizens. Finally, if
a state fails to protect its population, the interna-
tional community must be prepared to take appro-
priate collective action in a timely and decisive
manner and in accordance with the UN Charter.
This action can consist of diplomatic measures,
such as mediation or sanctions, or sending in pea-
cekeepers.
The most recent analysis from the Global Centre
for the Responsibility to Protect considers Cam-
eroon to be “in imminent risk of reaching a critical
threshold” where mass atrocities may occur “in
the immediate future.” It cites the most up-to-date
UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) report, which says 5,500 English-
speaking Cameroonians fled their homes in just
one week, between Dec. 9 and Dec. 15, 2019, be-
cause of military operations in northwest Cam-
eroon; it also advocates for access to investigate
human-rights violations and abuses and calls for a
suspension of military aid to the country.
But despite the report’s conclusion that the gov-
ernment must hold inclusive talks with the En-
glish-speakingcommunity, mediated by a neutral
player – the Swiss Centre for Humanitarian Dia-
logue has offered to serve in that role – the Cam-
erooniangovernment has refused to take part.
History shows that if the international commu-
nity lets agovernment know that the world is pay-
ing attention, it can make a difference. General
Roméo Dallaire, the UN commander in Rwanda,
said that if the UN had sent a brigade of peace-
keepers, its mere presence could have prevented
the murder of hundreds of thousands of Rwan-
dans in 1994. Instead, the UN pulled out its peace-
keepers, signalling to theHutu extremistgovern-
ment that it could do whatever it wished.
This month, the UN Human Rights Council has
an opportunity to signal its seriousness to Mr. Biya.
Cameroon’s crisis should no longer be a grain of
sand, but rather a shard of glass in the internation-
al community’s collective eye. R2P can save lives
and start the path to peace. The reprehensible kill-
ings in Ngarbuh demand action.CameroonianPresidentPaulBiya,seeninParislastNovember,hassignednumerousUnitedNationsconventionsvowingtoupholdhumanrights
sincebecomingthecountry’sleaderin1982,buthisgovernmenthasrepeatedlyviolatedthosecommitmentswithoutconsequence.
PHOTOILLUSTRATION:THEGLOBEANDMAIL;SOURCEPHOTO:CHARLESPLATIAU/REUTERSWhatwillittaketodrawaline
inthesandonCameroon?
InthewakeofanallegedValentine’sDaymassacreinthecountry–partofarisingtide
ofviolence–theinternationalcommunitymustnotlookawayFELIXAGBORNKONGHO
REBECCATINSLEYOPINIONFelixAgborNkonghoisaCameroonianhuman-rights
lawyerandpresidentoftheCentreforHumanRightsand
DemocracyinAfrica.RebeccaTinsleyisaCanadianjournalistandtheauthor
ofWhentheStarsFalltoEarth.TociteJuanMendez–anArgentine
lawyer,torturesurvivorandformer
UNrapporteurandadviseronthe
preventionofgenocide–onemust
beagrainofsandintheeyesofthe
world’sdiplomatsanddecision-makers.
Thatishowsufferinggetsattention:
withpersistentirritation
ofinternationalbodies.