The measure to suspend 4 NGOs in Cameroon goes against the government’s objective of putting an end to violence against women, underlines HRW.
The Cameroonian government suspended the activities of four non-governmental organizations for three months in December, without any warning or legal basis, a measure which harms victims of gender-based violence, supports HRW in a press release sent to APA this Thursday.
While one of these organizations provides support services to survivors of gender-based violence, its abrupt suspension affected survivors’ access to support and led some to end up on the streets when offices and facilities, including shelters, were closed by government authorities, the NGO says.
« The arbitrary suspension of civil society organizations that support the government’s goal of reducing gender-based violence, and the lack of coordination with relevant government agencies to put in place an emergency plan to ensure that survivors are not affected, do not live up to the ambitious objective that the government sets to end gender-based violence. On the contrary, it demonstrates a lack of strategic process to achieve this objective and a lack of political will “, we read in the press release.
In 2011, Cameroon adopted a national strategy to combat violence against women. It was revised in 2016 and again in 2022, with the aim of halving the prevalence of violence by 2020 and 2026, respectively.
However, notes HRW, in practice, Cameroon has not put in place sufficient resources, including services, to reduce gender-based violence and meet the needs of survivors across the country.
In 2014, there was only one shelter for survivors of gender-based violence. In 2019, the government opened around ten crisis centers for guidance, with 24-hour call services.
For the human rights NGO, as important as these measures are, they remain insufficient, which makes the role of suspended organizations essential to the well-being of many survivors.
Based on this observation, she considers that Cameroon should restore the activities of these non-governmental organizations and seek other means of carrying out its investigations which do not interrupt their provision of services or which do not further affect the right of survivors to receive support and access necessary services.
ARD/ac/Sf/APA
