Cameroon

July 2017: Amnesty International and Forensic Architecture collaborated to produce a report and video on abuses in detention facilities in Cameroon. Both the video and report include a section on the military use of schools.

November 2017: GCPEA sent an email to the mission in Geneva requesting for a meeting. Although Cameroon has not yet endorsed, in November following participation in the Plan International workshop, the Minister of Basic Education of Cameroon issued a letter to the Governors of the North and Far North Regions, calling for respect for the Declaration. This followed advocacy by UNICEF Cameroon, calling on the government to instruct military teachers in 9 schools in the affected zone to refrain from carrying guns in the classroom. Save the Children Pan-African and AU Liaison Office followed up by sharing documentation on the Declaration with the Ministry of Education and UNICEF Cameroon.

December 2017: GCPEA (Gisela) met with the Ambassador and Minister in Geneva. The Ambassador was personally supportive, drawing a strong link with child recruitment issues. The expert pledged to share hard copies of documents with the concerned Ministries in capital. GCPEA issued letters to the Ministers of Defense, Education, and Foreign Affairs.

May 2018: Cameroon was one of the 28 most heavily-affected countries which were profiled in Education Under Attack 2018. Theirworld published a report stating that three teachers had been killed in a week and at least 30 schools had been targeted in 2018 by armed separatists in the country’s English-speaking regions. At least a dozen teachers had been killed or wounded and hundreds had fled. The report linked to an explainer on the Declaration.

June 2018: Human Rights Watch emailed their contact in the President’s office, cc’d to the Cameroon ambassador in New York, to encourage Cameroon to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration before/at the CAAC Open Debate. The UNICEF Representative for Cameroon and the Director of the Regional Office of UNESCO for Central Africa and Representative for Cameroon issued a joint statement, urging the release of all kidnapped education personnel in the South-West and North-West Regions of Cameroon. The statement also asked all stakeholders and leaders to immediately stop attacking schools, teachers, and education officials and allow safe and unfettered return of all students to the classroom to continue with their studies and examinations. The statement called on the government of Cameroon and all stakeholders to endorse and adhere to the principles of the Safe Schools Declaration and ensure that they protect schools-facilities, teachers, children and other personnel who are exercising their right to education.

June 2018: GCPEA sought a meeting with the Mission in New York.

July 2018: Human Rights Watch (Bede) published research gathered during a visit to Cameroon in April. A dispatch on the kidnapping of two school principals in separate attacks included a recommendation to the government to endorse the Declaration. Video summary: https://youtu.be/YwQ6gVEg1yY The press release can also be found here: https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/07/19/cameroon-killings-destruction-anglophone-regions. The full report can be downloaded here: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/cameroon0718_web2.pdf The Cameroon government’s written response here: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/cameroon0718_annex.pdf Op Ed: http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2018/07/20/cameroon-s-schools-are-under-attack-and-the-uk-can-help-stop

July 2018: The government responded to Human Rights Watch’s request to endorse the Declaration, saying: “The Government has no objection to acceding to this declaration. In that connection, the Minister of Basic Education last November wrote to the Governors of the North and Far-North Regions under attacks by the Boko Haram terrorist sect to reiterate compliance with this legal instrument.”

July 2018: The government emailed Human Rights Watch to advise that the President had signaled his approval for the Minister of Basic Education to sign the Declaration.

August 2018: Human Rights Watch received a copy of the signed endorsement letter but it was not sent to Oslo. At Norway’s request, GCPEA and Human Rights Watch asked the Mission in Geneva if they could trace it.

September 2018: The endorsement letter was received in Oslo, sent by Cameroon’s Head of Service of Multilateral Agreements and Treaties at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

September 2018: Gisela met with the ambassador and Oliver Bosse, Second Counsellor, in Geneva to receive an update on Cameroon’s endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration. Gisela followed up with appreciation letters addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education and Defense and to encourage them to start implementation of the Declaration.

February 2019: Human Rights Watch reports in an article that 170 students, mostly girls under 18, a teacher, and two guards, have been abducted on 16 February by a group of armed separatists from a boarding school in Kumbo, in the North-West region of Cameroon. The separatists released everyone the following day, however, the school still remains closed.

March 2020: Human Rights Watch issued a dispatch detailing how armed separatist groups continue to attack schools, students, and teachers in the Anglophone regions. It called on the government to ensure access to safe education and to promote alternative forms of education for students who cannot return to school. The International Rescue Committee and the Norwegian Refugee Council issued a joint statement, calling upon all parties to the conflict in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon to cease all attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including students and their schools.

September 2022 Transforming Education Summit: Cameroon: introduction states that issues with education are exaberated by the threat and attacks against education. The government commits to operationalize reforms to establish a politic of safe and healthy schools. Endorsed the Call to Action on Education in crisis situations (refers to EuA22 data) at the Transforming Education Summit

February 2023: Cameroon Minister of Education spoke at the GCPEA-organised panel on protecting education during the Education Cannot Wait High Level Financing Conference

March 2023: On 13 March, Apolline met with Nadjma Gargoum, First Secretary at the PM in Geneva. Cameroon’s Minister of Education spoke at GCPEA’s side event for the ECW Conference earlier in the month and we decided to have an informal catch up to discuss Cameroon’s implementation of the SSD and opportunities for collaboration in Geneva.