Beyond the Contours of Normally Acceptable Political Violence: Is Cameroon a Conflict/Transitional Society in the Offing?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2019/v22i0a4961Keywords:
Anglophone problem, political violence, human rights violations in Cameroon, accountability, conflict society, transitional justiceAbstract
Legal scholars and other social scientists agree that political violence comprising assaults on civil and political liberties may occur in the context of contentious politics. Unfortunately, there have been instances in history where such politics is marked by intermittent attacks against people's rights and freedoms. Such attacks occur when politics has gone sour, and there are times when the violence exceeds the bounds of what is acceptable. From the documented atrocities of Nazi Germany, the horrendous crimes of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic in the former Yugoslavia, the outrageous crimes perpetrated during the genocide in Rwanda, the shameful and despicable inhumanities inflicted on the people of Darfur in the Sudan, and the violence in post-electoral Kenya, to the bloodshed in areas like Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, etc, violent conflict has punctuated world history. Added to this list of countries is Cameroon, which in the last quarter of 2016 degenerated into a hotspot of political violence in the English-speaking regions. The perpetration of political violence in Cameroon has raised serious questions that may be relevant not only to the resolution of the political problem that gave rise to the violence but also to laying the foundations of a post-conflict Cameroon that is united and honours the principles of truth, justice and reconciliation.
This paper describes some of the salient occurrences of political violence in Cameroon and argues that the presence of specific elements elevates this violence to the level of a serious crime in international law. It is argued herein that crimes against humanity may have been committed during the state action against the Anglophones in Cameroon. It is also argued that the political character of the violence, added to the scale of the victimisation and its systematic and protracted nature, qualify Cameroon as a transitional society engaged in conflict that is in need of transitional justice.
Reflecting on the extent of the suffering of the victims of such political violence, this paper discusses the function of the justice system in establishing the truth and holding the perpetrators accountable. Past instances of political violence in Cameroon have been glossed over, but in our opinion, healing a fragmented and disunited Cameroon with its history of grave violations of human rights requires that the perpetrators be held accountable, and that truth and justice should prevail. Such considerations should be factored into the legal and political architecture of a post-conflict, transitional Cameroon.
Downloads
References
Literature
Agbor "Reflection on the Phrase 'Widespread or Systematic'"
Agbor AA "A Reflection on the Phrase 'Widespread or Systematic' as Part of the Definition of Crimes against Humanity" in Jalloh CC and Elias O (eds) Shielding Humanity: Essays in International Law in Honour of Judge Abdul G Koroma (Martinus Nijhoff Leiden 2015) 352-378
Agbor 2017 PELJ
Agbor AA "Pursuing the Right to an Effective Remedy for Human Rights Violation(s) in Cameroon: The Need for Legislative Reform" 2017 PELJ 1-20
Aolin 2006 Colum J Gender & L
Aolin FN "Political Violence and Gender during Times of Transition" 2006 Colum J Gender & L 829-849
Brandt and Reyna 2010 Pers Soc Psychol Bull
Brandt MJ and Reyna C "The Role of Prejudice and the Need for Closure in Religious Fundamentalism" 2010 Pers Soc Psychol Bull 715-725
Cassese International Law
Cassese A International Law 2nd ed (Oxford University Press Oxford 2005)
Cassese, Gaeta and Jones Rome Statute
Cassese A, Gaeta P and Jones JRWD The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: A Commentary (Oxford University Press Oxford 2002)
Correa 1991-1992 Notre Dame L Rev
Correa J "Dealing with Past Human Rights Violations: The Chilean Case after Dictatorship" 1991-1992 Notre Dame L Rev 1455-1485
Dumouchel 2012 Ritsumeikan Studies in Language and Culture
Dumouchel P "Political Violence and Democracy" 2012 Ritsumeikan Studies in Language and Culture 117-123
Dwyer "Reconciliation for Realists"
Dwyer S "Reconciliation for Realists" in Prager CAL and Govier T (eds) Dilemmas of Reconciliation: Cases and Concepts (Wilfrid Laurier University Press Waterloo 2003) 91-110
Emerson and Hartman 2006 Annu Rev Sociol
Emerson MO and D Hartman D "The Rise of Religious Fundamentalism" 2006 Annu Rev Sociol 127-144
Fombad "Mass Media and Democratisation in Africa"
Fombad CM "The Mass Media and Democratisation in Africa: Lessons from Cameroon" in Mbaku JM and Ihonvbere JO (eds) The Transition to Democratic Governance in Africa: The Continuing Struggle (Praeger Westport 2003) 221-248
Goldstone "Fifty Years after Nuremberg"
Goldstone RJ "Fifty Years after Nuremberg: A New International Criminal Tribunal for Human Rights Criminals" in Jongman AJ (ed) Contemporary Genocides: Causes, Cases, Consequences (PIOOM Leiden 1996) 215-216
Goldstone Healing Wounded People
Goldstone RJ Healing Wounded People, Speech at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (27 January 1997)
Goldstone 1996 NYU J Int'l Law & Pol
Goldstone RJ "Justice as a Tool for Peace-Making: Truth Commissions and International Criminal Tribunals" 1996 NYU J Int'l Law & Pol 485-501
Govier "What is Acknowledgment and Why is it Important?"
Govier T "What is Acknowledgment and Why is it Important?" in Prager CAL and Govier T (eds) Dilemmas of Reconciliation: Cases and Concepts (Wilfrid Laurier University Press Waterloo 2003) 63-89
Hansen Political Violence in Kenya
Hansen TO Political Violence in Kenya: A Study of Causes, Responses, and a Framework for Discussing Preventive Action (Institute for Security Studies Pretoria 2009)
Hibbs Mass Political Violence
DA Hibbs Jr Mass Political Violence: A Cross-national Causal Analysis (Wiley New York 1973)
Hiratsuka 2012 Educational Studies
Hiratsuka H "Analysing the Psychological Dimension of Political Violence in Modern Civil Conflicts" 2012 Educational Studies 91-99
Hunsberger 1995 J Soc Issues
Hunsberger B "Religion and Prejudice: The Role of Religious Fundamentalism, Quest, and Right‐wing Authoritarianism" 1995 J Soc Issues 113-129
Ignatieff 1996 Index on Censorship
Ignatieff M "Articles of Faith" 1996 Index on Censorship 110-122
International Crisis Group Cameroon
International Crisis Group Cameroon: Fragile State? (Brussels International Crisis Group 2010)
Jackson Report to the President
Jackson RH Report to the President from Justice Robert H Jackson, Chief of Counsel for the United States in the Prosecution of Axis War Criminals, October 7, 1946, quoted in 1955 AJIL 44, 49
Jenkins "Amnesty for Gross Violations of Human Rights"
Jenkins C "Amnesty for Gross Violations of Human Rights in South Africa: A Better Way of Dealing with the Past?" in Edge I (ed) Comparative Law in Global Perspective: Essays in Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the SOAS Law Department (Transnational Ardsley 2001) 19-20
Konings "Post-colonial State and Economic and Political Reforms"
Konings PJJ "The Post-colonial State and Economic and Political Reforms in Cameroon" in Fernández Jilberto AE and Mommen A (eds) Liberalisation in the Developing World – Institutional and Economic Change in Latin America, Africa and Asia (Routledge London 1996) 244-265
Konings and Nyamnjoh 1997 J Mod Afr Stud
Konings P and Nyamnjoh FB "The Anglophone Problem in Cameroon" 1997 J Mod Afr Stud 207-229
Konings and Nyamnjoh 2000 African Anthropologist
Konings P and Nyamnjoh FB "Construction and Deconstruction: Anglophones or Autochtones?" 2000 African Anthropologist 5-32
Konings and Nyamnjoh Negotiating an Anglophone Identity
Konings P and Nyamnjoh FB (eds) Negotiating an Anglophone Identity: A Study of the Politics of Recognition and Representation in Cameroon (Brill Leiden 2003)
Konings and Nyamnjoh "Paul Biya and the 'Anglophone Problem'"
Konings P and Nyamnjoh FB "Paul Biya and the 'Anglophone Problem' in Cameroon" in Mbaku JM and Takougang J (eds) The Leadership Challenge in Africa: Cameroon under Paul Biya (Africa World Press Trenton 2004) 191-234
Laplante 2009 Va J Int'l L
Laplante LJ "Outlawing Amnesty: The Return of Criminal Justice in Transitional Justice Schemes" 2009 Va J Int'l L 915-984
Luban 2004 Yale J Int'l L
Luban D "A Theory of Crimes against Humanity" 2004 Yale J Int'l L 85-167
Marchetti and Tocci 2009 Global Change, Peace & Security
Marchetti R and Tocci N "Conflict Society: Understanding the Role of Civil Society in Conflict" 2009 Global Change, Peace & Security 201-217
McEvoy 2007 J Law Soc
McEvoy K "Beyond Legalism: Towards a Thicker Understanding of Transitional Justice" 2007 J Law Soc 411-440
Meadow 2009 Marq L Rev
Meadow RG "Political Violence and the Media" 2009 Marq L Rev 231-240
Mendez 2001 Ethics & Int'l Affairs
Mendez J "National Reconciliation, Transnational Justice, and the International Criminal Court" 2001 Ethics & Int'l Affairs 25-44
Mettraux International Crimes
Mettraux G International Crimes and the Ad Hoc Tribunals (Oxford University Press Oxford 2005)
Mobekk "Transitional Justice in Post-conflict Societies"
Mobekk E "Transitional Justice in Post-conflict Societies: Approaches to Reconciliation" in Ebnother A and Fluri P (eds) After Intervention: Public Security Management in Post-Conflict Societies - From Intervention to Sustainable Local Ownership (Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces Geneva 2005) 261-292
Moser and Clark Victims, Perpetrators or Actors?
Moser C and Clark F Victims, Perpetrators or Actors? Gendered Armed Conflict and Political Violence (Zed Books London 2001)
Obura "Duty to Prosecute International Crimes"
Obura K "Duty to Prosecute International Crimes under International Law" in Murungu C and Biegon J (eds) Prosecuting International Crimes in Africa (PULP Pretoria 2011) 11-31
Orentlicher 2007 IJTJ
Orentlicher DF "'Settling Accounts' Revisited: Reconciling Global Norms with Local Agency" 2007 IJTJ 10-22
Quinn Reconcilliation(s)
Quinn JR (ed) Reconciliation(s): Transitional Justice in Post-conflict Societies (McGill-Queen's University Press Montreal 2009)
Rios 2004 Language, Literacy, & Culture Review
Rios CD-L "Understanding Political Violence" 2004 Language, Literacy, & Culture Review 29-43
Scharf and Williams 2003 Case W Res J Int'l L
Scharf MP and Williams PR "Functions of Justice and Anti-justice in the Peace-building Process" 2003 Case W Res J Int'l L 161-190
Simpson, Mokwena and Segal 1991 S Afr Hum Rts Yrbk
Simpson G, Mokwena S and Segal L "Political Violence" 1991 S Afr Hum Rts Yrbk 193-219
Takougang and Krieger African State and Society
Takougang J and Krieger M African State and Society in the 1990s: Cameroon's Political Crossroads (Westview Boulder 1998)
Teitel 2003 Harv Hum Rts J
Teitel RG "Transitional Justice Genealogy" 2003 Harv Hum Rts J 69-94
Triffterer Commentary on the Rome Statute
Triffterer O Commentary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Observers' Notes, Article by Article 2nd ed (Hart Oxford 2008)
Vulliamy 1998 Int Aff
Vulliamy Ed "Bosnia: The Crime of Appeasement" 1998 Int Aff 73-92
Walzer Just and Unjust Wars
Walzer M Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations (Basic Books New York 1992)
Case law
Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovač & Zoran Vuković v The Prosecutor Case No IT-96-23 & 23/1-T Appeals Chamber of 12 June 2002
The Prosecutor v Alfred Musema Case No ICTR-96-13-T Trial Chamber I of 27 January 2000
The Prosecutor v Clement Kayishemba and Obed Ruzindana Case No ICTR-95-1-T Trial Chamber I of 21 May 1999
The Prosecutor v Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovač & Zoran Vuković Case No IT-96-23-T & 23/1-T Trial Chamber I of 22 February 2001
The Prosecutor v George Rutaganda Case No ICTR-96-3-T Trial Chamber I of 6 December 1999
The Prosecutor v Jean-Paul Akayesu Case No ICTR-96-4-T Trial Chamber I of 2 September 1998
The Prosecutor v Laurent Semanza Case No ICTR-97-20-T Trial Chamber III of 15 May 2003
Legislation
Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon, 1972
Law Enabling the Formation of Political Parties, Law No 90/056 of 19 December 1990
Law on Freedom of Mass Communication, Law No 90/052 of 19 December 1990 (MC Law of 1990)
International instruments
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1981)
African Union Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2000)
Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparations for Victims of Violations of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law UN GAR A/RES/60/147 (2006)
Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984)
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950)
Inter-American Convention on Human Rights (1969)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
Yugoslav Tribunal Joint Statement by the President and the Prosecutor UN Doc CC/P10/027-E (1995)
Internet sources
Amnesty International 2017-2018 https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/africa/cameroon/report-cameroon
Amnesty International 2017-2018 Cameroon https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/africa/cameroon/report-cameroon/ accessed 31 March 2018
Carsten 2018 https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN1F01P3-OZATP
Carsten P 2018 At least 15,000 Cameroonian Refugees Flee to Nigeria Amid Crackdown https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN1F01P3-OZATP accessed 9 April 2018
Dahir 2018 https://qz.com/1179202/cameroons-anglophone-crisis-is-threatening-to-spin-out-of-control/
Dahir AL 2018 Cameroon's Anglophone Crisis is Threatening to Spin out of Control https://qz.com/1179202/cameroons-anglophone-crisis-is-threatening-to-spin-out-of-control/ accessed 9 April 2018
Kindzeka 2017 http://www.dw.com/en/cameroon-troops-deployed-ahead-of-anglophone-independence-declaration/a-40751054
Kindzeka M Cameroon: Troops Deployed Ahead of Anglophone Independence Declaration http://www.dw.com/en/cameroon-troops-deployed-ahead-of-anglophone-independence-declaration/a-40751054 accessed 9 April 2018
Shaban 2017 http://www.africanews.com/2017/11/17/upsurge-of-violence-in-cameroon-s-anglophone-crisis-worries-un/
Shaban ARA 2017 Upsurge of Violence in Cameroon's Anglophone Crisis Worries UN http://www.africanews.com/2017/11/17/upsurge-of-violence-in-cameroon-s-anglophone-crisis-worries-un/ accessed 9 April 2018
Shaban ARA 2018 Condition of Cameroonian Refugees in Nigeria Worries Top UNHCR Official http://www.africanews.com/2018/03/31/condition-of-cameroonian-refugees-in-nigeria-worries-top-unhcr-official/ accessed 9 April 2018
Sixtus 2017 https://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2017/12/04/cameroon-government-declares-war-secessionist-rebels
Sixtus M 2017 Cameroon Government 'Declares War' on Secessionist Rebels https://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2017/12/04/cameroon-government-declares-war-secessionist-rebels accessed 9 April 2018
US Department of State 2016 https://www.state.gov/documents/organisation/265446.pdf
US Department of State 2016 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016 – Cameroon https://www.state.gov/documents/organisation/265446.pdf accessed 31 March 2018
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AJIL American Journal of International Law
Annu Rev Sociol Annual Review of Sociology
BMM Brigade Mobile Mixte
BIR Batallion d'Intervention Rapide
Case W Res J Int'l L Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law
Colum J Gender & L Columbia Journal of Gender and Law
CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child
Ethics & Int'l Affairs Ethics and International Affairs
Harv Hum Rts J Harvard Human Rights Journal
ICC International Criminal Court
IJTJ International Journal of Transitional Justice
Int Aff International Affairs
J Law Soc Journal of Law and Society
J Mod Afr Stud Journal of Modern African Studies
J Soc Issues Journal of Social Issues
Marq L Rev Marquette Law Review
Notre Dame L Rev Notre Dame Law Review
PELJ Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
Pers Soc Psychol Bull Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
NYU J Int'l Law & Pol New York University Journal of International Law and Politics
S Afr Hum Rts Yrbk South African Human Rights Yearbook
Va J Int'l L Virginia Journal of International Law
Yale J Int'l L Yale Journal of International Law
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2019 Avitus A Agbor, Esther E Njieassam
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
.png){kind=spacer}