STATEMENT BY THE CAMEROON HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION TO MARK THE 39TH INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

8 March 2024

Theme.-Invest in women: Accelerate progress

“The Commission notes that, although gender equality is enshrined in the preamble to the Constitution of Cameroon of 18 January 1996 and in numerous African and universal instruments ratified by the State of Cameroon or to which it is otherwise committed, the Cameroonian society is deeply characterised by the subordination of women, who are generally considered to be the weaker sex”.

“The Commission commends the publication of Circular No. 2023/001 of 30 August 2023 of the President of the Republic relating to the preparation of the State Budget for the financial year 2024, which reaffirms the integration of the gender budgeting approach as a priority in all sectors of national development and specifies the procedures for taking such approach on board”.

“The Commission commends the drafting of a preliminary bill aimed at combating violence against women and children to strengthen the existing legal framework and address the increase in violence against women observed in 2023, with 56 recorded cases of femicide”.

“The Commission notes with satisfaction the number of women receiving economic support from MINPROFF, which has increased from 6500 to 7500”.

“The Commission is still concerned about the alarming rise of GBV in Cameroon, where MINPROFF, in its MTEF 2023-2025 estimates 3,000 cases of GBV for the year 2022 and 35,000 cases for the year 2023”.

“The Commission recommends the Government to strengthen the mechanism for the repression of gender-based violence and harmful practices against women and girls, in particular by successfully completing the drafting process of the Preliminary bill on combating violence against women and children”.

“The Commission calls on the general public, and especially parents, to place equal emphasis on the education of young girls as they do on young boys, whose future actions very often reflect shortcomings in the transmission of human values within the family environment”.