ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT

ISSUE/EDITION Nr 418 - 15/09/2001

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 Cameroon
Cameroon women combat violence

WOMEN

 Cameroon NGOs combat violence against women

 In Yaoundé, a 17-year-old girl answers the door and is suddenly sprayed with acid by an ex-boyfriend. She is terribly disfigured and dies some days later. In Bonabri a suburb of Douala, soldiers of a headquarters regiment go on a rampage after an incident with the police, and rape five women.

The authorities deny that the incident took place, even after photographs of the attacks had been published by several weeklies, and interviews with victims had been broadcast by private radio stations. In the town of Kousséri, in a remote northern province, a man whips his wife after a family row. Since no crime had been committed the woman cannot lodge a complaint. Customary law, under which most (at least 90%) marriages are entered into in this province where the majority of the people are Muslims, allows a man to beat his wife as long as no «serious injury» is inflicted. Thus, this form of family violence is not penalized.

These examples, taken from the files of women’s human rights organizations in Cameroon, give an insight into the social, traditional and political situation. It is the source of what Mrs Félicité Moutomé, a representative of the Cameroon Organisation of Women Lawyers, one of the principal NGOs of the country, describes as «an epidemic of violence» against women. In an interview with a local weekly, Mrs Moutomé affirms that traditional discriminatory customs, the constitutional and legal framework inherited from former constitutions, as well as the wall of silence surrounding family violence, exposes women to rape and sexual attacks. «It is useless to complain to the police», she declares, «they will only say that it is a private matter (between husband and wife) which is none of their business. They will only ask the woman what she has done to deserve that».

Government efforts to reduce violence against women were lacking in enthusiasm during the first years of the reign of President Paul Biya (who came to power in November 1982). After the foundation of the National Commission for Human Rights and Liberty in 1992, the government held some national Workshops on the causes of violence, and announced projects to open several centres for legal aid and counselling for victims. Today, there are five legal aid programs, reaching between 500 and 700 women, devoted to publicizing the Convention

For The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women, in Yaoundé (central Cameroon), Bafoussam in the west and Garoua in the north. But Cameroon organizations for women and the protection of the rights of the person deem that these programs lack credibility, and have received hardly any political or financial support from a regime whose repressive practices have acquired a very poor reputation.

United Nations initiatives

With help from the UN Development Funds For Women (UNIFEM), Cameroon women availed of the transition of the country to democracy at the beginning of the nineties, to launch an ambitious campaign to combat violence against women.

The campaign includes legal and social services for victims and their families, educational activities aimed at government leaders and forces of law and order, as well as community educational activities destined principally for young people. UNIFEM and the Women’s Centre For Promotion And Development — a women’s NGO based in the coastal province, launched a project called «Social Appeal To Counter Violence Against Women» (PSVF) at the end of 1998. They were helped by UNIFEM funds to support action to eradicate violence against women.

In September 1998, the PSVF organized the first of a series of Workshops devoted to the problem, by encouraging the production and staging of plays and other educational games, songs and dances and the production of advertisements for radio and television to highlight the consequences of violence against women and their families. PSVF activists have also founded education clubs in some fifteen of the country’s secondary schools.

These clubs organize local activities aimed at getting rid of stereotypes which provoke violence, by bringing together boys and girls with a view to putting an end to violence in their communities. The PSVF project was officially brought to a close in November 2000, with a national conference to stimulate media coverage of the problem, and to found a new NGO called Project Alert whose aim is to combat violence against women by education, research and publicity campaigns. Project Alert is the first Cameroon organization devoted exclusively to this cause, and intends to increase and coordinate the programs of other organizations, both government and non-government, for the empowerment of women, counselling and giving legal aid.

Stolen freedom!

In many tribal communities in Cameroon, the husband generally behaves as the «nkunkuma», that is, «the master». The wife in rural areas is almost a non-person and has to endure very harsh living conditions. In the family she has two essential duties: as wife (she is the provider) and as mother (she is the procreator). If by chance she has other duties, it can only be secondary. Her life consists of alternating pregnancies and breast feeding. In spite of frequent pregnancies, the wife can only with difficulty abdicate the task of providing for the family. She is the principal worker in providing a supply of food for the family. Indeed, a woman’s daily round is occupied mainly in providing sufficient food, water, wood for cooking etc. In towns, work in the fields is replaced by petty trading or kitchen gardening. For all these everyday jobs, in practice, she cannot count on help from her husband, and what’s more, sometimes the disposal of revenue from her work is usurped by him. Work done by women is made still more difficult by the use of tools which are rudimentary and ill-suited for their purpose.

However, women aspire to less arduous working conditions, more profitable work and a decent way of life. Unfortunately, the level of education of most women is so low that it is impossible for them to claim their rights, or even to question their condition. The «Women’s Caucus», a group of women from various professions, urges women to be more conscious of their role as beneficiaries and producers of development. They act through the League For The Education Of Women And Children, which adopts an aggressive strategy of making the public aware of the principles of the Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women.

Women are on the move

Nobody claims victory prematurely. Mrs Tony Madeleine, acting secretary-general of the Inter-African Committee To Combat Traditional Practices Affecting The Health Of Women And Children, declared at the end of a seminar held in Yaoundé, on the genital mutilation of women: «In spite of significant improvement in human and civic rights under the present government, the situation of women has not really improved. There is some visible progress, but much remains to be done.» She based her statement on statistics provided jointly by FNUAP and WHO published in July 2000, involving 20% of women in Cameroon.

The problem may be partly explained, according to Mrs Ejongo Ebelle Grâce of the Women and Development NGO of Cameroon, by the almost non-existence of women in the new national and local legislatures. In fact, only 10 of the 180 Members of Parliament are women, while there are only 114 women (out of 9,031) in municipal councils. In the government, there are only two women in the 45-member cabinet. This does not facilitate the placing of questions concerning women only, on the agenda of meetings of the national government.

«Violence against women brings up the more general question of the social and economic role of women in the country and the feeling persists that women cannot be leaders», she says. And everywhere, among the 149 non-governmental organizations for the betterment of women, it is whispered: «We encourage men and women to understand that women have a part to play to promote democracy. Today we want to break down the wall of silence. We still have a long way to go, but now, women are on the move».

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