[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 358 Engrossed in House (EH)]

<DOC>
H. Res. 358

                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                         July 23, 2019.
Whereas many Anglophone Cameroonians have long felt marginalized by official 
        actions and policies of the Government of Cameroon, including the 
        abolishment of a federal form of government, which was the 
        constitutional basis under which English-speaking Southern Cameroons 
        entered into the union, and replacing it with a unitary state dominated 
        by the Francophone majority;
Whereas, beginning in late 2016, protests organized by lawyers, teachers, and 
        students were violently repressed by the Government of Cameroon, leading 
        to numerous deaths and imprisonments, including of journalists, 
        teachers, lawyers, and an Anglophone judge on the country's Supreme 
        Court;
Whereas the conflict escalated in late September and early October 2017, when 
        Cameroonian security forces brutally cracked down on peaceful Anglophone 
        civilian demonstrators, resulting in dozens of deaths and leaving over 
        100 injured;
Whereas, in 2017, separatists launched a campaign to pressure school officials 
        in the Northwest and Southwest Anglophone regions to go on strike as 
        part of a boycott against the Government of Cameroon, and reportedly 
        began burning school buildings, threatening education officials with 
        violence if they did not comply with a boycott, and kidnapping for 
        ransom children and teachers who defied the boycott;
Whereas numerous human rights monitors have documented armed separatists killing 
        traditional leaders and targeting civilians, including women, children, 
        and the elderly, who are perceived to be supporting or working with the 
        Government of Cameroon, and reports indicate that armed separatists have 
        killed scores of security force personnel;
Whereas the security forces of the Government of Cameroon have attacked medical 
        facilities and health workers in the Northwest and Southwest regions;
Whereas numerous credible reports from human rights monitors, including the 
        United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, have documented the 
        excessive use of force by government security forces against Cameroonian 
        civilians living in the Anglophone regions, including the burning of 
        villages, the use of live ammunition against protestors, arbitrary 
        arrest and detention, torture, sexual abuse, and killing of civilians, 
        including women, children, and the elderly;
Whereas the Department of State has expressed serious concern over the manner in 
        which the government has used force to unlawfully restrict the rights to 
        free expression and peaceful protest that are protected under the 
        Cameroonian Constitution and international law;
Whereas the government has charged journalists, social activists, and members of 
        political opposition parties with terrorism-related crimes and 
        prosecuted them in military tribunals;
Whereas the Government of Cameroon arrested opposition leader Maurice Kamto and 
        roughly 150 members of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement party following 
        peaceful protests on January 26, 2019, charging them with crimes that 
        could result in the death penalty and handling their cases at the 
        Military Tribunal even though they are civilians;
Whereas the Government of Cameroon continued to place bans on Cameroon 
        Renaissance Movement's attempts to hold peaceful protests, and civil 
        society reported that security forces interfered with MRC registration 
        processes in Yaounde, Douala, and Bafoussam in February 2019;
Whereas the Government of Cameroon has repeatedly restricted freedoms of 
        expression by shutting down the internet, harassing and detaining 
        journalists, refusing licenses to independent media, and intensifying 
        political attacks against the independent press;
Whereas the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
        stated in April 2019 that more than 530,000 people were internally 
        displaced in areas affected by the Anglophone conflict;
Whereas the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports 
        that more than 32,000 Cameroonian refugees have registered in Nigeria;
Whereas the Department of State has expressly called on the Government of 
        Cameroon to respect the rights, including the right to due process, of 
        47 Cameroonians forcibly returned in January 2018 from Nigerian custody 
        to Cameroonian authorities, many of whom had reportedly submitted asylum 
        claims in Nigeria; and
Whereas 10 of the 47 Cameroonians forcibly returned from Nigeria now face 
        charges before a military court punishable by the death penalty, while 
        the other 37 reportedly remain in detention without charge: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) strongly condemns the abuses committed in Cameroon's Anglophone 
        regions by the Government of Cameroon security forces and armed groups, 
        including extrajudicial killings and detentions, the use of force 
        against nonviolent civilians and protestors, and violations of the 
        freedoms of press, expression, and assembly;
            (2) affirms that the United States continues to hold the Government 
        of Cameroon responsible for upholding the rights of all citizens, 
        regardless of political views or beliefs or the regions in which they 
        reside, in accordance with Cameroon's international obligations and 
        Cameroon's own Constitution;
            (3) urges all parties, including political opposition groups, to 
        exercise restraint and to ensure that protests remain peaceful;
            (4) urges the Government of Cameroon to--
                    (A) initiate broad-based dialogue without preconditions and 
                make a credible, full faith effort to work with religious and 
                community leaders in the Anglophone region to address grievances 
                and seek nonviolent solutions to resolve conflict and 
                constitutional reforms that would protect minority concerns, 
                such as reconstituting a Federal system;
                    (B) follow through on the initiatives developed to address 
                grievances, including the Commission of Bilingualism and 
                Multiculturalism, the Ministry of Decentralization, and the 
                National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization, 
                Reintegration, that currently offer no visible evidence of 
                having played a constructive role in resolving the crisis;
                    (C) respect the fundamental rights of all Cameroonian 
                citizens, including political activists and journalists;
                    (D) ensure that any security operations are conducted in 
                accordance with international human rights standards, including 
                efforts to ensure security forces only use force under 
                appropriate circumstances;
                    (E) transparently investigate all allegations of human 
                rights violations committed in the Anglophone regions and take 
                the necessary measures to prevent arbitrary detention, torture, 
                enforced disappearances, deaths in custody, and inhumane prison 
                conditions;
                    (F) promptly charge or release all those detained in the 
                context of the Anglophone crisis, including the Cameroonians 
                forcibly returned from Nigeria, and ensure that any future 
                detainees are treated with due process, in line with Cameroon's 
                penal code;
                    (G) allow unfettered access to humanitarian and health care 
                workers in accordance with humanitarian principles of humanity, 
                neutrality, impartiality, and independence;
                    (H) release the leaders and members of the Cameroon 
                Renaissance Movement party who were arrested following their 
                peaceful protests, and ensure that this party, like others, can 
                participate unfettered in upcoming municipal, parliamentary, and 
                regional elections;
                    (I) release human rights defenders, civil society activists, 
                political prisoners, journalists, trade unionists, teachers, and 
                any other citizens who have been arbitrarily arrested and 
                detained without trial or charge;
                    (J) ensure that detainees are treated fairly and humanely, 
                with proper judicial proceedings, including a registry of those 
                detained by the Cameroonian security forces, and with full 
                access to legal resources; and
                    (K) ensure that Cameroon's antiterrorism legislation is used 
                only to prosecute offenses that would be considered acts of 
                terrorism under international legal standards, and cease to use 
                this legislation to sanction activities that are protected by 
                national and international guarantees of freedom of expression, 
                peaceful assembly, and association with others; and
            (5) urges the separatist groups to--
                    (A) engage with Cameroonian government officials, as well as 
                civil society and religious leaders, in a broad-based dialogue 
                without preconditions to peacefully express grievances and 
                credibly engage in nonviolent efforts to resolve the conflict;
                    (B) immediately stop committing human rights abuses, 
                including killings of civilians, use of child soldiers, torture, 
                kidnapping, and extortion;
                    (C) end the school boycott immediately and cease attacks on 
                schools, teachers, and education officials, and allow for the 
                safe return of all students to class;
                    (D) end incitement to violence and hate speech on the part 
                of the diaspora; and
                    (E) immediately release all civilians illegally detained or 
                kidnapped in the Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.