Resoconto integrale delle discussioni

Giovedì 25 novembre 2021 - Strasburgo

6.3. Situazione dei diritti umani in Camerun

  President. – The next item is the debate on seven motions for resolutions on the human rights situation in Cameroon (2021/2983(RSP))*.

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* See Minutes.

  Christian Sagartz, Verfasser. – Sehr geehrte Frau Präsidentin, geschätzte Kolleginnen und Kollegen! Jeder hat Anspruch auf alle in dieser Erklärung verkündeten Rechte und Freiheiten, ohne irgendeinen Unterschied etwa nach Rasse, Hautfarbe, Geschlecht, Sprache, Religion, politischer oder sonstiger Anschauung, nationaler oder sozialer Herkunft, Vermögen, Geburt oder sonstigem Stand.

So klar und so eindeutig der zweite Artikel der Allgemeinen Erklärung der Menschenrechte im Jahre 1948 bereits formuliert wurde, so klar ist auch unser Auftrag heute hier in diesem Parlament. Leider müssen wir feststellen, dass auch 2021 viele dieser Rechte mit Füßen getreten werden. Es liegt an uns, dorthin unsere Augen zu werfen und dorthin unsere Kritik zu lenken.

Das gilt auch für die Menschenrechtslage in Kamerun, und einer, der sich dort besonders für die Menschenrechte einsetzt, insbesondere für die englischsprachige Minderheit, das ist Felix Agbor Nkongho. Ob als Menschenrechtsanwalt, ob als Vizepräsident der Afrikanischen Anwaltskammer für Zentralafrika oder als Gründer des Zentrums für Menschenrechte und Demokratie für Afrika: Er erhebt seine Stimme. Er wurde dafür verhaftet und erst auf Druck internationaler Verbände und Organisationen wieder freigelassen. Und er wird nach wie vor für sein Engagement mit dem Tode bedroht.

Es gäbe jetzt viel über die Lage in Kamerun zu sagen, aber ein Thema möchte ich besonders erwähnen: Das ist der Missbrauch von Militärgerichtsbarkeit auf Zivilisten. Das widerspricht eklatant dem Recht auf ein faires Verfahren vor unabhängigen Gerichten, zu dem sich auch Kamerun verpflichtet hat. Als Abgeordnete appellieren wir heute in unserer Entschließung einmal mehr an alle staatlichen Autoritäten, aber auch an die Separatisten in Kamerun, den Waffenstillstand einzuhalten, die internationalen Angebote zum Dialog, föderale Systeme aufzubauen, anzunehmen, politische Gefangene freizulassen und die Drohungen gegen friedliche Aktivisten, Journalisten, Arbeitnehmervertreter, Minderheiten, Frauen und Kinder sofort einzustellen. Und wir appellieren auch an alle europäischen Institutionen, die Menschen in Kamerun nicht im Stich zu lassen.

  Maria Arena, auteur. – Madame la Présidente, au Cameroun, après le référendum constitutionnel de 1972, le système du gouvernement fédéraliste garantissant la représentation des 20 % d’anglophones a été abandonné au profit d’un système centralisé qui donne l’avantage aux francophones. Depuis, les anglophones au Cameroun souffrent d’une marginalisation accrue, qui n’a fait qu’empirer.

En 2016, les enseignants et avocats de la région du sud-ouest et nord-ouest anglophones se mettent en grève, car ils estiment que le gouvernement, majoritairement francophone, tente de réduire le système de Common law et l’enseignement pratiqué en anglais dans ces régions. La réaction du gouvernement Biya est sans appel: une réponse militaire dure, qui fait émerger des mouvements séparatistes et provoque de violentes manifestations. S’enclenche alors une spirale de violence entre le gouvernement, sourd à des revendications légitimes et s’engageant à détruire tous ceux qui veulent diviser la nation, et des mouvements séparatistes anglophones qui se radicalisent et s’arment contre le pouvoir francophone de Yaoundé et qui répriment tous ceux qui n’adhéreraient pas à leur cause. La victime, comme toujours, est la population civile, qui est massacrée – 3 000 morts –, privée d’école et obligée de fuir – plus d’un million de déplacés aujourd’hui au Cameroun.

Actuellement, le gouvernement Biya refuse toujours de prendre en compte les demandes d’éléments modérés pour un retour au fédéralisme qui accorderait aux régions une plus grande autonomie. Et les séparatistes, par ailleurs divisés, campent sur leurs demandes d’indépendance. Nous avons aujourd’hui un certain nombre de revendications. Nous demandons une aide humanitaire. Nous demandons également qu’un dialogue soit établi et nous demandons que le Service d’action extérieure œuvre en ce sens.

  Barry Andrews, author. – Madam President, two weeks ago, seven year old Brandy Tartaw was shot and killed by a police officer while walking home from school in Bamenda, a city in northwest Cameroon.

Brandy is just one of thousands of young girls who are the utterly innocent victims of the armed conflict in Cameroon over the past five years. The forced school boycott in the Anglophone regions has exposed children to child recruitment by terrorist organisations, forced labour, forced childhood marriage and sexual abuse. Children make up 28% of all cases of gender—based violence in Cameroon, and 13 percent of girls are married before the age of 15.

Today, we mark the International Day of Violence Against Women. The case of Cameroon reminds us that women and young girls continue to be systematically used as pawns in power struggles across the world. Of course, in order to protect women and girls in Cameroon, we need an immediate ceasefire and for both sides to initiate peace talks without further delay.

First and foremost, we must protect life. But the only surefire way to ensure that the human rights of women, girls and others are upheld in Cameroon is to have effective legal safeguards. And that is why Renew insisted on strong emphasis on the rule of law in this urgency resolution.

To protect human rights, you need functioning courts, robust, proportionate laws and international recourse. This is the responsibility of the Cameroon government, and it is also the European Union’s responsibility as strategic partners of Cameroon to exert the necessary pressure to make this happen.

  Ignazio Corrao, author. – Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, as you know, Cameroon is beset with two violent conflicts and went from peaceful protest to war. The escalation of violence has led to a number of simultaneous political and security challenges and to the high level of instability which the people of Cameroon are now facing. This is very deplorable and frustrating.

Armed groups and government forces committed widespread human rights abuses, including extrajudicial or summary execution and mass killings. This has resulted in 80% of schools in the two Anglophone region being closed or destroyed, and 700 000 students are denied education. We also see that ethnic tensions are rising, with political speech turned into hate speech, based on ethnicity and gender discrimination, which is taking place in an atmosphere of terror in the region, including targeted attacks on students, teachers, but also journalists and humanitarian workers.

All this is very concerning, and the European Union needs to respond strongly. It is no longer possible to ignore this conflict, and the situation is increasingly deteriorating. We need to mediate for an immediate cease fire, calling on both sides of the conflict to cease purposefully targeting civilians, schools and children, which deprives them of the right to education.

It is also time that we make use of all the financial instruments provided by development aid or other programmes as political leverage, using them to enhance the defence of human rights in a country that is suffering since too long.

  Dominique Bilde, auteur. – Madame la Présidente, je l’avais souligné en 2019, la crise anglophone au Cameroun se prête mal à des simplifications outrancières. Si l’on s’entend sur ses aspects les plus tragiques, nombre de réformes entreprises depuis son déclenchement sont, elles, souvent occultées. Qu’il s’agisse de la création en 2017 d’une commission nationale pour la promotion du bilinguisme et du multiculturalisme, du recrutement de professeurs et de magistrats anglophones, ou encore du grand dialogue national et du statut accordé en 2019. Occultée, l’attitude des leaders de l’agitation anglophone des régions du Nord et du Sud-Ouest, dont beaucoup résident aux États-Unis et en Europe, l’est également, puisque certains auraient rejeté toute discussion avec le gouvernement.

Du reste, cette insurrection se fonde-t-elle uniquement sur des considérations d’ordre linguistique et culturel? Nombre d’anglophones vivent, après tout, dans des régions qui ne le sont pas, dans ce pays à 80 % francophone. La revendication de certains anglophones, s’agissant de leur représentation au sein de sociétés pétrolières, pourrait être symptomatique de motivations économiques sous-jacentes.

Gardons-nous de crier haro sur le Cameroun, à plus forte raison à l’heure où le terrorisme islamiste semble en passe d’embraser toute l’Afrique centrale. On n’insistera jamais assez, en effet, sur le lourd tribut payé par le pays dans sa lutte résolue contre l’État islamique et Boko Haram, sur son sol et au-delà, dans le cadre de la Force multinationale mixte et du partenariat transsaharien. S’y ajoute l’accueil dans des circonstances difficiles de plusieurs centaines de milliers de réfugiés nigérians et centrafricains.

À l’heure où, en 2020, l’Extrême-Nord camerounais aura été la cible de plus d’attaques de Boko Haram contre des civils que le Nigeria, le Niger et le Tchad pris ensemble, le Cameroun, gage de stabilité dans une région sous tension, a besoin de notre soutien, pas de nos anathèmes.

  Seán Kelly, on behalf of the PPE Group. – Madam President, in recent months, the Anglophone crisis has entered a new phase with a drastic escalation of violence in the English speaking regions. Having acquired more sophisticated weapons, clashes between Anglophone separatist groups and Francophone government security forces have increased in frequency and severity.

Furthermore, a total lack of investigation and prosecution for crimes committed by both sides has created a climate of impunity. The impact of this crisis on civilians has been devastating, with over 3000 lives lost to date and my colleague, Barry Andrews, indicated one a few moments ago.

A huge casualty in this conflict has been education, as separatists have chosen schools as their bases and camps and enforced a vicious boycott, depriving 700 000 children of their right to education.

The response to the urgency has been a military one, with troops deployed in the Anglophone regions since 2016. Instead, there should be a strong focus on dialogue and accountability for the crimes committed on both sides in the Anglophone regions.

I urge the European Union, along with the African Union and the United Nations, to continue to work to end this catastrophe through mediation. Without dialogue there can be no peace.

  Hannes Heide, on behalf of the S&D Group. – Madam President, Commissioner, it is time that the European Union has a close eye on the ongoing conflict in Cameroon that has expanded permanently within the last five years. It has left more than one million people internally displaced. More than 3 000 have lost their lives. 2.2 million people are requiring humanitarian assistance. 66 000 have fled into neighbouring Nigeria. 700 000 students do not attend school because of a boycott across the Anglophone regions. 50% of the children in Cameroon are reportedly being abused. Homosexuality is threatened with prison sentences up to five years.

Initially, peaceful protests by Anglophone civil society were suppressed with extreme violence. I hope and wish that there is still a possibility for mediation in the armed conflict in the Anglophone region, and aid organisations must get unrestricted access. Rule of law and fair trials have to be re-established and military courts for civilians abolished.

It is the bilingualism of its people that has made Cameroon so special. It is our task to contribute that the people of Cameroon can live in freedom and without repression.

  Carlos Zorrinho (S&D). – Senhora Presidente, Senhora Comissária, já não é a primeira vez que debatemos a situação dos Camarões neste plenário, mas, infelizmente, continuamos a ter razões para o fazer. O conflito armado continua a assolar o país, o Boko Haram continua ativo a ceifar vidas, e ainda ontem nos chegou a notícia de vários alunos assassinados no Sudoeste, num ignóbil ataque terrorista.

A repressão da sociedade civil e o conflito armado têm de cessar. A prisão de opositores e a limitação dos seus direitos, a utilização dos tribunais militares para julgamentos de caráter civil, a limitação dos direitos dos cidadãos e, muito provavelmente, dos estudantes, sob o pretexto de um confinamento ao abrigo da pandemia, a violência usada contra crianças e professores, a falta de segurança que resulta em denúncias de violações, raptos, tortura, assaltos, assassinatos, não são admissíveis.

Apelo, mais uma vez, ao Governo dos Camarões para que respeite os direitos dos seus cidadãos e se empenhe num cessar fogo efetivo entre as partes em conflito, para que seja restabelecida a paz e o Estado de Direito naquele país.

  President. – Colleagues, before I give the floor to the Commission, I have one announcement to make on behalf of the President.

At least 27 people drowned yesterday in the Channel trying to reach the UK, seeking a better life. We cannot allow such tragedies to continue, and this House is strongly engaged in the common migration and asylum policy. I invite you to observe a minute of silence in memory of the victims.

(The House rose and observed a minute’s silence)

  Helena Dalli, Member of the Commission. – Madam President, the European Union is following closely the human rights situation in Cameroon, a country situated in a fragile region, taking its due share of the burden hosting refugees fleeing from the Central African Republic and Nigeria.

There are two persistent violent crises within Cameroon in the so-called Anglophone regions and in the far north. Firstly, separatist claims in the predominantly Anglophone regions of the northwest and southwest have led to a situation where the civilian population is taken hostage in the fight between numerous splintered non-state armed groups and the Cameroonian security forces.

This has led to extreme violence and security, human rights violations and humanitarian crises. Illegal armed groups have been trying to impose an irresponsible school boycott for years now and punish any collaboration with central authorities.

On the other side, state security forces sometimes use disproportionate force to respond. The EU has welcomed efforts by Cameroonian authorities to fight impunity among its security forces and to restore trust with the population, although still more can be done. Together with its Member States and international partners, the EU has consistently called for an inclusive dialogue to solve the crisis.

Secondly, in the far north region, incursion of terrorists and armed groups also cause violence and violation of human rights. Cameroon fights against Boko Haram and ISWAP and gets the support of the EU through the multinational joint task force. The EU also provides support by investing in the socio-economic development of the region and addresses the root causes of extremism through various actions aiming at strengthening the humanitarian development peace nexus.

Thirdly, the EU also encourages Cameroonian authorities to avoid the excessive use of preventive detention, as the non-respect of the habeas corpus principles enshrined in the constitution of the country lead to abuses and undermines the population’s trust in the judiciary.

Finally, the EU plays a recognised role in Cameroon in promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms through its cooperation with civil society and human rights defenders.

  President. – The debate is closed.

The vote will take place today.

Written statements (Rule 171)

  György Hölvényi (PPE), írásban. – Sajnálatos módon Afrikában egyre több konfliktus bizonyítja, hogy bármiféle fejlődés elengedhetetlen előfeltétele a biztonság. A mostani kameruni krízis megértéséhez elengedhetetlen, hogy szem előtt tartsuk a biztonsági tényezőket. A Boko Haram kameruni célpontok elleni folyamatos támadásai következtében, a kormány erők képtelenek megvédeni az ország határait és a lakosait. A biztonsági állapotokat jellemzi, hogy tegnap a terroristák négy tizenéves fiatalt gyilkoltak meg egy iskolában.

Ilyen körülmények között, amikor emberek ezrei naponta szembesülnek a dzsihadista terrorral és több millióan éheznek, balliberális gender ideológiáról beszélni szélsőségesen félrevezető. Ez a magatartás az unió hitelességét ássa alá és azt jelzi, hogy semmit nem tudunk az afrikai valóságról. A Boko Haram tevékenysége a regionális biztonságot fenyegeti, és újabb, Európába induló migrációs hullámmal fenyeget. Az EU-nak lépnie kell, és támogatnia kell azon tagállamok erőfeszítéseit, köztük Magyarországét is, amelyek készek katonai szerepvállalással támogatni az afrikai polgárok biztonságát. Emellett természetesen nem feledkezhetünk meg az alapvető emberi jogok védelméről.

Ezek mindig is az EU alapértékeinek részét képezték. Azonban nem kioktatnunk kell afrikai partnerországainkat, hanem párbeszédet kell kezdeményeznünk. A párbeszédnek természetesen az egyenlő partnerség elvére kell épülnie és figyelemmel kell lennünk az esetleges helyi érzékenységekre. Javaslom, hogy a Parlament mihamarabb kezdeményezzen tényfeltáró missziót Kamerunba, hogy első kézből ismerhessük meg a helyi kihívásokat.

(The sitting was suspended at 11.50)