Text of the Challenge (.pdf) | Version française (.pdf)
LRWC endorsed a global challenge for a COVID-19 cease fire in Cameroon launched on 26 June 2020 by the Global Campaign for Peace & Justice in Cameroon. The cease-fire challenge was signed by 15 global leaders and 21 additional NGO endorsers from Cameroon, Sierra Leone, UK and Canada. Also see the 2019 report, letter, and written statement to the UN Human Rights Council outlining human rights violations in the armed conflict in Cameroon, particularly violations against the Anglophone minority, including human rights defenders.
Text of the Challenge
Together we:
- Applaud UN Secretary-General Guterres’s call for a global ceasefire to mitigate COVID-19 in conflict zones, including in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions;
- Echo this ceasefire call, and emphasize that COVID-19 cases cannot be reduced while infrastructure is being attacked, populations are harmed and displaced, and medical and humanitarian aid cannot reach all parts of the North-West and South-West regions; and note that the rate of coronavirus infection in Cameroon is among the highest in Africa;
- Implore all parties to put the people’s immediate health, lives and livelihoods ahead of military objectives;
- Challenge the warring parties in Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict to bravely and publicly declare a humanitarian ceasefire.
1 – We challenge the government and military of the Republic of Cameroon to call a ceasefire in the two Anglophone regions.
The government of the Republic of Cameroon holds a special responsibility to protect its citizens under international law. Citizens cannot be protected from COVID-19 and other catastrophic health threats in an active war zone. There should be a ceasefire to:
- protect human life, health workers, patients, health facilities, and ambulances
- allow unfettered access of humanitarian aid to the North-West and South-West regions
2 – We challenge all non-state armed groups (NSAGs) in the two Anglophone regions to call a ceasefire.
Thank you to APLM-SOCADEF for already declaring and renewing a temporary ceasefire. All other non-state armed groups are challenged to declare a ceasefire as well, to protect citizens from COVID-19 and other catastrophic health threats in an active war zone, and:
- protect human life, health workers, patients, health facilities, and ambulances
- allow unfettered access of humanitarian aid to the North-West and South-West regions
3 – We challenge the UN Security Council and UN Secretary-General, the African Union and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the Commonwealth, and La Francophonie to:
- use all instruments of power at their disposal to urge the Republic of Cameroon to call a COVID-19 ceasefire
- ensure that Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict is on the agenda of the forthcoming UN Security Council meeting and all UNOCA sessions before the UNSC
Signatories
- Doctor Denis Mukwege
Nobel Peace Prize 2018
Panzi Hospital and Foundation, Democratic Republic of the Congo and United States of America - ProfessorMuhammad Yunus
Nobel Peace Prize 2006
Founder of the Grameen Bank, People’s Republic of Bangladesh - The Honourable José Ramos-Horta
Nobel Peace Prize 1996
Former President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste - The Honourable FW de Klerk
Nobel Peace Prize 1993
Former President of the Republic of South Africa - The Honourable Oscar Arias Sánchez
Nobel Peace Prize 1987
Former President of the Republic of Costa Rica - The Right Honourable Joe Clark
Former Prime Minister of Canada
Former Foreign Minister and Minister of Constitutional Affairs of Canada - The Honourable Ricardo Lagos
Former President of Chile - The Right Honourable Harriet Baldwin, Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom
Former United Kingdom Joint Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development - The Right Honourable Andrew Mitchell, Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom
Former United Kingdom Secretary of State for International Development - US Ambassador (ret.) R. Niels Marquardt
Former United States of America Ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon - US Ambassador (ret.) John Yates
Former United States of America Ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon - US Ambassador (ret.) Harriet Isom
Former United States of America Ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon - Doctor Simon Adams
Executive Director of The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, United States of America - Ewelina U. Ochab
Co-Founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response, United Kingdom - International Council of Nurses
Swiss Confederation - Cameroonian names are intentionally withheld
Additional endorsers
- ADISI-Cameroun, Cameroon / Cameroun
- African Network against Illiteracy, Conflicts and Human Rights Abuse, ANICHRA, Cameroon / Cameroun
- AFRICAphonie, Cameroon / Cameroun
- ALL For Cameroon, Cameroon / Cameroun
- Cameroon Advocacy, Cameroon / Cameroun
- Cameroon Conflict Research Group, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, United Kingdom / Royaume-Uni
- Cameroon Human Rights Group UK (CHRG UK), United Kingdom / Royaume-Uni
- Cameroon Patriotic Diaspora (CPD), Transnational / Multinational
- Canadians for Peace in Cameroon, Canada
- Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, Cameroon / Cameroun
- Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations – See endorsement letter, United States / États-Unis
- Database of Atrocities, Canada
- Defenders Coalition Kenya, Kenya
- HOVEA – Hope for the Vulnerable and Education for All, Cameroon / Cameroun
- Human Rights Defenders Network – Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone
- Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada, Canada
- Montreal Institute for Genocide Studies, Canada
- National Book Development Council Cameroon, Cameroon / Cameroun
- Network for Solidarity, Empowerment, and Transformation for All – NewSETA, Cameroon / Cameroun
- Réseau des Défenseurs des Droits Humains en Afrique Centrale (REDHAC), Cameroon / Cameroun
- Stand Up For Cameroon, Cameroon / Cameroun
