CHAPTER   ONE

INTRODUCTION

Africa as a whole and in Cameroon in particular, people are delocalized from their various areas of residence and domiciles within the country.

The internal displacement of people does not affect a particular range of persons. Intra-regional armed conflicts, natural disasters, together with economic and socio-political struggles have continued to result in the situation of internally displaced persons in Africa in general and in of persons. It does not take into consideration age or sex.

Every person living in a locality facing such situations warranting him to move will obviously move.

Compelled to leave their homes, Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are also victims of various forms of deprivations such as the loss of their homes and are usually exposed to particular risks in the domain of protection that is armed attacks in case of abuses during their running away, family separation in which there is a great increase in the number of separated children or unaccompanied.

There is equally the risk to be sexually violated, the arbitrary deprivation of their lands, their goods and displacement to zones barked by inhospitality in which they are most of the time excluded, marginalized, discriminated upon.

Faced with this, the IDPs are forced to make a remarkable effort to survive.

There were approximately 33.3 million displaced persons across the world, half of which are in Africa. Hence Africa is the continent having the highest rate of internally displaced persons in the world.

Internally displaced persons upon safe arrival at their new but temporary location have basic needs such as reasonable shelter, food, potable water, healthcare, social security and several other needs.

As examples of wars that led to the internal displacement of people in general and of children in particular were; the Biafra war in Nigeria from (1967-1970), the liberation struggle in Guinea Bissau(1963-1973), and Nigeria- Cameroon  BakassiPenisula conflict.

One must equally know that there are equally diseases like Cholera, natural disasters such as the Lake Nyosdisaster which occurred in 1986 which in one way or the other equally forcefully moved people reason being that a great proportion of the population of the affected area is forced to settle in other areas which they deem better for their settlement.

In a more specific illustration, that is; with the case of Cameroon, some research has proved that there are 44,213,000 IDPs in the north-west and south-west regions of Cameroon (OCHA December 2018), 237,349 returnees in the far north region due to the Anglophone crisis and the Boko- Haram conflicts in the far north region.

The displaced persons have lost their source of livelihood resources and savings to disaster and suffer great hardship.

The government is responsible for providing them with basic needs during their stay in camp and adopting, implementing policies and techniques on how to manage them.

It is evident that IDPs become immediately dependent on others for basic needs such as shelter, water, limiting their participation in economic and political activities in their areas of displacement.

Above the basic needs, that is shelter, water, food, there is the need for internally displaced children to benefit from several other rights; education, health and several others due to the fact that they are part and parcel of the Cameroon population and therefore should not be exempted from benefiting from these various rights and privileges.

The non-respect of the rights of these children worldwide in general and in Cameroon, in particular, has been a call for concern.

1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The situation of internally displaced persons in general and of children in particular in  Cameroon is a result of the Boko- Haram conflicts in the far north region of Cameroon, and the anglophone crisis in South-West regions.

Concerning the Boko- Haram conflict, it is a branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. It has been active in Nigeria since 2009. The name of the group means «Western or non-Islamic education is a sin » .

The Boko- Haram group began to have interest in Cameroon between 2011 and 2013 where it started spreading its ideology mainly in the Logone and Chari and Mayo Sava divisions of the far north. The population of children in Cameroon under the age of  18 is 14% of the 22.2 million total population, 16%, children under the age of 5.

This depicts the fact that children constitute a great proportion of the population in Cameroon.

The  Boko-Haram conflicts which involved the killing of people, the bombing of houses and villages gave no choice to the young population to migrate within their country for a better living. On the other hand was the anglophone crisis which is the most significant and most recent situation paving way for the internal displacement of persons.

This crisis has seen a considerable degree of armed violence in the North -West and South-West regions of Cameroon.

The socio-political crisis that began in October 2016 in the Anglophone North-West and South-West regions mutated into armed conflict at the end of 2017. This crisis has witnessed a considerable degree of armed violence in the North West and South-West regions of Cameroon.

It can trace its origin back to nearly 60 years ago resulting from the dual trusteeship and mandate rule.

On January 1^st 1960, French Cameroon gained independence and became Cameroun republic.

Later that year, Nigeria gained its independence from Britain and became a Federal republic. The British controlled southern Cameroons was then separated from Nigeria and was due to achieve full independence on October 1^st 1961. Since then, Anglophones have Oushed for autonomy.

This call is actually supported in a UN resolution passed in April 1961 that defines the joining of the 2 former territories as a federation of 2 states equal in status and autonomous.  In October 2016, lawyers went on strike in an effort to make the government translate the OHADA Uniform Act in English and to make certain reforms in the justice system as far as common law is concerned in which the lawyers were roughly manhandled by the security forces.

The Anglophone crisis resulted in a lot of destruction of property, loss of lives thereby forcing people and children in particular in the affected localities to move. [13]Many children found themselves moving to run away in order to find a place to continue the story of their lives where it ended. Some statistics have shown that there are 444.213 IDPs in the North- West and South-West regions (OCHA December 2018), 237.349 returnees in the North -West and South-West regions (OCHA December 2018).

In relation to the aforementioned crisis, there has been the promulgation of texts of the Kampala convention of 2009 which will serve as a base for the future laws of Cameroon concerning the internally displaced. Internally displaced persons shall enjoy in full equality the same rights and freedoms under international and domestic law as do other persons in their country. They shall not be discriminated against in the enjoyment of any rights and freedoms on the ground that they are internally displaced.

These principles shall be observed by all authorities, groups and persons irrespective of their legal status and applied without any adverse distinction. The observance of these principles shall not affect the legal status of any authorities, groups or persons involved.

Internally displaced persons have the right to seek safety in another part of the country, the right to leave their country, the right to seek asylum in another country and the right to be protected against forcible return to or resettlement in any place where their life, safety, liberty and/or health would be at risk.

More to that, the convention on the rights of the child brings forth articles on the protection of children. For purposes of the present Convention, a child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless the law is applicable to the child, a majority is attained earlier.  Hence, internally displaced children are vested with rights that must be respected in Cameroon.

In October 2009, African states adopted the world’s first and only binding continent-wide treaty to protect people forcibly displaced within their countries (internally displaced persons, or IDPs). Its full title is the African Union (AU) Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, but the treaty is better known as the Kampala Convention.

The Kampala Convention builds upon the 1998 UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the internationally recognized framework on internal displacement, which restates the principles of international human rights, humanitarian and refugee law applicable to IDPs. The Kampala Convention gives these non-binding principles the force of law in Africa.

In line with the Guiding Principles, the Kampala Convention’s Article 1 defines IDPs as “persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized state border”.

According to the convention, States Parties shall respect and ensure respect for their obligations under international law, including human rights and humanitarian law, so as to prevent and avoid conditions that might lead to the arbitrary displacement of persons;[17]

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is true that internally displaced children have rights like other children who have not witnessed wars or situations leading to destabilization thereby causing the internal movement of children………………………………………..

1.4  RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• Who are internally displaced persons?
• What are the provisions of the Kampala Convention in relation to the protection of internally displaced persons in northern Cameroon?
• How effective is the Kampala convention in protecting internally displaced children in Cameroon and what are the challenges encountered?
• What recommendations can be proffered to address the issues raised in Cameroon?

1.5 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

            The general goal of this research is to examine the protection of the rights of internally displaced children in Cameroon.

As specific objectives;

• To analyze the laws  protecting internally displaced children in Cameroon
• To examine the actors engaged in the protection of the rights of internally displaced children.
• To assess the effectiveness of the protection of internally displaced children in Cameroon
• To bring forth possible solutions or recommendations for the effective protection of internally displaced children in Cameroon.