Bafoussam-Cameroon:SDO signs order prohibiting child labour

Cameroonian teenager Horlane Tcheutchoua trembles with fear as she was  "rounded up" on July 4th 2016, and taken to the central police station in the city of Bafoussam, the capital of the Western region of Cameroon.The teenage girl was on the streets of the city  selling boiled eggs against a prefectoral decree contained in an order signed by the Senior Divisional Officer for that region.


The girl presumed to be about 12 years of age was caught with fear and uncertainty as to her fate while in custody at the Police station.The father, John Henry T, had come to the station to negotiate her freedom.

After talks with the police authorities, he was forced to sign a letter presented to him by  the Senior Police Commissioner Levi Diffo, in which he had to undertake not to let his daughter to go selling  on the streets anymore. On that same day, 36 other parents had to go through the same procedure. 36 children, had to spend some time behind bars while their parents signed the undertakings.

The week before, on June 28 specifically, 30 other children had been taken in custody under similar circumstances.

The operation comes within the framework of the implementation of a prefectural order signed on June 16th  prohibiting minors under 14 years of conducting businesses within the Mifi department.

According to this arête, the Divisional Officers for Bafoussam I, II and III, the Commissioner of the Bafoussam Central Police Station and the Commander of the Bafoussam Gendarmerie Territorial Group will all ensure the effective of the ban of minors doing Business on the streets of the Division.