CPDM releases human rights report for 2013

Chi Prudence Asong

The Minister of Justice Laurent Esso (seen here) was conspicuously absent on Tuesday in Yaoundé, during the presentation of the Ministry of Justice 2013 report on the state of human rights in the country. The 665-page document written in both official languages (French and English) was presented by the Minister Delegate to the Minister of State for Justice. The report deals with freedom of expression, education, health and justice in Cameroon.

According to the data of the report on the state of human rights in Cameroon in 2013, in 2013, the Ministry of Justice revealed that 114,753 refugees are now in Cameroon coming from the Central African Republic, Nigeria and neighbouring Chad.

On the fight against corruption, the report states that there was an increase in the volume of cases to the Special Criminal Court (TCS), compared to the year 2012.  The report hinted that accused persons have paid into the public treasury, an amount of nearly 2,143,769,110 FCFA, against 253.9 million CFA francs in 2012.

On freedom of expression, the report focused on the sanctions taken by the National Communication Council (CNC), against journalists and the media to violations of ethics and journalistic ethics. The report widely believed to have been written to please public opinion noted that "the effective use of biometrics in the electoral process has helped to guarantee transparent elections."

Ten new political parties were registered in 2013 by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation (MINATD) guaranteeing President Biya’s continued stay in power.  The report also noted that prison conditions in Cameroon are "inhuman" even if the government made efforts to improve them. Finally, the report stressed that administrative and judicial sanctions have been taken against some military, gendarmes and police officers.