COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERS REPORT OF CAMEROON

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has considered the combined second and third reports of Cameroon on that country’s implementation of the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Introducing the report, Anatole Fabien Marie Nkou, Permanent Representative of Cameroon to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that Cameroon had ratified important human rights instruments, created a National Anti-Corruption Commission and launched a National Strategy for Employment. Advances had been made in education, infrastructure, and health, including free vaccinations, treatment for tuberculosis, extensive measures to reduce HIV/AIDS and free healthcare for children under five. Cameroon had been hard hit by the economic crisis and rising food prices. The right to development was considered a priority, and there were budgetary measures to increase support for education and employment for young people, including a wide-ranging project to recruit young persons to the civil service and public sector jobs. Access to high quality food at a low cost was also a priority, and Cameroon looked forward to hosting the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the right to food in 2012.

Committee Experts asked questions about what was being done to tackle the high unemployment rate, the lack of housing, mass evictions in cities, and corruption. Experts returned several times to the problem of child labour and child slavery, as the statistics provided in the report were contradictory. Discrimination against women, healthcare provisions, deforestation, the rights of indigenous peoples and education, particularly sexual and reproductive health education, were also issues that were discussed.

In concluding remarks, Mr. Nkou said that next time Cameroon came before the Committee they would endeavour to provide more specific figures.

In concluding remarks, Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay, Committee Chairperson, said that some questions had to be repeated showed the Committee’s particular concern about the lack of progress in Cameroon on the implementation of the Covenant rights. Many of the major concerns mentioned in the 1999 concluding observations still held true today. Mr. Pillay reassured the delegation that all questions were only asked after the facts had first been verified, in discharge of the Committee’s duties and to the benefit of the right holders: the people of Cameroon.

The Cameroon delegation consisted of representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Work and Social Security, the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family, the President’s Office and the Permanent Mission of Cameroon to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The next public meeting of the Committee will be at 10 a.m. on Wednesday 23 November when it will begin consideration of the combined second and third periodic reports of Argentina (E/C.12/ARG/3).

Report

The combined second and third periodic reports of Cameroon (E/C.12/CMR/2-3) state that significant progress has been made since the presentation of the initial report in 1999, including the strengthening of democracy and the rule of law through transparent elections, legal and judicial security, and better governance. The turnaround of Cameroon’s economy has improved the quality of life for many citizens, and raised the quality of social services such as education, health and employment. In 2004 a National Commission of Human Rights and Freedoms was established in accordance with the Paris Principles. Other reforms include the penitentiary system being subordinated from the Ministry of Regional Administration to the Ministry of Justice, establishment of a police oversight division responsible for “policing of the police” in 2005, and progressive decentralization to refer State powers, including economic, social, health-related, educational and cultural, to local councils with a view to ensuring economic, social and cultural rights are effectively exercised. There has also been a policy of privatization.

The Government has made intensive efforts to build the capacities of the rural sector through agricultural and forestry policies. Measures to improve living conditions include improvement of educational and public health services, including HIV/AIDS treatment centres, vaccination programmes, a new specialist hospital for women and children, 118 new integrated health care centres, improvements for 138 existing medical units and construction of 99 staff on-call facilities. Vaccination coverage of children has risen from 43 per cent in 2001 to 72 per cent in 2004. In 2004 the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Family Promotion was established. It aimed to end discrimination of women, establish gender equality in the law, combat violence against women and ensure girls’ education. Women play a greater role in Government, regional authorities and leadership roles in the private sector, while girls’ enrolment in schools has seen huge increases, particularly since the ‘Education For All’ campaign.

An extensive programme for the construction of social housing is in place as part of the campaign to combat poverty, which includes urban regeneration contracts for the cities of Yaoundé and Douala, where 50,000 housing units are planned. A National Employment Policy is being drafted, in 2008 a minimum inter-occupational wage was established and the Government was working to guarantee minimum conditions of safety and hygiene in the work place. Following the economic crisis, the Ministry of Culture assigned a major role for the financing of culture to the private sector. Key cultural activities in Cameroon were football, music and festivals. A National Museum, National Archives and the National Library have been opened to showcase Cameroon’s rich cultural heritage.

Presentation of the Report

ANATOLE FABIEN MARIE NKOU, Permanent Representative of Cameroon to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that ten years have passed since the last report was presented. That was not a lack of cooperation, but down to external factors which prevented Cameroon from setting up a reporting committee. Over the last ten years Cameroon had ratified important human rights instruments including conventions on eliminating child labour, preventing trafficking of persons, illicit trafficking of migrants and protection and promotion of cultural diversity, as well as the African Charter on women and children’s rights and the African Youth Charter.

A National Anti-Corruption Commission was created in 2006, and in 2009 the National Strategy for Employment was launched, which aimed to reduce unemployment to five per cent and reduce poverty levels to 28.7 per cent by 2020. Advances have been made in education, infrastructure, and the field of health, which included free vaccinations, treatment for tuberculosis and extensive measures to reduce the HIV/AIDS infection rate and improve care for persons suffering from HIV/AIDS, in addition to providing free healthcare for children under five. Thanks to help from China the Government was building a new hospital for maternal health, 10 provincial hospitals and four training hospitals, as well as 138 new health clinics around the country.

Cameroon had been hard hit by the economic crisis and rising food prices. The major export fields of timber, cotton and rubber industries had been hardest hit by the drop in international demand. The right to development was considered a priority, and the Government adopted budgetary measures to increase support for education and employment for young people, including a wide-ranging project to recruit young persons to the civil service and public sector jobs, including teaching, justice, diplomacy, health, civil engineering and the army. Access to high quality food at a low cost was another Government priority, and the Ministry of Trade worked to keep prices down and run showcase shops that sold goods at a wholesale price to consumers. Cameroon looked forward to hosting the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the right to food in 2012. The delegation looked forward to a frank and constructive dialogue with the Committee, with a view to improving the implementation of the Covenant in Cameroon.

Questions from the Experts

A Committee Expert wondered to what extent the Convention had been implemented in Cameroon, and what progress had been made in establishing a national human rights institution in accordance with the Paris Principles. Was the Government considering ratification of the Optional Protocol?

What was the legal status of women? Women faced many problems, such as gender discrimination, sexual harassment, violence against women and female genital mutilation. Had those issues been dealt with in a positive way? What was being done to end the practice of breast ironing? There were customs which governed women’s ability to own property which conflicted with national laws – what was being done in the field to address that issue? There were laws on women’s rights but they did not appear to be enforced, and there was no law on gender equality.

The Committee was concerned about the status of workers on rural plantations, who lived in very difficult circumstances.

The very high rate of unemployment was another serious concern of the Committee. The delegation had told the Committee the effects of the crisis were still evident with increases in the cost of living and increasing unemployment, but that the Government was creating 300,000 jobs. Could the delegation explain how they were going to do that?

The Committee was very concerned about discrimination against the Baka Pygmies peoples, and would like to know whether that discrimination had lessened.

An anti-corruption plan had been introduced, and a new body was in charge of monitoring corruption – how was it doing, and was the phenomenon of corruption on the decline?

Since 2003/2004, there had been a phenomenon of mass forced evictions, especially in the cities of Yaoundé and Douala, which had gained ground. It seemed those evictions, carried out with a view to creating urban renewal and getting rid of sub-standard housing, did not comply with the Convention and while the reasons were laudable, the Government had allegedly not provided evictees with alternative housing.

An Expert asked whether civil society had been involved in the drafting of the report, and also that given the problems facing Cameroon, cooperation with international agencies could play a very important role: not just drafting reports but also in the fields of health, particularly leprosy.

The issue of corruption appeared to have gotten worse, and it seemed persons got jobs depending on bribery and personal connections. That was illustrated by reports that thousands of university graduates worked as taxi drivers because they could not find work within their professions. How many persons found guilty of corruption or bribery had been punished?

Did customary or statutory law take precedent, and what were the differences? The report referenced a Constitutional Council which applied to economic, social and cultural rights: had that Council been established or was it still just planned?

An Expert noted that Cameroon had a very young population, with over 40 per cent less than 15 years old, and an alarmingly young average life expectancy of 51 years.

The issue of land-grabbing and illegal logging posed a problem: could the delegation briefly indicate their strategy to prevent that? Were foreign companies involved?

A Committee Expert noted that Cameroon had hosted the United Nations Regional Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa since 2001, and had cooperated thoroughly with its establishment in order to enable the Centre to fulfil its purpose.

Response from the Delegation

A member of the delegation thanked Committee Experts for their questions and said there was no aggressiveness or hostility in their questions. Turning to corruption, he said it was a problem that existed in all societies around the world and in Cameroon. The Government had taken the bull by the horns in an attempt to fight corruption, and founded institutions expressly to fight corruption. Every Government body had a cell whose task was to identify corruption and then report to the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Some ministers, executives and managers had been found guilty of corruption and been imprisoned. An international agency, Transparency International, recently recognized improvements made by Cameroon in corruption which led to an improvement in status.

The statistics the Committee had on forestry destruction were not trustworthy. Cameroon was part of the Congo basin, a huge area, and the second lung of the planet after the Amazon in Brazil. It was estimated at 22 million hectares. Of those, only four million hectares were earmarked for exploitation, and not just forestry. That represented a wealth for Cameroon and for all of mankind. A National Forestation Agency handled all questions of reforestation.

Privatization of utilities, including water and electricity, was not a total success, with the result today being a public-private partnership. A new damn was being built, more power plants, and thermal energy was being explored. The Government wanted an abundant and affordable supply of electricity for the population.

Life expectancy was in fact on average 60 years now: 61 for women and 59 years for men. These were the International Monitory Fund (IMF) and World Bank statistics.

Civil society in Cameroon was one of the most active in Africa. There were 200 to 300 political parties, trade unions, non-governmental organizations, 600 newspapers, 20 television channels, and the Government was very proud of that size and diversity. The Government tried to have constructive and relaxed relations with civil society.

Education for women was considered a very important tool, and the school attendance of girls had increased so much it may be higher than boys’ attendance rates. At one time people did say women could not inherit land, but that did not apply today, and court judgements provided evidence of that. The same went for women holding positions of responsibility. There was not a huge problem of discrimination against women and a good symbiosis had been achieved.

The subject of indigenous people was not an easy one, as it involved bringing a concept of modern thinking into the minds of people who were not receptive. However, the Government was slowly bringing persons such as the Baka Pygmy people into society, although the issue could not be forced. A Pygmy Development Plan had been drawn up.

Female genital mutilation was not a very wide practice in Cameroon. By the time girls reached puberty, most girls were able to defend themselves against those traditional practices. While that practice may have once existed, it was very limited now, and also very risky for those indulging in it: the practice of female genital mutilation was severely punished under the Criminal Code.

Breast ironing was not breast mutilation. It did happen in some parts of Cameroon, and was not similar to female genital mutilation, but provisions of the Penal Code were used to crack down on those carrying out breast ironing. The Government carried out many sensitization exercises to inform people of the dangers of the practice of breast ironing.

There was no specific law on violence against women yet, but the draft Family Code Bill did incorporate many aspects. There had been awareness-raising among opinion shapers, especially in the tribal context, and efforts to inform young women about their rights. Often women were not aware of their rights, or their access to compensation.

Cameroon was carefully considering ratifying the Optional Protocol of the Covenant, and in theory was not against the idea.

The Government was doing a lot to improve employment prospects for youth, and was encouraging the private sector – particularly small and medium-sized businesses to grow and create more jobs. The 300,000 jobs that had just been generated included filling of thousands of vacancies, as until recently the Government ran on just a skeleton staff. The jobs would be provided for by a structural investment that would be implemented on January 1 2012. From that date Cameroon would be one huge worksite, with roads, dams, highways and more being built. Most of the money to pay for that had already been mobilized, and the Government estimated that the number of jobs created would be 300,000.

It was undeniable that jobs had been obtained through bribery. However, most of the highest positions in Cameroon were occupied by sons and daughters of farmers, people who through the sweat of their brow had climbed up through society to reach the upper echelons. Most people got their jobs through their own merit. Ministers did not place their sons and daughters in the highest posts.

Land in Cameroon always had an owner, be it the indigenous people or the State. Companies could try to buy land, particularly in the agricultural sector, but that had to be done in partnership with the State, but also hand in hand with the indigenous peoples.

For every 100 Cameroonians, 60 lived above the poverty line: those were IMF and World Bank statistics.

Follow-Up Questions from Experts

A Committee Expert returned to the issue of female genital mutilation, something the Committee had raised 11 years ago. Concretely and specifically, what had been done to prevent the practice? Was it true that no person had been prosecuted for carrying it out?

Since the State party said female genital mutilation and breast ironing were hidden practices, they needed to discover how prevalent they were, for example by a national questionnaire and anonymously asking people if they or anybody they knew had suffered female genital mutilation directly. That was a pro-active way to solve the issue.

Response from the Delegation

A delegate said female genital mutilation was a new phenomenon, and one that came from outside Cameroon. There were thousands of refugees in Cameroon from neighbouring countries who brought their cultural traditions with them. While the Government attempted to ensure they refrained from those practices, the majority of those people lived in refugee camps and it was difficult to monitor and prevent female genital mutilation and breast ironing. The law of silence hid those regrettable practices, the crime was hidden and it was difficult to punish perpetrators unless victims came forward. It was a difficult fight to bring those cases to court. Female genital mutilation would be included in the criminal code, but in the meantime it was considered violence and would be punishable by the law. Breast ironing was a very marginal phenomena and it was surprising to learn it took place in Cameroon.

The Government intended to pass a draft bill on violence against women as law within coming months.

Female genital mutilation always took place with some consent because people believed it was part of their culture. Even when it was done to a baby that could not defend itself, the mother and father would have given consent. The practices were imported by non Cameroonians living in the country: the people lived together and shared those values, so how could the Government find out what and when those practices happened?

Questions from the Experts

When it came to forced labour for prisoners, was there any option of consent before prisoners carried out work for private firms? Also persons were sometimes imprisoned for being political opposition: in that case it was clear there should not be any forced labour.

Unemployment was a sizeable challenge, on average 17 per cent of Cameroonians were affected: 32 per cent unemployment in urban areas and nine per cent in rural areas. Did the Government intend to create more public or private sector jobs? Could the delegation give more information on the numerous projects planned to start on 1 January 2012?

A Committee Expert said that because of sex-based discrimination, some husbands forbade their women to hold a job. Shouldn’t women be able to freely choose their employment without their husbands having a veto power? Was sexual harassment in the workplace a criminal offence, and how many people had been punished in recent years?

Regarding the new minimum wage, which was regularly assessed by the Ministry of Labour, what was the current rate, and did that allow the worker to have a decent life? Were people free to choose their Trade Union and was there any punishment for declaring a strike in Cameroon? What about the sector of informal workers?

An Expert asked about the issue of child labour, particularly in plantations. What was being done to tackle child labour?

Response by the Delegation

A delegate said that the Committee was talking as if Cameroon was Switzerland or another long-established European country. France had had social security since the 1950s, and was a much older country. Cameroon was relatively fragile and new. While there were gaps between goals achieved and commitments made, Cameroon was in the vanguard of African countries introducing social security: the country was not a desert when it came to that issue. While there was unemployment in Cameroon, according to ILO figures 91 per cent of workers in rural regions were in employment.

Questions by the Experts

A Committee Expert said that a large number of households did not have drinking water, a problem many countries around the world had to grapple with. The problem was exacerbated by high pressure on drinking water connections in cities. Some figures said 88 per cent of persons in rural Cameroon did not have accessible drinking water.

Tobacco consumption was a problem: the big multinational tobacco companies had been waging campaigns in the developing world to gain profits and new markets. There were a lot of related health problems, and in turn the Government should campaign against tobacco use. What was the Government doing about that?

The problem of deforestation was notable, and as the Head of Delegation said, the forest in Cameroon was one of the lungs of mankind. If current levels of deforestation continued the consequences would be extremely serious. There was a trend throughout the developing world of multi-national companies acting in a colonialist manner and buying up land for commercial use.

An Expert asked about various aspects of family life in Cameroon: polygamy was still legal: some women were not entitled to inheritance; men were legally the head of families; child marriage was an issue; and the criminal code exempted rapists from punishment if the rapist agreed to marry his victim: studies showed that in cases where a rapist married his victim, domestic violence usually featured in their relationship. Finally, because separate bathrooms were not usually provided for boys and girls and men and women, particularly in schools, rapes happened, and that led to many consequences including drop-out in schools. What was the Government doing about all of those serious issues?

An Expert noted that the number of child labourers had dropped, but still one third of children under the age of 14 were in work, which was still a relatively high number. What was being done to reduce those figures?

The rate of poverty and Cameroon’s place on the International Hunger Index were quite alarming. Could the delegation provide more data on its performance in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, particularly combating poverty and illiteracy?

Response from the Delegation

A delegate said there was no forced labour in Cameroon prisons. However given the limited budget for prison food the Government had decided to open farms on which prisoners could grow their own crops, and rear poultry and pigs to augment their food rations.

Regarding employment in Cameroon, in October 2011, 25,000 youths were recruited into the public service: of that number 11,262 (45 per cent) were women and 52 were persons with disabilities. In total around 47,000 public sector jobs were created in 2010 alone. However the unemployment problem would not be solved by the creation of public sector jobs alone, but also by the private sector creating jobs. For example, planned projects such as a hydro-electric dam, a gas plant, new mines and deep sea ports, which would create tens of thousands of jobs – the Government estimated around 126,000 jobs could be created from those private-sector plans.

There were around 62,000 domestic workers in Cameroon, comprised mostly of women and children. Although those people had similar rights as other workers, such as to paid leave, to rest periods and to good conditions of service, those rights were often not respected by every employer. To improve their situation, the Government recently held a training workshop for civil servants, non-governmental organizations and members of the judiciary on the rights of domestic workers and practical ways to fight trafficking of persons, in partnership with the International Labour Organization.

Concerning the eradication of leprosy, the delegation said that leprosy did not pose a very major health problem in Cameroon and was almost completely eradicated. Nevertheless the few cases of leprosy were taken care of in special hospitals, such as the Baptist Hospital in northern Cameroon.

Illegal or irresponsible cutting of trees could endanger the preservation of the forests. To fight desertification and deforestation there were several measures, including a partnership agreement with the European Union and tree-planting campaigns.

It was not possible to given a precise timeframe as to when the draft Family Code would be adopted, as it was a huge document currently being fine-turned. It would tackle issues such as violence, discrimination against women, assault on the breast, female genital mutilation and sexual and domestic violence.

Child labour had been greatly reduced in Cameroon, and the minimum working age was set at 14 years. A 2005 law criminalized child trafficking and all forms of child exploitation, which included child labour.

Follow-Up Questions by Experts

A Committee Expert referred to the law allowing husbands to forbid their wives from working, quoting an ILO expert who urged the Government to urgently change laws which prevented equal working opportunities between men and women.

An Expert wondered if there had been interference by the Government in the functioning of trade unions. What about the employment of prisoners by private companies?

Returning to child labour, an Expert said data by the International Labour Office showed that children as young as five years old were made to work in Cameroon. The Expert wondered to what extent the Government had been successful in tackling this problem? The young children were working in domestic work, on the streets, in restaurants and bars, and even in prostitution.

Response from the Delegation

The Head of the Delegation specified that any work done by a prisoner was purely to improve their living standards. The Government allocated land where prisoners could produce food; the food was bought by prisons to be consumed by prisoners. Few prisoners, if any, were employed by private firms. Private companies knew that to employ someone they needed a work contract, and prisoners did not have the right to sign a contract with anybody outside of the prison. The delegate said he would like to see proof that any private company had a work contract with a prisoner.

Women’s labour was considered a complement to family revenues. It was true that under the Civil Code, as adopted from the French and British, there was a provision allowing husbands to forbid their wives from working. However the Labour Code counteracted that old civil code law and the draft Family Code would further establish women’s right to work.

There was a legal right to form and join trade unions and to strike. There were cases of persons violating those rights, but the courts were there to protect the victims.

Questions from the Experts

An Expert again raised the issues of child slavery and child labour. He said that the State party’s report specified that between 2000 and 2006, the proportion of child labourers dropped from 58 to 31 per cent of all children in Cameroon. What was the source of those figures and how reliable were they, as there was a clear contradiction in the State party’s written replies on child labour? According to an ILO National Report from 2007, as many as 41 per cent of all children in Cameroon were working, and 12.3 per cent of those children received no education: they were workers only. The report also said “There were no statistics on child labour, due to the conspiracy of silence that surrounded child labour in Cameroon”. What was the situation?

All the State party’s replies had grouped child slavery and child labour together. The report made it clear that child slavery existed in Cameroon. The national law on slavery specifically banned child slavery. Putting aside any existence of statistics on child slavery in Cameroon, could the delegation say how many prosecutions had been launched on offenders of child slavery laws, and how many of those prosecutions resulted in conviction: or was there a conspiracy of silence on convictions as well?

There was a legal vacuum on women’s rights. There was currently no legal protection for women from violations such as female genital mutilation, sexual and domestic violence, and breast ironing. What protection was afforded to women? Was it true that a rapist received lenient treatment if he married his victim?

An Expert again returned to the draft Family Code, which sounded ‘beautiful and promising’. However, the Committee did not want to wait another ten years until it became law and the State party could not just leave it hanging in the air: where had they reached in the legislative process?

Only five per cent of the national budget was earmarked for health. That was insufficient and needed to be raised: the usual figure was ten per cent of the national budget. Infant and maternal mortality continued to rise. Although important efforts had been made, they were mostly in urban areas; there was poor health coverage in rural areas. Furthermore, how much access did people have to clean drinking water?

On sexual and reproductive health education, report figures showed 15 per cent of adolescent girls were pregnant, and 20 per cent of those pregnancies resulted in clandestine abortions. Was the distribution of condoms accompanied by educational programmes for young people, on issues such as HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy?

An Expert asked for information on high quality generic medicines, where the patents held by international pharmaceutical companies had expired, particularly in respect to HIV/AIDS medication. Between 2001 and 2006 the State party made great efforts on the manufacture and distribution of medication. What had happened since 2006?

A non-governmental organization report said that access to healthcare in Cameroon was still a major problem, particularly in the following areas: cholera, especially in the north; street vending of medicaments of doubtful quality, which of course was a poverty-related problem; and the sharp rise of maternal mortality (1,000 deaths out of every 100,000 live births in 2006). Had the Government considered raising the health budget for decentralized solutions?

Response from the Delegation

Cameroon had major shortages of clean drinking water due to infrastructure issues. In 2007 approximately only 100 out of 300 cities had adequate water supplies. In 2010 a US$4 billion, ten year strategic project was established to improve supplies. Efforts were being made to increase sustainable development, and the State was repairing leakages. A new project to decrease cholera cases included providing hospitals with clean water, particularly in strategically urgent locations, although the funds for those projects had been decreased this year.

Due to the economic crisis the high cost of living in Cameroon had impacted households’ access to certain food products: including sugar, wheat flour and palm oil. The Government had responded by increasing production and importation of those products.

The health budget had been increased by 10.371 billion Cameroon Francs since 2009. Drugs and tests for HIV/AIDS sufferers were free. The National Essential Drug Supply Centre continued to distribute generic drugs; over 4,000 types of drugs were marketed in Cameroon, and most were getting cheaper. Three new wholesale pharmaceutical drug companies had been approved to enable more drugs to be manufactured. The Government had increased tax on tobacco, and every year on World Tobacco Day there were awareness-raising efforts, aimed especially at school children.

Measures to prevent gender-based violence included poster campaigns on domestic violence and awareness-raising. There had already been three dozen court cases, and over 2,000 women victims of domestic violence had been helped and housed.

Abortion was illegal under the current penal code. It was only legal if necessary for medical reasons or for rape victims. Young girls were sensitized on the evil of abortion, by the Ministry of Social Affairs, and discouraged from practising abortion. The law provided for any pregnant schoolgirl to continue at school after having a baby, which would encourage pregnant schoolgirls not to have an abortion.

The criminal code may not mention practices such as female genital mutilation directly, but could be employed to prosecute those practices. The draft family code was currently being re-examined by a Committee in the Prime Minister’s Office. The Government was conscious that that law was important, and that the rights of women – including the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women - had to be implemented.

Because of the poverty of some families, mothers had their children help out, for example, on a market stall. Families did not consider that to be labour, but rather the child assisting the family. Those different facets of child labour must be taken into account. However the Ministry of Labour was attempting to move child labourers out of violent environments and improve their situation.

Follow-Up Questions from Experts

Had the Government considered changing legislation to broaden the definition of legal abortion, since the definitions already given were quite tight? How many women died as a result of clandestine abortions? What services exactly were provided by reproductive health services?

An Expert said UN Habitat figures showed that 67 per cent of families in urban areas lived in slums or shanty towns, and housing costs were prohibitive in Cameroon, not to mention the forced evictions. What had been done to address the acute shortages of housing units? As 40 per cent of people in Cameroon earned less than a dollar a day, would they be able to afford the reasonably-priced housing units referred to by the delegation, which cost $2,000?

Response from the Delegation

A delegate described the Minimum Health Package that permitted pregnant women to have free consultations in public hospitals, and for children below the age of five to have free consultations and medications.

There were several ongoing projects to build social housing in Cameroon; around 10,000 low-cost housing units were due to be finished by 2013. A further 50,000 plots of land were to be made available for purchase at low cost by families to build their own. If a house needed to be demolished, either because a new project was planned in that location or the house was unsafe, a red X was painted on the door to inform the owner and give them time to leave. Houses were not destroyed overnight. In 2008 there were problems of forced evictions in major cities, which raised a lot of dust. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing made an appeal to Cameroon on the issue: the President responded with a decree ensuring nobody would be left homeless. Now people who had to move, whether they had legal title to the land or not, would receive compensation. The delegate contested the UN Habitat figure that 67 per cent of people lived in slums.

Ten to 15 per cent of adolescents were affected by early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. School Medical Networks provided sexual health education to schools, in the form of films, written documents and teaching, in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO).

The law on abortion was satisfactory and for the time being met the problems surrounding abortion.

The Head of Delegation confirmed the statistic that 41 per cent of children worked, but noted that school attendance rates were 91 per cent. Work in Cameroon was a matter of education. When a child returned home after school, once they had their midday snack, they would take their glass and plate, wash them, and put them away, and make their bed. That was not child labour, it was education in the home.

Questions from Experts

An Expert asked about the collective rights of indigenous communities.

An Expert said a delegate had praised Cameroon’s laudable efforts in the field of education, but asked about efficiency within the system. How did the Government explain the differences between the French and English speaking systems? Were they compatible?

It would seem that there were no Pygmy students, or students with disabilities, attending Cameroon universities. Those young indigenous persons should have full rights to access higher education. What was being done about the 30 per cent illiteracy rate in Cameroon? How was the inequality between boy and girl students being tackled?

Many children did not have a birth certificate which, according to the report, meant they were not allowed to go to school. Why did schools only admit children who had a birth certificate? Were all schools free? There were reports of parents paying for primary education.

Response from the Delegation

In public schools primary education was free of charge. The Committee Expert spoke about a 30 per cent illiteracy rate, and the delegate said he did not know where that figure came from. The figure seemed to have been extremely exaggerated.

Everything was done to have births registered, so children could have a birth certificate and thus go to school. A Government programme in association with UNICEF was working to provide more birth certificates.

The inequality between boy and girl students did exist in the past, but there was now a moral obligation for every father to afford proper education to both his son and his daughter. There was no inequality now, and ever increasing numbers of girls were attending both primary and secondary schools. Girls even achieved better results than boys. So there was no problem in that area anymore. In answer to an earlier question, 12,000 gender-separated bathrooms were recently built in schools.

The Cameroon educational system was inherited from the Anglo-Saxon system, and the English system involved six years of secondary education, while the French speaking system lasted for seven years. There were no real problems with combining the English and French systems.

Pygmies were becoming a part of normal life in Cameroon, and school was also obligatory for them. The delegate said he was surprised to hear there were no Pygmies enrolled at university. The Committee had to really ask themselves where their information was coming from, and how reliable their sources were. Some people with disabilities had very high positions in Government, so if they had not been to university how could that be possible? It must not be forgotten that Pygmies and indigenous peoples had their own lifestyle, culture, and own biodiversity which needed to be protected. So while pursuing integration at all levels, the Government considered it important to also protect those people’s way of life.

Returning to child labour, a delegate said there was a substantial difference between ILO figures and those in the report. That was because the ILO considered all active children to be child labourers, whereas the Government only considered persons who used his or her professional skills for remuneration to be workers. Children and persons on the streets were did not receive remuneration and so were not workers. There had been no case of a child under the age of 14 to be found working. Persons working on the street were not considered to be workers under the Labour Code because they did not have an employer and received no remuneration. They were considered to be entrepreneurs, small businessmen. If the ILO was counting all of those so-called workers, they might well reach that 40 per cent figure. No children worked in private sector firms.

It was true that maternal mortality was still high, at 639 deaths per 100,000 live births. Cameroon was working to reduce maternal mortality, and also infant mortality.

Regarding preserving cultural rights, Cameroon was an active member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The Ministry of Culture, headed by a woman, was tasked with ensuring the protection of cultural rights. Even before the Ministry was established, culture had been considered very important in Cameroon.

Every person in Cameroon – including indigenous peoples - owned land, although the State had declared them State-owned in order to protect it. When land was sold to private companies, it was done properly and transparently. No indigenous group had brought a suit either to the Government or the Human Rights Council. There was no systematic deforestation in Cameroon. The forest was as important as the Amazon.
Of the 20 million hectares of forest, four million hectares were being used by indigenous persons. The 16 million left was being protected by the Government.

Closing Remarks

ANATOLE FABIEN MARIE NKOU, Permanent Representative of Cameroon to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that Cameroon came to the Committee in great humility in order to explain what they had done towards ensuring the fundamental economic, social and cultural rights take root in Cameroonian society. It was a particular pleasure to experience the hospitality the Committee provided and hear the wealth of recommendations made in a constructive fashion. Next time Cameroon came before the Committee they would endeavour to be more specific and provide more specific figures. It was also a valuable opportunity to greet members of non-governmental organizations, who were seen as very important social partners in Cameroon.

ARIRANGA GOVINDASAMY PILLAY, Committee Chairperson, thanked the delegation for its interaction with and answers provided to the Committee. That some questions had to be repeated showed the Committee’s particular concern about the lack of progress in Cameroon on the implementation of the Covenant rights. Many of the major concerns mentioned in the 1999 concluding observations still held true today. Mr. Pillay reassured the delegation that all questions were only asked after the facts had first been verified, in discharge of the Committee’s duties and to the benefit of the right holders: the people of Cameroon. The concluding observations would be made available in the afternoon of Friday 2 December 2011.


For use of the information media; not an official record

ESC11/016E