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Cameroon

Barometer

With a moratorium on executions
Country status
250+
Sentenced
0
Execution(s)
1+
Conviction(s)
Figures for 2023. The last execution in Cameroon took place in 1997.

In 2010, ECPM set itself the objective of bringing together Cameroonian abolitionist actors and supporting the network of lawyers against the death penalty. Events were organised to promote the exchange of good practices with the Central African coalition, lawyers and NGOs.

National conference on the release of the fact-finding mission report (2019)


The situation of death row prisoners

Given the dilapidated prisons where overcrowding is endemic, deplorable sanitary conditions and minimal food rations, conditions of detention of death row prisoners in Cameroon are similar to those of other prisoners. Prisoners are held in dilapidated prisons, where overcrowding is endemic, and suffer from poor sanitary conditions and minimal food rations. However, death sentences carry a stigma that affects the way such prisoners are treated by the prison administration, as well as their relationships with other prisoners. They are frequently blamed for mutinies, escapes and protests, and are unjustly placed in solitary confinement, where they suffer a range of deprivations. Moreover, although those on death row should have the same access to health care as other prisoners, fears lead prison staff to deny death row prisoners access to external care.

The vast majority of death row prisoners interviewed during a fact-finding mission conducted by ECPM, Droits et Paix and the Réseau des avocats camerounais contre la peine de mort (RACOPEM) in 2019, reported acts of ill-treatment during the preliminary investigation phase. According to Cameroon’s Commission on Human Rights (CHR – formerly known as NCHRF), the use of torture in places of detention in the country is widespread. 78% of the death row prisoners interviewed said they had been threatened or tortured. Given the denial of access to visitors and the lack of means to obtain legal advice, most of those sentenced to death were forced to admit their involvement in the crimes, in order to save their lives.

I didn’t have the time needed to prepare my client’s defense. I was appointed appointed by the President of the military court as a court-appointed lawyer. He made me plead the case immediately. […] I requested an adjournment to meet my client, but this was refused on the pretext that the hierarchy were demanding results and the case had to be tried quickly. I didn’t have time to examine the investigation report carefully or to talk to my client.”

Lawyer interviewed in Maroua, Extreme North region, pfor the fact-finding mission “Sentenced to oblivion” (2019)

All reports

Human Rights Protection Mechanisms
Summary – alternative report on the death penalty in view of Cameroon’s 2023 UPR
Apr 2023
Human Rights Protection Mechanisms
Alternative report on the death penalty for the 4th cycle of Cameroon’s UPR (44th session of the Working Group)
Apr 2023
Couverture de la mission d'enquête "Condamnés à l'oubli: Dans les couloirs de la mort: Cameroun"
Conditions of detention, Overview of the death penalty
Sentenced to oblivion: fact-finding mission on death row, Cameroon
Oct 2022
Couverture "30e session du groupe de travail sur l'EPU PdM 2018"
Human Rights Protection Mechanisms
Cameroon, 30th session of the Working Group on the UPR Death Penalty, April–May 2018 (French)
Oct 2022

All tools

Infographics – the death penalty in Cameroon (2022)
The death penalty in law and in practice in Cameroon

All news

Culture
Meet the winners of the 6th edition of the “Draw me abolition” competition!
16 June 2023
This year, around 500 young people from 10 different countries brought together their artistic talents and militant commitment to draw up the abolitionist posters of the future. From Austria, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, Germany, Indonesia, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda, our young artists demonstrated exceptional creativity! Among…
Testimony
Cameroonian lawyer Nestor Toko Monkam secures the liberation of death row prisoner Fati
21 February 2023
Me. Nestor Toko Monkam, a lawyer in Cameroon and coordinator of our partner Droits et Paix (Rights and Peace), secured last week the acquittal of Fati, Cameroonian woman born in 1971 in Mokolo in the far north region of Cameroon. She his a housewife, mother of two children, now aged…
Advocacy, Event, In the field
Meet the laureates of the 8th World Congress against the death penalty
23 November 2022
The 8th World Congress Against the Death Penalty was also an opportunity to highlight civil society actors working towards universal abolition. ECPM, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and their partners highlighted the exceptional work of organizations particularly invested in the different spheres of the abolitionist struggle such as:…
Testimony
Mr Nestor Toko, laureate of the Legal Representation award: “Our commitment to fighting the death penalty knows no bounds”
18 November 2022
Nestor Toko Monkam is a lawyer at the Cameroon Bar and President of RACOPEM, which won the Legal Representation Award at the closing ceremony of the Congress. He is also the founder of Droits et paix, which works to create a society that respects human rights and is fairer and…
Competition poster
Culture
” Draw me abolition “: you are the jury !
06 April 2021
It is time to decide on the winners of the 5th edition of “Draw me abolition”! Out of around 400 posters produced by young people aged between 14 and 20 from 13 different countries, 50 posters have been shortlisted. ECPM and the International Network for Abolition Education are pleased to…
logos picture
Editorial / opinion page, In the field
Launch of a small grants programme in DRC and Cameroon
19 January 2021
ECPM, along with its partners CPJ and Droits et Paix, is launching its small grants programme for 2021 in Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon. Two projects by country, running 3 to 12 months from May 2021 and based outside the capitals, will be selected. The application deadline is 28 February 2021. General…
In pictures, In the field
The 17th World Day Against the Death Penalty is already over, but the fight for abolition continues
14 October 2019
At the dawn of the 17th World Day Against the Death Penalty, ECPM takes you around the world to campaign together for universal abolition. Under the map, find more details about the events we have supported! Follow the news of the abolition with the hashtag #AbolitionNow! Find out more about…
edito flyer
Editorial / opinion page
EDITO – Death Row Investigations: ECPM Expertise
27 June 2019
ECPM’s expertise in death row investigations has been in place for many years around the world. Our investigation in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2005 had already received the French Republic Human Rights Prize. The one in Rwanda, carried out in 2007, was cited by the Kagame government as…
press release cover Cameroon
Editorial / opinion page, Publication
In Yaoundé, launch of the first fact-finding mission on death row in Cameroon [press release]
26 June 2019
The report “Sentenced to oblivion. Fact-finding mission on death row in Cameroon”, which was officially launched on the 21st of June at the Delegation of the European Union from Yaoundé in Cameroon, is the result of an unprecedented fact-finding mission, conducted from May to October 2018 in five Cameroonian prisons…