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Human rights in Cameroon are addressed in the constitution. However, the 2009 Human Rights Report by the United States Department of State noted concerns in regard to election irregularities, security forces torture and arbitrary arrests.
Contents
Issues
A 2002 report by the UK charity Freedom from Torture said that "The prevalence of torture in Cameroon was such as to warrant a country visit from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture in 1999. He described the use of torture in Cameroon as 'widespread and systematic.'"
In its 2012 Annual Review, Freedom from Torture stated that they had received 33 referrals for torture survivors from Cameroon for clinical treatment or other services.
Amnesty International reported concerns about violence by security forces. In 2009, around 100 civilians were killed during demonstrations
In April 2010, Germain Cyrille Ngota Ngota, the editor of the Cameroun Express, died in custody at Kondengui Central Prison. He had been jailed pending trial in February 2010 along with the editors of two other newspapers, for the alleged "joint forgery" of the signature of a presidential official. One of the editors said that the document in question had merely been attached to an interview request, whilst the journalist who had originated the document was on the run. "The Federation of African Journalists after visiting the country described Cameroon in May 2010 as 'one of the worst jailers of journalists in Africa'."
Historical situation
The following table gives Cameroon's ratings since 1972 in the Freedom in the World reports, published annually by Freedom House. A score of 1 is "most free" and 7 is "least free".1
International treaties
Cameroon's stances on international human rights treaties are as follows: