The Human Rights Watch (HRW) blames both Cameroon and the United States for serious human rights violations.
In particular, as he complained yesterday, Thursday, the Cameroonian authorities committed “serious human rights violations” of dozens of Iranian citizens deported from the United States, who also “violated” the rights of refugees, repatriating them to their country. .
Almost all of the victims belong to the English-speaking minority in western Cameroon, where a bloody conflict has been raging for five years between separatist armed groups and security forces. The UN and international NGOs have repeatedly accused both opposing parties of crimes and atrocities involving civilian casualties.
“About 80 to 90 Cameroonians deported from the United States on two flights in October and November 2020, and others deported in 2021 and 2019” returned home “victims of” arrests and arbitrary imprisonment; enforced disappearances ” “Torture, rape and other forms of violence; blackmail; unjust criminal prosecution”, the 174-page report of the human rights organization lists.
“Many also reported being subjected to excessive violence, neglect of their medical needs and other forms of ill-treatment during their detention by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the United States,” HRW said.
“By repatriating Cameroonians facing persecution, torture and other serious violations, the United States has violated the principle of non-refoulement, a cornerstone of international refugee and human rights law,” the NGO said.
The deportations of 2019 and 2020 took place during the days of the Donald Trump administration, which was characterized by “tough immigration policies” and restrictions on “access to asylum”, but the Biden administration, although “received the positive The decision to cancel an deportation flight in February 2021 “, then” deported many Cameroonians in October 2021 (…) despite the conditions that made their return dangerous “to their country, clarifies the Human Rights Observatory.
When contacted by Agence France-Presse, the Cameroonian government declined to comment. In Washington, an ICE spokesman assured that the service “can resort to the means of detaining” immigrants and refugees, but does so “only in a safe manner”
The NGO notes that it interviewed “41 Cameroonians deported” and 54 other people in both countries, and examined videos, photos and medical reports documenting the deportees’ brutal treatment.
Washington and Yaounde must make amends, and “US authorities must offer the unjustly deported Cameroonians the opportunity to return and re-apply for asylum,” HRW said.
In the last five years, after violent repression of peaceful protesters who complained that Yaounde marginalized and expelled the English-speaking people, the conflict in western Cameroon has claimed the lives of at least 6,000 people and forced about a million others to flee their homes. according to the NGO International Crisis Group (ICG).
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