| Abbreviation | CHRDA |
|---|---|
| Location | |
Key people | Felix Agbor Balla [1] |
| Website | Official website  |
Formerly called | Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Cameroon [1] |
The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) is a human rights organisation documenting human rights violations and promoting human rights improvements in Africa, with a particular focus on Cameroon, where the organisation started. [1]
The CHRDA started as a Cameroonian human rights organisation called the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Cameroon. In 2005, after discussions with colleagues from other parts of Africa and from the United States (US), the group added regional offices in Sierra Leone and the US and changed its name to the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa. [1]
The CHRDA is well known for its documentation of human rights violations during the Anglophone crisis, a civil war involving the Southern Cameroons region of Cameroon that started in 2017. In August 2018, the CHRDA published a list of 106 villages that had been raided and burnt down by Cameroonian government forces since October 2017. Citing eyewitness accounts, videos and photos as evidence, the CHRDA claimed that the 106 villages had been "attacked, burned down partially or completely and deserted either completely or partially". [2]
In May 2019, CHRDA together with the Montreal-based Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights claimed that human rights violations in the Anglophone crisis constituted crimes against humanity. [3]
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Its coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. Due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West Africa and Central Africa, it has been categorized as being in both camps. Its nearly 27 million people speak 250 native languages, in addition to the national tongues of English and French, or both.
Paul Biya is a Cameroonian politician who has been the second president of Cameroon since 6 November 1982, having previously been the prime minister of Cameroon from 1975 to 1982. He is the second-longest-ruling president in Africa, the longest consecutively serving current non-royal national leader in the world and the oldest head of state in the world.
Ambazonia, alternatively the Federal Republic of Ambazonia or State of Ambazonia, is a political entity proclaimed by Anglophone separatists who are seeking independence from Cameroon. The separatists claim that Ambazonia should consist of the Northwest Region and Southwest Region of Cameroon. Since 2017, Ambazonian rebels have engaged in armed conflict with the Cameroonian military, in what is known as the Anglophone Crisis, setting up a government-in-exile and capturing some territory. No country has recognized Ambazonia's existence as of 2024.
The Southern Cameroons was the southern part of the British League of Nations mandate territory of the British Cameroons in West Africa. Since 1961, it has been part of the Republic of Cameroon, where it makes up the Northwest Region and Southwest Region. Since 1994, pressure groups in the territory claim there was no legal document in accordance to UNGA RES 1608(XV) paragraph 5, and are seeking to restore statehood and independence from the Republic. They renamed the British Southern Cameroons as Ambazonia.
Day for Darfur is an international advocacy campaign that works to bring together activists in cities around the globe in calling for action on the crisis in Darfur, western Sudan.
Cameroon–United States relations are international relations between Cameroon and the United States.
UPR Info is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) headquartered in Switzerland. The organisation main goal is to raise awareness and provide see capacity-building tools to the different actors of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, such as United Nations Member States, NGOs, National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) and civil society actors. It was established in 2008.
The Anglophone problem in Cameroon refers to a socio-political issue rooted in the country's colonial legacies from the Germans, British, and the French.
Agbor Nkongho aka Balla is an Anglophone Cameroonian human rights lawyer who is the president of the Fako Lawyers Association, vice president of the African Bar Association in charge of Central Africa, founder and chairman of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa and founder of Agbor Nkongho Law Firm an activist and freedom fighter who was arrested on 17 January 2017. Agbor Nkongho was born on August 23, 1970. He is a leading member of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) which has been banned and its activities declared illegal in Cameroon.
The Anglophone Crisis, also known as the Ambazonia War or the Cameroonian Civil War, is an ongoing armed conflict between Cameroon Armed Forces and Ambazonian separatist rebel groups, part of the long-standing Anglophone problem. Following the suppression of 2016–17 protests by Cameroonian authorities, separatists in the Anglophone regions launched a guerrilla campaign and later proclaimed independence. Within two months, the government of Cameroon declared war on the separatists and sent its army into the Anglophone regions.
The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) is a Canadian non-governmental organization dedicated to pursuing justice through the protection and promotion of human rights. The RWCHR's name and mission is inspired by Raoul Wallenberg's humanitarian legacy.
The Battle of Batibo occurred on March 3, 2018, when Ambazonian separatists attacked Cameroonian troops on the Bamenda-Batibo Highway, Batibo Subdivision. At the time, it was reportedly the deadliest clash between Cameroonian and Ambazonian forces to date.
Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe is an Ambazonian separatist leader from Ewelle village in Manyu division, and is the disputed first president of the unrecognized Federal Republic of Ambazonia. In January 2018 he was extradited from Nigeria to Cameroon, where he has been incarcerated ever since.
This is a timeline of the Anglophone Crisis during 2017.
This is a timeline of the Anglophone Crisis during 2018.
This is a timeline of the Anglophone Crisis during 2019.
From 2018, the Anglophone Crisis drew increasing international attention, and became a challenge to Cameroon's foreign relations. Triggered by a violent crackdown on the 2016–2017 Cameroonian protests, the conflict escalated from a low-scale insurgency to a civil war-like situation. While Cameroon enjoys support from African countries, no country has openly supported the Ambazonian independence movements. However, many countries have put pressure on Cameroon to talk to the separatists. In addition, the separatists enjoy support from officers in the Nigerian Army, who have helped arrange arms deals for them.
The Major National Dialogue is the official name of a dialogue between the Government of Cameroon and various opposition parties, aimed at resolving the Anglophone Crisis. The event took place between September 30 and October 4, 2019.
Fongum Gorji Dinka is a Cameroonian attorney, political activist, and Fon of the Widikum in northwestern Cameroon.
Between July 28 and 31, 2022, Cameroonian forces launched a localized offensive into the Ambazonian-controlled town of Bambui, in Northwest Region, Cameroon, sparking clashes with the separatist Ambazonia Defence Forces.
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