CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The legal definition of child generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority.[1] Children generally have fewer rights and responsibilities than adults. They are classed as unable to make serious decisions. The black’s law dictionary defines a child as  a person under the age of majority. At common law, a person who has not reached the age of 14. 3. A boy or girl; a young person. A son or daughter. “The word ‘children’ is normally used to denote issue of the first generation only”[2].

Children have a unique and a privileged place in the society since there are the most vulnerable of human beings. The age limit as set by the African charter of the rights and welfare of the child is below the age of 18 years.^[3] African children need special care and protection. In this regard, all humans below the age of 18 are so considered children and as such entitled to the enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, thought, religion and conscience.

During the Industrial Revolution, children as young as 4, were employed in production factories. At that time, the conditions of work in factories were dangerous and often fatal. Children worked with cotton milling machines; they also worked in coal mines where they crawled through tunnels which were too narrow for adults. Some children worked as domestic servants while others worked as prostitutes.[4] Children worked as assistants or apprentices in the lodging industries. Girls learned how to sew, knit, and plait straw while boys learned how to soften leather, shape cast iron, and weave warp and weft. Tuttle argues that the industry preferred children to adults because children provided cheap labour as they were “submissive, uneducated and nimble”.[5] Children, mainly from poor families, were expected to help towards the family livelihood. Apart from wage employment, children also worked on the family farm where they pulled weeds, planted seeds and harvested crops. Such economic forces and stereotyping coupled with child vulnerability became so strong that neither child labour laws nor mandatory schooling legislation were an effective means to stop child labour.

The period of industrialization in Great Britain and other European countries saw children’s work shift from home and farm and into mills, factories and mines. The nature of child labour changed dramatically with changes from the informal to the formal production during the British Industrial Revolution, to bring them in line with new demands by industries. Unlike the pre-industrial era when children worked at home with their families, children began to 10 work outside the home in factories and mines for strangers for a wage, creating a rare opportunity for children to become independent wage earners. Children worked long hours in hot stuffy factories and in cold damp coal and metal mines, with only a few short recesses. It is claimed that children could work as much as 16 hours for a day.[6]

The crusade against child labour in most Western countries began in the late 19th century. Specifically this can be traced back to 1833 when Robert Peel’s Factories Act was passed in Great Britain. Since then, many societies have engaged themselves seriously and systematically to eliminate child labour.[7] Despite the progress in world economic development and the presence of prohibitive acts such as the Factories Act, the world output of child labour continued to grow. However the period of activism and economic progress (19th and early 20th centuries) saw sharp reductions in child labour in industrialized nations. It has been argued that this reduction was due the shifting of child labour to the developing world which had also its own child labour problems. Indeed child labour was almost completely eliminated from the developed world while it migrated to the developing world which provided favourable social, cultural and economic climate.

In Britain the first meaningful investigation into issues of child labour took place in the 1830s when the English parliament set up a commission. The commission found that children as young as 8 worked about 16 hours daily. Some children were being sold to mill owners and others were reportedly being locked up in the mill day and night working. Some children who lived with their parents supplemented family income with their hard-earned wages. When the Factory Act was passed in 1833 it banned work for persons less than 9 years old and restricted the working day to 8 hours for those less than 14 years. Such activities changed people’s perception on child labour. Child labour was being likened to slavery, and this change in its perception helped the campaign. This change led into children being treated as persons whose rights mattered. In the US child labour became an issue in the 1850s especially in large cities like New York. Child labour worsened with increased industrialization. Parents sent out children as young as 6, to earn something with which to contribute to the household economy. The jobs that children did were considered risky, endangering to children’s lives, and low-paying. Children 11 worked in dark textile mills and coal mines. Efforts to deal with child labour in the US have remained unsuccessful to the present day; children from migrant farming families still work in the US.[8]

Exploitation of working children in developing countries has been reported since the 1800s. However, political awareness concerning the effects of child labour has gained substantial momentum in the international community only since the start of the 1990s more specifically in 1999[9] with the adoption of the ILO Convention[10] 182 which focuses on the worst forms of child labour.[11] Even with this awareness and political intervention, child labour remains business as usual.[12]

Calls to eliminate child labour resulted in the production of important documents used as global model of the rights of children and perhaps of childhood itself and have since been used in this fight. It was not until the 1990s and specifically with the ratification of the CRC in 1989,[13] and through factors such as globalisation, that the world became aware of the persistence of child labour, and that the situation had not become much better than it had been during the industrial revolution.[14] The only difference was that most developing countries had not industrialised much. The revelation of the magnitude and intensity of child labour presence gave rise to unprecedented levels of research with the hope of arriving at a sustainable global solution. However, two decades after the CRC, the problem seems to have defied best available means to its eradication or alleviation as provided for in the convention.

There is a gradual alarming practice of child labour in Cameroon. According to the 2008 government statistics on child labour in Cameroon, 85.2% of working children were employed in the agriculture sector, either on some family subsistence plots or on tea, banana, and palm oil plantations.[15] In the urban informal sector, children work as street vendors, car washers, and domestic workers.

The Second World War, Holocaust,^[16] that culminated in the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948. The true forerunner of human rights and children rights discourse was the concept of natural right which appeared as part of the medieval natural law tradition. It became prominent during the age of enlightenment with philosophers such John Locke, Francis Hutcheson and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and featured prominently in the political discourse of the American Revolution and French Revolution. From this foundation, the modern human rights and children’s rights argument emerged. This was a reaction to slavery, torture, genocide and war crimes, was due to inherent human vulnerability, and as being a precondition for possibility of a just society. Children are often victims of bad treatment, negative, social and cultural practices, sexual abuse and all forms of hazardous exploitations including commercial sexual exploitations. There are brought to urban areas by their guardians with the aim of taking care of them and providing for their wellbeing. But thus, there are turned into slaves and even work beyond their strength. They are exposed to hazardous working conditions which are extremely dangerous to their health and wellbeing as children. Some are kidnapped and trafficked for man’s selfish interests, others are forced to beg on streets and get involved in the illegal use of drugs. These activities violate children’s rights and welfare and destroy their dreams of becoming future African leaders of tomorrow.^[17] It is true to say that international law has always considered as one of the fundamental purpose the maintenance of peace.^[18]

 Situations of human rights violations are inevitable and no matter their nature, their occurrence is a problem and need to be addressed. The prosecution of human rights violation cases, especially as concerns children’s rights is embodied in various international legal instruments. In November 20 1989, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and this treaty went in to force less than a year in September 2 1990. African leaders decided to adopt their own version of the CRC; the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the child (African Children Charter), which was adopted in July 17 1990, went in to force in November 29 1999. These are the two internationally recognized treaties protecting children’s rights and welfare in Africa. There are others such as the Declaration on Rights and Welfare of the Child, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.

Also some courts were established for the protection of children’s right and welfare in Africa such as the African Court on Human and People’s Rights. This is a continental court established by African countries to ensure the protection Human and People’s rights in Africa. It compliments and reinforces the functions of African commission for Human and People’s Rights.

In Cameroon, the CRC and the African Children’s Charter (hereafter referred to as ACRWC) were recognized, accepted and ratified as part of its law ensuring the protection of children’s rights and welfare. As per article 45 of the constitution of Cameroon, the ratified treaties and international agreements take precedence over national laws. Cameroon is seen to be a monist state in terms of the status of international instruments duly ratified by the government. However, with regards to the application of ratified treaty, Cameroon is dualist as such treaties only take effect through domestication by national laws. Cameroon also has various legislative acts and decrees protecting children’s rights.^[19] Children should not be victims of torture. That is why Law No. 97/009 of 10 January 1997 States that the practice of torture in Cameroon has to be stopped at all cost and sanctions meted out. Section 7 of Law No. 98/004 of April 14 1998 it lays down the guidelines of education in Cameroon which stipulates that everyone is entitled to education regardless of sex, religion, age, political opinion and social origin.  Orphans can be adopted and guided by foster parents, foster homes or orphanages with good intension to take care of the children as per Law No. 84/04 of July 1983 on protection of orphans. The convention on the right of the child. However, the government has created several ministerial departments responsible for the rights of children with respect to decree No. 2004/ 320 of 8 December 2004 is a presidential decree issued on December 8 2004 by Paul Biya that organized 29 ministries of government of Cameroon.

The state has also transferred powers to various councils to provide aid and relieve to the destitute and the needy subject to a prior social injury carried out by a social worker in a social action Centre located within the jurisdiction of the councils. Therefore, children or minors in need of help due to violation of their rights can report  cases to various social actions Centre such as Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which can channel their cases to the council for adequate attention. In 2003, the International Labour Organization (ILO) established programs in collaboration in International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). To combat violation of children’s rights in Cameroon such as the West African Cocoa/ Agricultural Program to eliminate child Labour (WACAP).

1.3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The laws in force don’t adequately guarantee the protection of children. There is an apparent misconception of who is a child in Cameroon under the Labour code, because the age limit of 18years for certain types of employment doesn’t align with convention 186 of the international Labour Law Organisation. Age Limit in ILO is 21. Cameroon is a signatory to the ILO Convention and per article 24 of the constitution; Cameroon ought to amend the Labour Code to take up the working age to 21years meanwhile the ILO convention supersedes the Labour code.

There is a problem with the right of a child who is in detention in Cameroon, because they are usually joint with adult inmates that make such children to be hardened. There is good enforcement mechanism of children’s rights at the international; and national level. This is evident in various international conventions and declarations such The Convention on The Right of a Child 1989 (CRC), and the African Charter on the rights and Welfare of the child (ACC). Cameroon to this effect has ratified the CRC and the ACC. Prsuant to section 45 of the 1996 constitution (as revised) Cameroon has a good legal framework such as Labour Code, Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code. Notwithstanding, there is continuous practice of child Labour in Cameroon. Children are taken from rural areas to urban areas by foster parents with promises of care and education whereas they are turned into labourers and victims of domestic violence. Some are converted in to public vendors  on the streets. This violation is also manifested in the various forms of child Labour such as sexual exploitation especially child prostitution. There is a problem of the age limit of being a child in Cameroon

Another issue is the application of the criminal responsibility of a child in Cameroon.  reality, a minor (less than 18 years old) is criminally responsible in Cameroon, with one exception. Only those below 10 years are not held responsible for criminal activity. However, since the age of the criminal majority is 18 years, the perpetrator of an offense below that age cannot be sentenced the same as an adult. Section 80 of the Penal Code on minority provides, in its paragraph 2 that “a minor between 10 and 14 years of age, who is criminally responsible, may be subject to only one of the special measures provided for by law.” In other words, he “may, therefore, answer for his actions before a court. However, if the judge finds him guilty, he cannot pronounce a criminal sentence against him,” explains a jurist.

Likewise, “minor over 14 and under 18 years of age who is criminally responsible benefits from the mitigating excuse,” according to paragraph 3 of the same article. In other words, “the judge will match his sentence to the minor’s criminal liability by assessing what is more appropriate between a sentence and rehabilitation,” the lawyer explained. The latter may be sentenced to imprisonment. If this is the case, he will have to serve his custodial sentence in special establishments or be separated from adult prisoners (article 29). “The criminal responsibility for minors over 10 years has an educational purpose. The use of punitive sanctions is used only when the educational measures imposed on the juvenile offender have not been successful. There are therefore educational sanctions as punishments, and the punishments themselves,” concludes the jurist.

Most cultures still allow practices like breast ironing. The problem is that such practices are not sanction. With regards to breast ironing, it is commonly done to female children who are developing breast. It involves the pounding and massaging of the developing breast of young girls of about 8 years with hot object to try to make them disappear. It is initially done by women with the thought of improving mother breast milk. It is commonly done in the Littoral Region. It leads to harmful effect such as abscess in the breast pimples around the breast nipples, chest pain, deformities and complete disappearance of the breast. This practice is done against their wish and therefore violates their human rights.

1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The questions which this research seeks to answer are both main research question and specific Research questions:

1.3.1 Main Research Question

1. What is the standard of child protection under the Cameroonian criminal justice system?

1.3.2 Specific Research Question

1. What’s the nature and concept child labour?
2. Are the institutional and legal Framework to protect children effective?
3. how effective is the protection of children’s rights under the Cameroon criminal justice system
4. What policy recommendations can be made to improve the protection of children’s rights in Cameroon?

1.4. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.4.1. GENERAL OBJECTIVES

1. The purpose of this work is to investigate the standard of the protection of children’s right under the Cameroon Criminal justice system

1.4.2. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

5. To discuss the nature and concept of child Labour
6. To examine the effectiveness of the institutional and legal Framework for the protection of a child
7. To assess the effectiveness in the protection of children’s rights under the Cameroon criminal justice system
8. What policy recommendations can be made to improve the protection of children’s rights in Cameroon?

[1] “Child”. TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 5 may 2022.

[2] Brian G., Black’s Law Dictionary . Minnesota, (2004)  8th ed Page 716

[3] Article 2 of the African Charter on the Rights and welfare of the child which came into force inNov. 29, 1999.

[4] Ibid.

[5] United States Department of Labour Bureau of International Labour Relations, 2012 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/childlabor/southafrica.htm, p1 ( accessed on 14 April 2021)

[6] Ibid.

[7]  Child Protection Information Sheet, UNICEF (May 2006), www.unicef.org ( accessed on 14 February 2022)

[8] Ibid

[9] Worst Form of Child Labour Convention, 1999,(No.182),www.ohchr.org/EN/Professionalinterest/Pages/ChildLabour.aspx (last accessed on 09 February 2022)

[10] Marking progress against child labour – Global estimates as published on the ILO website, http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/child-labour/lang–en/index.htm#a2 ( accessed on 14 February 2022)

[11] African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1990, as discussed by Zeldin, Wendy. International Laws: Children’s Rights, August 2007, The Law Library Congress,.

[12] Handbook for Parliamentarians, No 3 – 2002. Eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labour. A practical guide to ILO Convention No 182, p15.

[13] UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989

[14] Ibid.

[15] Y. Mbassi- Bikele, Education: A Quoi Servent les APEE? Cameroon- Tribune, January 16, 2013, p.1

[16] S. Moyn, The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History, Belknap Press p. 337.

[17] http://www.cydj.org/200906/Eric-Njungwe.pdf, visited 15 February 2022.

[18] Merrills,”The Mosaic of International Disputes Settlement Procedures: Complementary or Contradictory?”54 Netherland International Law

[19] (Section 1) 0f Law No.2005/015 of 29 December 2005 relating to the fight against child trafficking and slavery.