CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Cameroon is a country of origin, transit, and destination for persons subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor, and a country of origin for women in forced labor. Individual trafficking operations usually involve the trafficking of two or three people at most, as when rural parents hand over their children to a seemingly benevolent middleman who may promise education and a better life in the city. A 2007 study conducted by the Cameroon government reported that 2.4 million people from Cameroon’s ten regions involuntarily work in forced domestic servitude, street vending, and child prostitution, or in hazardous settings, including mines and tea or cocoa plantations, where they are treated as adult laborers. An unknown number of these children are trafficking victims^[1].

• BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Nigerian and Beninese children attempting to transit Cameroon enroute to Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, or adjacent countries also fall into the hands of traffickers who force them to stay in the country and work. An unknown number of Cameroonian women are lured abroad by fraudulent proposals of marriage on the Internet or offers of work in domestic service and subsequently become victims of forced labor or forced prostitution – principally in Switzerland and France, and according to recent reports, as far away as Russia. This trafficking reportedly is facilitated by corrupt officials who accept bribes for the issuance of travel documents.^[2]

The Government of Cameroon does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. However, it is making significant efforts to do so. Despite these efforts, the government did not show evidence of increasing efforts to convict and punish trafficking offenders, including complicit officials, and to identify and protect victims of trafficking. While state prosecutors coordinated efforts with Interpol to investigate suspected trafficking offenses, particularly in the Northwest Region, there have been no reports of new trafficking prosecutions or convictions.^[3]

The Government of Cameroon demonstrated weak anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts over the last year. The government enacted no relevant legislation during the reporting period, and the country does not have a law prohibiting all forms of trafficking in persons, as its 2006 draft law against adult trafficking has yet to be passed and enacted. The country’s existing 2005 law against child trafficking and slavery prescribes a penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment for these offenses − a punishment that is sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious offenses.^[4]

During the reporting period, authorities investigated 26 new cases of human trafficking, as well as 18 other cases of possible trafficking offenses, none of which has resulted in a prosecution. All of the 26 cases involved children, and 10 of the cases were arrests and detentions pending trials. Several factors delay these cases, including the limited number of gendarmes and police officers available in rural areas, poor understanding of trafficking issues among victims who may be illiterate, and the lack of any security units specifically assigned to anti-trafficking details. The remaining 16 cases were alleged trafficking offenders who were caught in the act and arrested, but finally released after the matter was resolved either at the level of security forces, social affairs agencies, or a human rights lawyer’s chambers.^[5]

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

Shockingly, despite fascinating evidence that has given the country an excellent scorecard on child trafficking, the jurisprudence from the courts indicates that the offence of the child trafficking is highly under-reported, under investigated and under-prosecuted. It is based on the foregoing that this researcher has embarked on this research to discover the causes of the human trafficking and to make policy recommendations which shall help in solving the problems highlighted.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• What is human trafficking?
• What measures are taken by the international community to combat human trafficking?
• Is there any institutional and legal framework in Cameroon to combat trafficking in person and the impact in Buea?
• Are they policy recommendations for an effective fight against human trafficking in Cameroon?

1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

This research has both general and specific objectives;

1.4.1 General objective

• To know the role of the judiciary in the fight human trafficking in Cameroon.

1.4.2 Specific objectives

• To understand the concept of human trafficking
• To address the measures taken by the international community in combatting human trafficking.
• To analyze if there are any institutional and legal framework in Cameroon to combat trafficking in person the impact in Buea.
• To make some recommendations on how human trafficking can be eradicated in Cameroon.

[1]  “Cameroon”. Trafficking in Persons Report 2010. U.S. Department of State (June 14, 2010).  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[2] Ibid.

[3] 1bid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.