Cameroon

GEOGRAPHICAL INFO

Population: 24,678,000 (UNSD, 2018)

Capital city: Yaoundé

Largest city: Douala

Independence from France: 1960

Independence from UK: 1961

Government structure: Presidential Republic under the dominant party of Cameroon’s People Democratic Movement (CPDM). The president is Paul Biya (in charge since 1982), directly elected by simple majority of popular vote for a term of 7 years (but there are no term limits). The president appoints Prime Minister and Cabinet of Ministers. 

From the administrative point of view, the country is divided in 10 regions: Adamaoua, Centre, East, Far North, Littoral, North, North-West, West, South and South West.  

The legislative branch consists of a bicameral Parliament with a 100-seat Senate 9partly appointed by the president, partly elected) and 180-seat National Assembly. 

Both Supreme Court judges and Constitutional Council members are appointed by the president. 

Economic activities: based on extraction of oil and gas, minerals (timber, aluminum), cultivation of bananas, cocoa, oil palms, tobacco, coffee, tea, groundnuts, rice, cotton and rubber. Lately, tourism has been encouraged. 

Transports: the road network is mostly unpaved and poorly maintain, so transport is difficult. The major rivers in the southern regions (Sanaga and Wouri) are non-navigable or, as in the case of river Benue, are only during the rainy season. 

The railway system is not very big but it efficiently connects the major cities (Douala, Yaoundé, Ngaoundere and Garoua).

Environmental issues: terrorist attacks by Boko-Haram and ISIS, mainly based in Nigeria

Ethnic groups: 31% Cameroon Highlanders, 19% Equatorial Bantu, 11% Kirdi, 10% Fulani, 8% Northwestern Bantu

Official languages: French, English

Recognized regional languages: Cameroonian pidgin, English, Fula, Ewondo, Camfranglais

Religions: Christian (70%), Muslim (18%)

Neighboring countries: Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea

Historical Background

Due to its political stability after independence and its strategic position, Cameroon has been the destination country of many migrant people, especially during the ‘70s. Nevertheless, immigrant rates achieved their peak in 1987, with 257,689 people (UNIDESA), mostly migrant workers, but the economic crisis and rampant poverty that followed made the country less and less attractive for foreigners in search of better jobs and living conditions. 

Due to the difficult situation in conflict torn neighboring countries, Cameroon has become the destination country with the largest number of refugees (approximately 81,000 in 2008, according to UNIDESA) fleeing from Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Nigeria, Rwanda and Sudan. In recent years, following to the Nigerian crisis, the influx of refugees from the latter country has increased.

On the other hand, in 2007 170,363 Cameroonians were estimated to have migrated to France, other Central African countries and USA (UNIDESA). Interestingly, most were highly educated professionals who left the country to seize better job opportunities. 

Migration Policies

Becoming UN member in 1960, Cameroon has signed and ratified many international laws regarding refugees and asylum seekers, but it was only in 1997 that the government promulgated the Immigration Act (No. 97/012, 10/01/1997), outlining the terms and conditions for the entry, security, transfer of funds and return policies of foreigners.  On the other hand, Cameroon has been supportive of mobilizing diaspora practices and co-development projects, which aimed at the return of Cameroonian skilled professionals emigrated to Europe (Belgium and Germany). 

In 2005, the Refugee Law was signed, but became effective only six years later; it grants protection and freedom of movement within the national borders to both refugees and asylum seekers (even if the latter have to inform the authorities whenever changing their address). In Cameroon, it is the UN Refugee Agency that deals with the claims of asylum seekers and decides on their status of refugees. Denied applicants are allowed to appeal, but Courts cannot review decisions. 

According to the Refugee Law, refugees have the right to work, own or transfer property and be employed in almost all job fields (except in parastatal and civil service occupations), but any contract of employment involving a foreigner must first be submitted to and approved by the Ministry of Labour, with the result that many migrants have no other alternative than choosing odd and informal jobs. 

The same law grants refugees protection in labour, medical health (at the same conditions of nationals) and the right to education through scholarships that are provided by the government or funded by NGOs. 

Governmental Institutions

The General Delegation of National Security, based in the capital city, regulates migration policies, security and border control and issues visas.

The Ministry of External Relations in 2009 officially opened the building to host the Permanent Technical Secretariat of the Eligibility and Appeals Commissions of Refugee Status in Cameroon. 

The Ministry of Justice decides about the naturalization of migrants, while the Ministry of Territory Administration and Decentralization approves the legalisation of migrants’ associations. 

Internal Migration

Internal migration in Cameroon cannot count on a consistent and reliable collection of official data and remains a poorly and unexplored phenomenon. Internal migration is mostly interregional, with a human exodus from the Far North, West and North West regions directed mostly to the two main metropolitan areas of Douala and Youndé.

In 2000, internal migration was estimated to be around 32.5% (Mberu and Pongou, 2012), involving a population under 35 years of age. According to a field inquiry  (Evina, 2009), migrants leave their homeplace in search of work (45.6%), shelter from poverty (18.4%) and job assignment (13.8%), but there is also a significant percentage of young students migrating to cities where they complete or improve their education (12.2%). 

The massive migration to urban areas leads to the creation and expansion of slums, with consequent problems of health (the cholera epidemics in 2004) and security problems related to crime and violence.

Migrants often find employment or self-employment in the informal sector.

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

In Cameroon internal displacements have been related to natural disasters (the flood followed by draught in the years 2011-2012) and the activities of Boko Haram, which increased consistently in 2016 and still cause the majority of current internal displacements.

As far as data are concerned, the most reliable are those provided in 2018 by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, according to which 668,000 people, mostly women and children, were displaced from the Far North to the North West and South West regions fleeing from the attacks of the terrorist organization and its confrontations with military forces.

Besides, in 2017 the political conflict following the protests of separatist groups in the South West and North West regions led to the displacement of 20,000 people. 

Immigration

Immigration in Cameroon reached its peak in 1987, with an estimated migrant population of 257,689. The economic crisis that affected the country in the ‘90s contributed to the decline of immigrants, which were 228,383 in 2000, 211,880 in 2005 and 196,570 in 2010. According to a Unicef report, in 2013 immigration figures amounted to 219,792 people. 

If for more than a decade, from 2000 to 2010 the international migration stock remained around 1.5%, a significant increase was recorded in 2015 (2.2%) and is actually set at 2%. 

As for the net migration rate, it has declined from – 0.1 (on 1,000 people) as recorded in 2010-2015 to – 0.2% (as estimated for the 2016-2020 period), meaning that the emigrant population outnumbers the immigrant by 24,000 people (all data are provided by IOM, 2019).

Immigrants mostly come from Central African Republic, Chad, Guinea Equatorial and Nigeria.

Gender/Female Migration 

There are few data available to throw light on the issue of female migration. According to IOM, there are 255,500 thousand migrant women in Cameroon, corresponding to 50.5% of the share stock. The field inquiry led by Evina in 2009 reveals that internal female migrants are mostly young mothers, even of school age, with at least one child. This research also highlights that women integrate faster in the labour market and in self-employed jobs, especially in the informal sector. Moreover, they have easier access to health care facilities when they can count on their spouses’ resources.

Both international and internal female migration can also be related to the attempt of fleeing from Boko Haram’s controlled territories (in the Far North region in Cameroon and in Nigeria), as girls and women have been the main victims of abductions by the terrorist organization. 

Children

According to the 2007 Unicef report, on a migrant population of 540,000 people in Cameroon, 32% were under 18. The percentage increases when looking at the refugees, where children are the 58%, while only 6% of the asylum seekers were minors. 

On the other hand, Cameroonian migrant children were only the 1% of the migrant population, which means that most parents left their families behind, though temporarily. In the same year, 17% of Cameroonians refugees were under 18 years of age, while the highest percentage of migrant children (25%) was to be found among the asylum seekers (UNICEF, 2007).

The above data highlights that children immigration is mostly related to the refugee status and therefore children move mainly with their mothers (as the high percentage of female refugees shows) to flee from conflicts.  

From the legal point of view, Cameroon has signed and ratified so far the most important international laws protocols regarding children’s right: the 1990 Child Right Convention and the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children in 2004. In 2011, the government also promulgated a national law against child trafficking (024/2011). As far as migrant children are concerned, the Immigration Act (006/2005) gives any refugee’s child the status of refugee, favours family reunifications and, in the case of non-accompanied children, grants them the status of refugees. According to the Cameroonian laws, children have the right to education, health care and naturalization and must be protected from child marriages as well as from any form of exploitation. 

Refugees and Asylum Seekers

in Cameroon 

Cameroon has become, in recent years, one of the most important countries of destination for refugees from Central Africa. Since 2007, numbers have constantly ad rapidly increased, reaching a peak in 2012, due to political tensions in Central Africa, when refugees and asylum seekers passed from 100,000 to 400,000 units.  The most recent data (UNIDESA, 2018) shows that in Cameroon refugees are 380,300, that is 1.5% of the host population, while asylum seekers are estimated to be 8,100 (UNCHR). Most refugees come from Central African Republic (380,300), followed by Nigerians (102,000). Other countries of origin are Chad, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo.

The latest statistics provided by UNCHR (mid-2019 report) highlights that 53% of refugees and asylum seekers are female and 58% children. In 2018, there were 27,600 accompanied children seeking asylum, while 111,000 were unaccompanied.

from Cameroon 

The number of Cameroonian refugees has relevantly been oscillating in the last fifteen years and is strongly related to the periodical resurgence of conflict between the Anglophone and the Francophone regions. In 1990 data show only 100 refugees from the country, relocated in Congo, and no asylum seeker. Five years later, though, the number had increased to 2,017 refugees fleeing mostly to Nigeria, USA and Ivory Coast, while in 2005 we could count 9,100 refugees and 4,860 asylum seekers. Almost all of them left the continent and settled in the United States, Germany, the UK and Belgium, while 1,394 asylum seekers were recorded in South Africa.

Following the crisis of the Bakassi peninsula and the violent protests in the Anglophone regions, figures increased in 2010, with 14,963 refugees (48.7% in the United States, 13.3% in Nigeria and 8.2% in Germany) and 2,102 asylum seekers, mostly in Europe (Germany, Ireland, Cyprus and Spain). In 2015, the number of refugees was significantly reduced (6,122 people), while that of asylum seekers multiplied (more than 7,390, mostly in the USA and in Germany). The highest figures were reached in 2018, after the 2016 protests in the Anglophone areas (North West and South West regions) led into a guerrilla war, with violent clashes: 45,083 refugees left the country to settle in Nigeria (32,751), USA (4,300) and France (1,246), while 13,338 people were recorded as asylum seekers. The majority went to the USA (4,414), South Africa (1,592) and Germany (2,990).

Unfortunately, no data were found on the percentage of refugee women and children. According to the March 2019 Supplementary Appeal by UNHCR, of the 35,000 Cameroonian refugees crossing the Nigerian borders, 60% were women and 51% children. Partial as they may be, numbers reveal once again that the majority of those leaving the country to seek protection are also the most vulnerable ones, those whose lives are constantly at risk of illness, malnutrition, exploitation and gender-based violence.

Emigration

In 2007, Cameroonian emigrants were estimated to be 170,363, 23% of which moved to France, 18% to Gabon (mainly for reasons regarding their belonging to ethnic groups settled in the Guinean Gulf), 10% in Nigeria and 8% in the United States (IOM). 

As far as forced migration is concerned, Cameroonian asylum seekers passed from 3,354 in 2001 to 6,289 in 2003 to decrease to 2,933 in 2008 (UNCHR), the main host countries being Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland).  Refugees from Cameroon were estimated to be 5,200 in 2002 but multiplied increasingly up to 13,870 by 2009. 

Labour Migration/Brain Drain

According to UNDESA (2019), 58% of the international migrant stock are working age migrants, especially professionals emigrating in order to find better working conditions. Usually, the level of education is quite good: the 2011 Human Development Report highlighted that 34.9% of men and 21.1% of women had completed secondary education. Actually, in 2005 42.3% of emigrants were highly qualified, especially in the health care field (doctors and nurses): such a brain drain reduced the numbers of doctors to 1 per 10,000-20,000 inhabitants in the urban areas and 1 per 40,000-50,000 in the rural areas. 

According to the same data source, 15,129 Cameroonian students emigrated to foreign countries (mostly European) to complete their secondary and university education. 

Unauthorised Migration/Trafficking and Smuggling

Due to its spurious borders and the lack of a monitoring policy, Cameroon can count on three major entry points used by migrants entering the country illegally: from West Africa to Garoua via Kano (Northern Nigeria) and from Central Africa to Yaoundé via Abang Minko’o or Ngoazck. Being both a country of transit and destination, Cameroon provides a strategic route for human traffickers. 

In 2016, UNODC reported that 34 men and 23 women were identified as trafficking offenders, while Courts registered 23 cases of child trafficking. 11 cases were pending before trial, with five persons convicted, two acquitted, and five at the level of preliminary enquiry in 2015. A total of 67 victims were identified in 2016, 47 of which were women, and 16 minors.

According to CTDC, the current percentage of human traffic in Cameroon is 0.5%, the 21 victims being all women mostly 24 to 29 years of age. On the other hand, the 2018 report in human trafficking by the US Department of State estimated that there were 665,000 people vulnerable to sexual and labour exploitation in the country. 

The phenomenon of human traffic affects both immigrants and Cameroonians (especially children and women) living in poverty-stricken areas: they are employed as forced labour in gold mining activities, domestic services or prostitution. They are often convinced by traffickers promising them better conditions or good wages. 

Boko Haram group has often kidnapped women and girls and used them as sex slaves while boys have been recruited as child soldiers. 

Trafficking networks count on community members to recruit victims that can be sent to Middle Eastern countries via Nigeria, to Libya or, as in the case of sexually enslaved women, to Morocco. 

Remittances

Between 2000 and 2008, remittances increased significantly from 11 million dollars to 167 million dollars. In 2017, Cameroon received 345.4 million dollars remittances, according to the World Bank, which corresponded to 0.8% of the GDP. Such increase can be explained by the number of skilled professionals who emigrated to work under more favourable conditions and better wages.

The majority of these resources is used for medical and education expenses, besides covering the basic needs of the families receiving them.

The impact of remittances in the economy of the country does not meet a policy of investment, as in other countries (such as, for instance, Mali or Nigeria), which use part of them to promote development projects for the community. One reason could be that most of the received remittances are informally sent to the country through drivers, friends or brought by the same emigrants when visiting their homeplaces, and therefore cannot be traced or accounted for. 

On the other hand, one of the consequences of increasing remittances via money transfer has led to the expansion of the financial and banking network, creating many more job opportunities in this field.

 Returns and returnees

According to IOM, in 2016 only 201 Cameroonians came back to their country, that is 4% of the 4,916 returnees to West Africa. 

This can be explained because at the moment, Cameroon lacks a return policy framework, although it takes part in international returnee programmes, such as the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and the African Union, which aim to use the diaspora as a development resource for the countries of origin.

More than developing projects and programmes for returnees, the government is trying to promote investments from the diaspora, by reducing costs of transferring remittances, by tax exception or preferential treatment in providing credit or allotment of licences.

International and civil society organizations

IOM: provides support to help the Cameroonian government manage migration policies. 

UNHCR: collaborates with the government to handle issues related to asylum seekers, refugees and Internally Displaced Persons. 

UN WOMEN: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The organization promotes equality of gender while empowering women and girls. 

Other international NGOs present in Cameroon are listed below:

• African Development Foundation

• Appropriate Development for African Foundation

• Living Earth Foundation

• Rural Foundation for Sustainable Development

• United Action for Children

• Village d’Enfants SOS