A Historical Conspectus (1884 –1961)
By Richard Enonchong
It is trite that the idea of civil liberties, individual rights or fundamental human rights, emanate from an immemorial concept of ‘natural justice’. The concept of human rights and civil liberties is a widely acknowledged truism, which is currently being enshrined in the Constitutions or laws of most modern and developing nations. It also finds a strong following and advocacy in international bodies such as the United Nations Organisation. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights appears to effectively paint a clear picture of what are the widely accepted precepts and standards for observing human rights and civil liberties. In order to look forward on how the notions of human rights and civil liberties could effectively be applied and enforced in Cameroon, it would only be proper to appreciate what has been done in the past.
GERMAN RULE
The Germans formally set their feet on Cameroon soil in 1884 and were impressed by the natives’ harmonious conduct of day-to-day affairs. Certain rules on human rights were being observed by the indigents and regulated by chiefs or secret societies. It could be suggested that the latter were living Constitutions at that time in the absence of written ones. For example principles analogous to the maim “sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas”, that is, so use your own property or thing so as not to injure your neighbour's were rigorously enforced by customary courts. However there existed some customs, which were repugnant to natural justice.
An example of such an obsolete custom (which ignored the right to life) was the burial ceremony of a traditional chief in the Bayangi tribe. Such a chief (or king) would be buried along with seven of his most faithful slaves. Sometimes the latter would be buried alive. The Germans systematically eradicated these archaic customs.
Governors who were vested with a tremendous amount of authority carried out administration under German rule. They were only responsible to the Reitchstag and the Chancellor in Germany. In over thirty years there were six governors, and while most of them left a pitiful human rights record behind them, others such as Seitz (1907 - 1910) showed a genuine concern for civil liberties.
An example of absolute neglect of such rights was the scandal, which erupted under the rule of the second governor, Zimmerer (1891 - 1895). Acting for him during a long period of absence in Germany was his chancellor, Leist, whose immorality and cruelty led to violent discontent among the Dahomean soldiers. Leist indulged in promiscuous activities along with other Europeans, in which they forced the women of the Dahomean soldiers to entertain them sexually. The Dahomeans were angered by such attitudes, especially since their wives could no more cook for them. They thus ordered their wives not to leave their homes. What ensued was the shameful and degrading incident in which Leist had all these women striped naked and whipped in public. Angered by this, the Dahomean soldiers attempted to kill Leist, but rather unfortunately mistakenly killed another white man. After that episode, Leist ordered the imprisonment, torture and killing of most of the Dahomean soldiers. Though Leist was called to Germany and tried for his ruthless and savage acts, he was merely striped of his rank of administrator without further ado.
Another example of human rights abuse is that of a minor official, Wehlam, who prided himself of the achievement of burning a number of villages and was charged of torturing, starving, mutilating and killing a large number of natives. The Governors themselves were not directly the perpetrators of these dehumanising and animalistic acts, but the fact that they condoned them, and to an extent encouraged them makes them primarily responsible for the recession in civil rights during this period.
There were basically two sets of courts, one for indigenous inhabitants and Europeans and the other for natives. These courts had a harsh manner of implementing sanctions on blacks. Whipping and flogging was made the standard penalty for minor offences, whereas the greatest sentence for a white man would be repatriation. Governor Putt Kamer encouraged this since he was more interested in the commercial prosperity of the whites rather than the well being of the natives. A decree of Dernburg passed in July 1907 to stop whippings had little or no effect.
Germany surrendered Cameroon to Britain and France in accordance with Article 119 of the Treaty of Versailles 1919. Cameroon thus became a mandated territory to the Britain and France by Article 22 of the League of Nations. Under French and English rule, Cameroon would experience slight inroads into the acknowledgment of human rights. However, the horrific acts meted on the natives by the German colons bred a legacy of general marginalisation and disregards of human rights in Cameroon, ingrained in the psyche notion that for the establishment of binding authority brutality and terror, ultimately, were necessary expedients.
FRENCH RULE
The notion of the guarantee of civil liberties was initially introduced under the French mandate through Article 7 of the French Agreement with the League of Nations 1922. Article 7 stated that:
“The mandatory shall ensure in the territory complete freedom of conscience and free exercise of all forms of worship which are consonant with public order and morality.... it being understood. However, that the mandatory shall have the right to exercise such control as many be necessary for the maintenance of public order and good government, and take all measures for such control.”
Similarly Article 109 of the French Constitution 1848 held that colonies were French territories and benefited from the same rights enjoyed by the metropole in regards of public and private laws. However the French followed a policy of assimilation in which the colonies never had the semblance of the political and economic rights enunciated by statute. An example is the suppression of powers of chiefs to assert their authority. This was synonymous to a breach of the traditional and cultural values vested in native Cameroonians.
The French often had recourse to forced labour which brought a lot of bitterness against French rule. They believed they had to force the natives to work for their own good, such a belief being contrary to the human rights principles of self- determination and liberty. In 1931, on a report of the German Journal Kolnische Volkszeitung, Catholic missionaries affirmed that forced labour had gained outrageous proportions in Cameroon, employment of task force usually took the shape of a man hunt. Natives would be captured in their huts at night, brought to their work place, poorly nourished, poorly treated and poorly lodged. The Permanent Mandatory Commission in its reports stated that mortality rate on work fields due to forced labour was between 50% to 60%. This aptly demonstrates how the right not to be compelled to force labour and to at least work under decent conditions was blatantly ignored.
Democratic expression was also stifled during French rule. An acute example of this was the wave of threats made on Reverend Lotin Same (a Marcus Garveyist who was essentially anti-colonial) refusing the latter to preach. After this debacle the church lost almost all it's independence in May 1923.
It was only after the Second World War, and after a lot of hesitation that human rights were officially acknowledge in Cameroon. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man of 1789 was meticulously confirmed by the preamble to the 1946 Constitution as the principle on "which the French Union was based. According to Article 81 of the 1946 Constitution. All citizens and nationals of territories within the French Union, including French Cameroon had the status of citizens of the French Union, which ensured them the enjoyment of rights and liberties guaranteed by the preamble of the Constitution.
The Loi - cadre came about as a result of the promulgation of French law N° 56-619 of 23 June 1956, and served to introduce wide-scale reforms which tended to prepare Cameroon for self-determination and autonomy. These reforms led to Decree N° 57 - 501 of 16 April, 1957, which offered Cameroon a brand new Constitutional structure in which the status of Cameroon citizenship was recognized and alongside an endorsement of civil liberties and Constitutional guarantees.
The United Nations organ charged for supervising the administration of Cameroon was the Trusteeship Council, and it demanded that the administering authorities should introduce the Fundamental Declaration of Human Rights in Cameroon. This was tantamount to Article 5 of the French Cameroon Constitution, 1959, which stated, inter alia, that all;
“Laws and regulations (in East Cameroon) must respect ... the principles and fundamental freedoms inscribed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Charter of the United Nations.” Similarly the preamble to the first Cameroon Republic Constitution of 1960 contained the detailed provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
BRITISH RULE
The British who followed the Germans in administering British Cameroons were much more subtle than their predecessors and provided that native laws were to be respected as is demonstrated in their various Orders - in - Council. Britain introduced it's own civil rights principles into British Cameroons, such as the “four basic freedoms”: (1) freedom of expression; (2) freedom of religion; (3) freedom from arbitrary arrest; and (4) freedom of association - as contained in the Magna Carta, 1215; the petition of Rights, 1627; and the Bill of Rights, 1689.
All was not rosy about British rule, however there is very few or no documentation about possible Human Rights abuses. This is because the British destroyed most records on that matter before departing from British Cameroons.
The “four basic freedoms” were not rigorously applied in Courts since no English statute or law clearly defined such freedoms. However after the Second World War and under British Trusteeship the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was being acknowledged in British Cameroons. There was more freedom of association and of self-determination than ever. To prepare British Cameroons for an appreciation of human rights after independence, the British Government, in the Southern Cameroon (Constitution) Order in Council 1960 introduced fundamental human rights under sections 76 - 85 which were enforceable under section 86. This new injection of liberties and freedom would be short lived. The years ensuing the grant of independence would plunge Cameroon into a bleak period which would over shadow or reduce the importance human rights were about gain on the national field.© The Entrepreneur Newspaper 2009. All Rights Reserved
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