from acting as a court of first instance rather than a body of last resort. Three major criteria
could be deduced from the practice of the Commission in determining this rule, namely:
the remedy must be available, effective and sufficient. A remedy is considered available if
the petitioner can pursue it without impediment, it is deemed effective if it offers a prospect
of success, and it is found sufficient if it is capable of redressing the cornplaint'T'.
114. In regard to the above stated, the availability of remedies lies on the ability of the
Complainant, under the specific circumstances of the case, to have access to national
courts. Further, the effectiveness of the remedies should imply that; the said availability is
followed by a reasonable prospect of a fair, impartial and successf~l trial. In other words,
to what extent would it be reasonable for a compla~~t,to seiz:J~Btional courts under
given circumstances. Furthermore, beyond availabilitYi~ahdeffectiveness, national courts
should grant sufficient remedies, so as to truly redress the alleged violations. In as much
as the burden of exhausting local remedies is incumbent upon the Complainants, the
Commission holds that the three above-mentioned conditions must be fulfilledzifi order to
declare a Complaint inadmissible for not complying withArticle'5f>(5).
'"
115. In this particular case, the Complainants allege that since December 2016, there has been
massive, indiscriminate and arbitrary arrests, disappearances of suspects in Southern
Cameroon. October 2016 marks the beginning of the alleged Cameroon's Anglophone
crisis. In its press release, the Commission, stated that" since October 2016, the human
rights situation in the Republic of Cameroon has continued to worsen following brutal
crackdowns on legitimate andpeaceful protests by lawyers, teachers and members of civil
society of the English-speaking'fegicns'of North-W,e,stand South-West'T'.
116. In its 39th session in 2018, the Human Rights Council expressed its concern and therefore
recognition of the instability in the State of Cameroon, namely with regards to the Southern
region. The council stated that it "strongly~~~pdemnreports of the killing and abductions
of teachers and students and the destruction of schools by armed elements in the northwest and south-west regions. These acts of intimidation are preventing thousands of
children from attending school"16
-~~it'i,
'
,I':':j~·- .
"
117. In the same spirit, ;~e International Crisis Group developed a narrative on the so called
"Anglophone crisis" in its analysis. It stated that "the current crisis is a particularly
worrying resurgence of an old Rro~.lem.Never before has tension around the Anglophone
f' ~,\.It·"I, "'tIt;1
issue ~een so acute. The m~~1~~q~9.Mq~erS, teachers ~nd s~de~ts starting in October
2016,Ignored then put d~~ff.>15?the-g,~emment, has revived Identity-based movements
which date back to the 1970s."'f -c
'0:
.:
","",_'.1
'6~
JI
.
14 Communication
.
;.:.
"
15
'..J
,.....
. '1. ";'~&
147/95-149/96: Sir Qawclarl(
httPS:llwww.achpr.org~slillls/desciorts:~:5~
.
~\J'\)h.:
"'IV.
"~
('
,
aW::Jr.p/Gambia (The),
Hll:>'-'
lZ
[1 ot'
ACHPR, Press Release on the human rights situation
y
~"
in Cameroon,
Ilttp_s;l/.If/_'1i.w..a_chp_LQ_[gLp_r.e_s~releJ;l_s.eld.e._tai!1i.cl_~63
16 39th session of the Human
Rights Council, 10 September 2018,
bttps ://www. 0 hc hr. QIgLe._nL_staterrumtsL2ill.8LQ9L3illh:.s.~.1!JIl_a.n:dgtll
soc0 U n c ll
17 Cameroon's
Anglophone Crisis at the Crossroads, 2 AUGUST 20 17, tJltPs.:LLW'ijw,c.r.ls_[sgCQUP,QIgL9frj'c;;lIc.entraJ:
africa/camerOQo{250-cameroons-anglophQne-c.[isis-crossmads
19