DECISION OF THE AFRICAN COMMISSION ON
HUMAN AND PEOPLES' RIGHTS ON
ADMISSIBILITY
Communication 650/17: Divine Chi and 74
Others (represented by Profeasor Carlson
Anyangwe) v. Cameroon
"
,
SUMMARY OF THE COMPLAINT
on
1.
The Secretariat of the African Commission
Human and Peoples' Rights (the Secretariat)
received a Complaint on 20 February 2017 from KUM Bezeng and 75 Others (the
Complainants), represented by Professor Carlson Anyangwe. The Complaint was lodged
on behalf of themselves and of the People of the'former"UNTrust Territory of the Southern
Cameroons under the United Kingdom Administration.
2.
The Complaint is submitted against the Republic of Cameroon (the Respondent State), a
State Party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (the African Charter)".
-'j;-.":;
3.
The Complainants in their complaint state that the territory referred to in this present
communication as "the Southern Cameroons", is the southern part of the British
Mandated/Trusteeship Territory of British Cameroons in West Africa. They traced its
historical background and evolvement from 1916to the end of World War I and under the
terms of the Treaty of Versailles, 1919,to when the Southern Cameroons was administered
by the British, under the League of Nations and the United Nations (UN) as a Mandate and
Trust Territory respectively;:t((l;~?l, when, the Complainants allege, Southern Cameroons'
sovereignty was 'transf~rred ill 'a_'> pseudo-independent move to the already independent
former French Cameroon (la Republique du Cameroun) by the British.
4,
The Complainants also traced the evolvement of Southern Cameroons from 1961,when
the territory joined the already independent la Republique du Cameroun, to form the
Federal Republic of Cameroon, to 1972,when the Federal Republic of Cameroon changed
into the United Republic of Cameroon, and to 1984,when once again, the name changed
back to the Republic of Cameroun (la Republique du Cameroun)
5.
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Cameroon ratified the Charter on June 2, 1989
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