1. The Secretariat of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of
the Child (the Committee/ACERWC) received a communication dated 22 April
2016 pursuant to Article 44(1) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of
the Child (the Charter/ACRWC). The Communication is submitted by Mr. and Mrs.
Elogo Menye and Rev. Daniel Ezo’o Ayo (the Complainants). According to
Section IX (2) (i) of the Revised Guidelines on Consideration of Communications
by the ACERWC (the Revised Communication Guidelines), the Committee
transmitted a copy of the Communication to the respondent State Party. Upon
receipt of the Communication, the State Party should have submitted its response
within 60 days from the date of the request from the Secretariat. As the
Committee did not receive a response from the Government, it decided to
proceed considering the admissibility of the Communication without the response
from the Respondent State.
II. Summary of Alleged Facts
2. The complainants allege that Elisabeth Gloria aged 4 and Jacques Le Juste aged
6 died on November 2012 at the Catholic hospital Notre Dame de l’Amour of
Logpom in Douala, Cameroon. It is further alleged that the children lost their lives
at the hospital because the person in duty was not a doctor and could not
diagnose febrile gastroenteritis. The complainants allege that the fact that the
children died of the reason stated above has been confirmed by the autopsy
report conducted on 8 January 2013.
3. The complainants allege that the hospital refused to issue documents ascertaining
the state of health of the children when they were admitted to the hospital or
death certificate. Furthermore it is alleged that the hospital falsely stated that the
children arrived at the hospital dead, after being ritually tortured by their parents
who are members of a sect.
4. The complainants allege that after the death of the children, their corpses were
sexually defiled as coitus was performed on the remains of Elizabeth Gloria and
the remains of Jacques Le Juste was sodomized. These acts were allegedly
undertaken as rites of worship that provide access to immeasurable degrees of
power.
5. The complainants, taking the facts into consideration, claim the Republic of
Cameroon is in violation of Articles 14 (Health and Health Services) and 16
(Protection Against Child Abuse and Torture) of the Charter by virtue of the sexual
acts performed on the bodies of the children after they lost their lives.
III. The African Committee’s Analysis on the Decision of Admissibility
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