In Cameroon, the authorities are illegally detaining and torturing people, and some are not surviving.

Why are they doing this? Because the Cameroon government is fighting a war against the armed group Boko Haram. They will stop at nothing to win, including arresting people and torturing people suspected of supporting Boko Haram until they confess. This means that if you find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time in the Far North region of Cameroon, you run the risk of being arbitrarily arrested, tortured and even killed.

Many of the victims are men from the Kanuri ethnic group but victims also include women, minors and people with mental disabilities. They are taken to often illegal detention facilities, and are tortured, humiliated, intimidated and punished. They are beaten with sticks, electric cables and machetes, forced into stress positions for days, and subjected to suspensions and drowning. Some don’t survive the torture.

The details are chilling and are made worse by the fact that many have been arrested with little or no evidence.

The Cameroon government should do everything in its power to protect the population, but not at the cost of human rights.

President Biya has the power to stop this, please sign the petition and call on the president to:

• Publicly order the security forces to end the practice of torture and secret detention;
● Ensure all detainees can freely access a lawyer of their choice, their family and medical care;
● Grant independent international monitors unhindered access to all detention facilities and people imprisoned;
● Conduct prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigations into all allegations of torture, incommunicado detention and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in all places of detention.

With your support, we will be able to put pressure on the Cameroon authorities to respect the rights of the people in their fight to keep the country safe.