In June of 2019, a group of 13 U.S. Senators, led by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, introduced a resolution to halt all further U.S. security assistance to Cameroon, except for dealing with Boko Haram, until the U.S. can certify that military and security forces of Cameroon have demonstrated progress in abiding by international human rights standards.
“At Chicago’s [Marjorie] Kovler Center, I heard devastating stories firsthand from refugees who fled mounting political violence in Cameroon. And President Biya’s long history of jailing journalists and lack of respect for human rights do not bode well for peacefully addressing the country’s colonial-era divisions,” Durbin said.
Decades of persecution in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions have led to simmering tensions and government repression amounting to severe human rights abuses. As a result, the Kovler Center in Chicago has experienced an influx of survivors of torture and trauma from the Central and West African nation in need of urgent support and care.
“That is why I introduced an amendment to the FY2020 NDAA with Senators Cardin, Van Hollen, and Kaine that stops all further U.S. security assistance to Cameroon, except for dealing with Boko Haram, until the Secretaries of Defense and State can certify that such violent repression has come to a halt,” continued Durbin. “I told Cameroonian Ambassador Essomba that the U.S. stands ready to help when a peaceful path forward is advanced.”
To tell the whole story, we have to start with the nation at the center of this resolution – Cameroon. Originally a German colony, the region that forms present day Cameroon was divided between British and 
French rule after World War I. During this time, the British ruled region (in red) often called “western Cameroon” or “Anglophone Cameroon” slowly grew more distant from the French-speaking region (in green). Today, around 80% of the country speaks French; the rest speaks English – and cultural, ethnic, and political differences continue to divide the nation.
In 2017, the Anglophone region began calling for independence – a call that was and continues to be violently suppressed by the Cameroonian military with acts that include opening fire on peaceful protestors. Violence spurred by this linguistic split has brought Cameroon to the brink of civil war. The UN’s refugee agency reported that hundreds have died, close to 500,000 have been displaced, and activists have been rounded up and jailed.
Many individuals and families from Cameroon’s Anglophone parts have turned to alternative destinations to find safety, such as the U.S. and most notably the Midwest. Despite countless records and testimonies of torture, in October of 2020, the Guardian reported that over 90% of asylum cases from Cameroon are rejected, resulting in mass deportations. There is also evidence of inhumane treatment and even torture under ICE detention, including being threatened, pepper-sprayed, beaten, and choked to coerce the asylum seekers to sign their own deportation orders and waive their right to pending immigration hearings.
Thomas (whose name was changed for his safety) spoke to the Kovler Center over the phone in November of 2020 and said, “We came to this country for safety and liberty and now we’re being sentenced to death.”
Thomas was once an asylum seeker himself and received support through the Kovler Center’s culturally-responsive, trauma-informed community model. And, he was one of the Cameroonians Senator Durbin spoke to in 2019. Thomas went on to explain that many of the asylum seekers and deportees are activists back home and face arrest warrants from government forces with a well documented record of extrajudicial killings.
“I hope the Senator remembers me and our conversation. My people need him to raise his voice for us again. It’s life and death we’re talking about.”
Thomas and other human rights advocates say Cameroonian asylum-seekers face significant risk if they are deported to the country and even refer to the deportation flights as the “death planes.” They are particularly concerned the deportations are being rushed because of the U.S. presidential results.
“Many [Cameroonian asylum seekers] are in hiding. They are afraid to go out – of being deported and killed. The word in the community is to lay low until Biden takes power. But, I worry it will be more of the same. That’s been our experience anyways, regardless of the country or person in power.”
As a program of Heartland Alliance International (HAI), the Kovler Center helps complements the current inadequate treatment of asylum seekers by providing participants with much needed mental health care, legal support, case management, and other social services. Beyond those services, the Kovler Center also provides a sense of community, belonging, and safety to people like Thomas, who shared that the Kovler Center is the only space he and his fellow Cameroonians felt comfortable congregating at to speak with Senator Durbin.
“Kovler has helped me a lot, it’s gotten me out for things like their community events. Kovler helped me understand that life goes on. I am very happy and I pray a lot for Kovler.”
If the U.S. wishes to remain as the beacon of liberty and security for the world, then the government needs to act in support of the rights to life and to a dignified life for the people seeking the liberty that it symbolizes. This is a time of dramatic change in the U.S. and we join our voices with our Cameroonian friends to call for increased funding for treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, as well as increased number of admittance of asylum seekers from nations like Cameroon who are fleeing human rights abuses. Only then can we call for the government of Cameroon and the separatist groups to attempt a slow process of negotiations. The issue of politics can be saved for later, when the issue of human rights is right now.
