Unbelievable, but true.
More and more women and girls in Southern Cameroons are at risk of sexual violence and abuse because of the ongoing war ignited by the Biya regime of Cameroon since 2016. By 2020, the United Nations recorded over 4,300 cases of sexual and gender-based violence with up to 500 cases recorded during the first quarter of that year. Today, sexual violence against women is increasing in such an alarming rate that there is great fear for the future. The founder for Common Action for Gender Development (COMAGEND) stated that one in three girls have experienced some form of sexual violence. This is heart-breaking!!
Perpetrated by the Cameroon military, they use their guns to either kill or threaten the victims to perpetual silence. In some cases, the victims had to give in to the act for the military to spare their lives. The widespread rate of sexual violence has inflicted unimaginable psychological and physical damages to the lives of women in Southern Cameroons. Many have lost their lives due to different forms of complications resulting from sexual violence and abuse.
The fierce battles and killings have transformed lively communities to deserted wastelands of scattered mass graves. The loss of their husbands and/or parents transformed the hopes of many women and young girls into deep frustrations, leaving them with the sole option to flee and face life without a home, source of livelihood, or safety. The risk is huge and has become a matter of life or death with the alarming rate of rape and sexual violence. Living with deep fright, rising poverty, homelessness, widespread destruction of businesses/sources of livelihood, closure of schools etc have made the women of Southern Cameroons more vulnerable.
Life has become so difficult and stressful. Fending for daily subsistence has become a real challenge as they lost all sources of livelihood to the war. In most cases, sexual abuse has become a tool that the military use to negotiate access to daily basic services like crossing a checkpoint. The desperations that come with the struggles to barely survive has further transformed them to victims for the Cameroon military men who have taken every given opportunity to harass, kidnap and abuse them sexually. At the end of the act, they are either killed, become pregnant with some having to deliver their babies in the bushes where there is no access to medical attention. Some are living with damaged physical and mental health, coupled with the pain of having to raise their children as a single parent not knowing who their father is.
My heart was greatly saddened when I learned of the plight of a 22-year-old widow. Names will not be mentioned for the safety of those concerned. According to her story, her husband came home on the 3rd of September 2021 to get some rest and then return to work that same evening. Suddenly, they heard gunshots, and their home was later raided by armed military men who shot her husband in front of her and her daughter. She was kidnapped, raped, and found out some months later that she was pregnant for twins. Terrified, she fled from her village to town where a friend opened her house for them. However, she couldn’t continue to live with that friend because life became very difficult for both. She had lost both parents when she was just three years old and had nowhere else to go. She ended up on the streets with her daughter where she was found by a pastor who rented a room for them. It was while in that room that she was supported by people of good will to deliver her twin boys. She’s got no money to care for herself and her three children. She is in deep sorrow and sometimes finds herself nursing negative thoughts. The pain is unbearable, she is emotionally traumatised and needs help desperately. In another instance, even the old are not spared. Such is the case of a 70-year-old woman, who was raped at her own house.
There is no doubt that women and girls constitute a greater proportion of the displaced population, given that many of them have lost their husbands and parents to the war. Recent statistics have revealed that the ongoing anglophone conflict have claimed over 6,000 lives and displaced over half a million. The killings are continuing. The threat that women receive from the military is far from over. With the end of the war not in sight, what fate for the vulnerable women and girls in Southern Cameroons? When will the perpetrators of sexual abuse be held accountable?
This is a call for justice and to draw global attention to the end that declaring ceasefire and restoring peace in Southern Cameroons will go a long way to preserving the lives of women and girls given the fact that violence is skyrocketing with the recent denial of the Biya’s regime to commit to peace negotiations.
Author: Dorothy Arrey
Freedom fighter and Humanitarian Lead
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