The MeToo wave is sweeping across Cameroon. Since mid-January, more than 70 anonymous testimonies containing accusations of sexual assault concerning the same businessman have been relayed on social networks by a Cameroonian blogger. These testimonies caused a real outcry, so much so that the Cameroon Bar Association called this week for the prosecution to open an investigation.
In a letter sent Thursday to the prosecution, the human rights commission of the bar informs that it became aware “through social networks”, thanks to testimonies published “in anonymity”, of facts of “contempt of law”. modesty, sexual harassment, rape, threats, kidnapping and violence against several victims.”
Victims encouraged to “break the silence”
The bar calls for “the opening of an investigation” and urges the prosecution to bring the alleged attacker “before the competent courts so that justice is done in accordance with the law,” the letter continues. The Minister for the Promotion of Women and the Family “welcomes the referral to the competent judicial authorities with a view to establishing the materiality of the facts”, in a press release published Friday. Marie-Thérèse Abena Ondoa “encourages” victims to “break the silence” and “to provide the judicial authorities with the elements necessary to conduct procedures intended to establish the materiality of the facts”.
The Cameroon Human Rights Commission, officially seized on January 19, regrets not being able to “handle this matter as it should”, namely “hear the witnesses” and “confront the parties” due to the anonymity of the denunciations, in a press release published on Saturday.
#StopBopda
A hashtag #StopBopdaborn from the wave of indignation among Internet users, has since been repeated more than 100,000 times on
An open letter signed by 22 women from Cameroonian civil society was also submitted to the authorities on Thursday, denouncing “the inaction or slowness of the competent government services” in cases of violence against women and inviting the services concerned to become a civil party, particularly in the context of this case.