I. INTRODUCTION
1. The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
(ACERWC) extends its compliments to the Government of Cameroon and wishes
to acknowledge with thanks receipt of the first periodic report on the status of
implementation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
The Committee congratulates the State Party for sending an important high-level,
inter-ministerial delegation led by the Magistrat Sub-Director of the International
Cooperation, Ministry of Justice, to discuss the report during its 28th session held
in Banjul, The Gambia, from 21st October to 1st November 2016.
2. After considering the report from Cameroon, the Committee has the honour to
forward to the Government of Cameroon the following observations and
recommendations.
II. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CHARTER
3. The Committee welcomes measures taken by the Government of Cameroon to
safeguard the rights of children by ratifying regional and international instruments
protecting the rights of children. The Committee further recognizes the steps
taken by the government to domesticate these instruments thereby making them
available to children in Cameroon along with adopted measures to implement
recommendations from treaty bodies with the creation of an inter-ministerial
committee under the office of the Prime Minister.
AREAS OF CONCERN AND RECOMMENDATIONS
A. General Measures of Implementation
4. The Committee notes with concern that the Civil Code which was recommended
to be adopted in its last concluding observation to the State Party is yet to be
effected. The Committee also notes that the name to be given to this Code (Child
Protection Code and the Code of Persons and the Family) is ineffective to
adequately ensure the safeguarding of the rights of children. In this vein, the
Committee recommends that Cameroon changes the name of the Code to ‘’Child
Rights Code’’ to ensure that the rights of children and their protection is clearly
reflected in the document.
5. It further notes that despite efforts to harmonize laws, this has been slow. The
committee therefore recommends fastracking the harmonization of its laws with
the Charter along with translating the Charter into local languages to ensure its
effective dissemination and understanding and effective application by both
government departments and CSOs.
6. Furthermore, despite the existence of an inter-ministerial committee the
implementation of the Committee’s recommendation and by extension other