Establishing and Implementing the Right to Non-discrimination of Refugee Status under International Law: What relevance for Application in Cameroonian?
Keywords:
Establishing-Implementing-Right to Non-discrimination- Refugee Status-International Law-relevance for Application-CameroonianAbstract
It is a general principle under human rights law that not all distinction in treatment constitutes elements of discrimination. This is summed by the adage that, “persons who are equal should be treated equally, those who are different should be treated equally, and those who are different should be treated differently”. Although with all these emphasis, it is obvious that not all differences in treatment are discriminatory making international law to establish criteria in determining when a distinction perse will amounts to discrimination. Concisely, as we will be examining in this article, the concept of non-discrimination of persons especially those pertaining to refugees has been embraced by the Cameroonian government with lots of fortitude through the application of their various legal dispositions put in place. This initiative of refugee’s protection in safeguarding its non-discriminatory to those who enters its territory in the status of refugees are given minimum protection in the respect and protection of their fundamental human rights. This initiative has gone a long way through the enactment of relevant laws and institutional set up in ensuring that refugees entering the territory of Cameroon should be free from any sort of discriminatory practices, even though such protection offered has raised lots of questioning, certainties and worries in the eyes of many, and even the international community at large. The question here is to entertain whether the various human rights and legal dispositions effected by the Cameroon legal machineries has really provided that minimum protected offered by the international community when dealing with human right issues especially those pertaining to non-discriminatory as far as treatment of refugees are concerned.
References
1. International Covenant on Civil and Political Right. 1966.
2. Herein referred to as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Right. 1966.
3. Convention on the Right to a Child. 1989.
4. Convention on Migrant Workers Right and their Families. 1990.
5. CERD. Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination.
6. For example, the right to obtain travel documents.
7. Ibid, Article 1 A (2) of the Refugee Convention. 1951.
8. For an optional geographical limitation to refugees as a result of events occur ring in Europe.
9. Articles 1D, 1E and 1F of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
10. Ibid, Article 1C.
11. Napoleonic Civil Code (Code Civil Napoléon) established by Prince Napoleon of France and lastly modified on 11 Sep 2014 at 20:14pm GMT. This Code in its article 1 provide for gender equality when dealing with matters relating to marriage contract.
12. Section 1 of the 1969 Cameroon Penal Code.
13. CIA World Fact Book. 22nd Aug 2006.
14. Article 43 of the constitution provide duly approved and ratified treaties and International Agr eement shall following their publication override nationals laws, provided that the other party implements the said treaty or agreements.
15. Law No. 2008/1 of 14th Apr 2008 to amend and supplement some provisions of Law No. 96 of 18th Jan 1996.
16. Section 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
17. Ibid, section 33(1).
18. Convention of 10 Dec 1984 against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment accession on Dec 19, 1986.
19. Convention of 18 Dec 1979 on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women ratification on Aug 23, 1994.
20. African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, adopted on 27 Jun 1981 ratified on 21 Oct 1986.
21. The 1967 and 69 Cameroon Penal Code.
22. The Preamble of the 1996 Constitution.
23. The 1992 Cameroon Labour Code.
24. 2016 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
25. Ibid, Country Human Right Report on Arbitrariness and Torture. 2016.
26. African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child adopted on 21 Nov 1989 ratified on 5 Sep 1997.
27. Under article 65 of the Constitution, the preamble is an integral part of the Constitution.
28. Article 15 of the Universal Declaration on Human Right (UDHR). 1948.
29. These laws include; Law No. 97/012 of 10th Jan 1997 to lay down the condition for foreigners to enter, stay and exit in Cameroon, Law No. 2005/006 of 27th Jul 2005 relating to the status of Refugees in Cameroon, Law No. 2005/015 of 29th Dec 2005 relating to the fight against child trafficking and Law No.97/010 of 10th Jan 1997 to amend and supplement certain provisions on the law of extradition.
30. Law No. 68/LF/3 of 11th Jun 1968 to organize the system of requisitioning. It provide under section 13 for the possibility of requisitioning persons and properties. Decree No.68 -DF-417 of 15th Oct 1968 fixes modalities for its application. In this regard, persons and properties can be taken and the possibility of obtaining compensations.
31. Report of the minister of Justice on the State of Human Rights in Cameroon 2015 JHRLP (2020) 10–20 © Law Journals 2020. All Rights Reserved Page 20
32. These rights include that as to non - discrimination, freedom of religious practice, right to property, the right of association, the right to be a party to legal proceedings, the right to work, the right to education, housing, social welfare and public assistance, free movement, to obtain identity documents and travel documents and the right to transfer of assets.
33. Herein referred to as the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedom.
34. This is the case of Ms. Marie Loubaky who experienced many difficulties since she became a refugee. She no longer had a permanent job with a steady income to support her family. She and her family had lost their former high social standing and, as Congolese refugees, became a marginalized and discriminated part of Gabonese society. As a refugee she was subjected to verbal abuse and sexual insinuations from the Gabonese police. Marie was u sed to take care of her children by herself but, as a refugee, the absence of a spouse made her and her family even more vulnerable to physical and mental abuse. Moreover, her affiliation with the former government of Congo -Brazzaville and her work as a journalist put her at risk politically in Gabon. As such, around the time of the Gabonese presidential elections of autumn 2005, Marie's situation became extremely precarious. The unease and the fear for forcible removals increased among the Congolese refuge e community and Ms. Loubaky felt threatened. It was clear that Marie's safety could no longer be guaranteed and that she needed to leave Gabon for a safe country of asylum.
35. Towards a fair deal for migrant workers in the global economy. Report VI, International Labour Conference, 92nd Session, Geneva, 2004; OSCE; IOM; ILO: Handbook on establishing effective labour migration policies in countries of origin and destination (Vienna, 2006). Cite this Article Nana Charles Nguindip . Establishing and Implementing the Right to Non - Discrimination of Refugee Status under International Law: Relevance for its Application in Cameroon . Journal of Human Rights Law and Practice . 2020; 3(1): 10–20p.
