May 5, 2025, Muyuka, Ikata Bafia Road, Fako State, Southern Ambazonia: Reports indicate that the Cameroon Occupation Forces kidnapped and tortured innocent farmers and villagers. One victim, Nelson, along with others, was forced to stay under the rain for an entire night before being taken away. As of now, their whereabouts remain unknown.
The abduction, forced exposure to severe weather conditions, and subsequent disappearance of civilians, including Nelson, by the Cameroon Occupation Forces constitute clear violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, classifying these acts as war crimes. Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) identifies the targeting of civilians, torture, and unlawful detention as war crimes in both international and non-international armed conflicts.
Additionally, the treatment of Nelson and others, including their exposure to degrading conditions such as being forced to stay under the rain, violates Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions (1949), which prohibits inhumane treatment, including torture and cruel treatment of civilians.
Furthermore, the forced disappearance of civilians contravenes the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which explicitly condemns the deprivation of liberty followed by a refusal to acknowledge the detention or to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the persons concerned.
The intentional targeting of civilians and subjecting them to inhumane and degrading treatment not only violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) but also reflects a systematic pattern of state-perpetrated violence, potentially amounting to crimes against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute if proven to be part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population.
The ongoing impunity for such atrocities underscores the urgent need for international investigations and accountability mechanisms to prevent further violations and deliver justice to the victims and their families.