Tribunal Article 53
| Tribunal Article 53 | |
|---|---|
| founding | 2011 |
| founder | Patrice Nganang |
| Seat | Cameroon |
| main emphasis | Document collection |
| Action space | Cameroon |
| people | Marc Pape Adoux , Susan Arndt , Sebastian Bakare , Manthia Diawara , Thomas Deltombe , Jean de Dieu Momo , Manuel Domergue , Eugène Ebodé , Makhily Gassama , Kenneth Harrow , Jean-Pierre Karegeye , Yves Mintoogue , Muepu Muamba , Patrice Nganang , Alain Ngono , Dibussi Tande , François Woukoache |
| Website | Website of the Tribunal Article 53 ( Memento of January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) |
Tribunal Article 53 is a civil society organization with the purpose of documenting human rights violations by the Cameroonian government under Paul Biya .
Origin and goal setting
The web portal belonging to the Tribunal Article 53 was founded around 2012 by the writer Patrice Nganang to create a public for the human rights violations committed by the Cameroon regime . The website is used to collect documents on crimes for which Cameroon President Paul Biya was responsible during his tenure. There, common digital documents such as videos, photos and PDF files with sometimes shocking content are linked or made available to the public. Legal texts such as the 2008 constitutional amendment or reports on human rights violations in Cameroon are also available.
The aim of the organization is to bring Biya to the international criminal court .
According to Nganang , the platform serves as a public archive and new material from witnesses is regularly sent to him. However, everyday work consists more of visiting prisoners, international networking and encouraging people to adopt an activist culture. For this reason, the Bibi Ngota Award was created to honor journalism against impunity across Africa . Journalist Bibi Ngota was arrested while researching a scandal involving the then Justice Minister of Cameroon. He died in prison in 2010.
The people named in the box on the right above are members or employees of the organization and live in different countries such as France , Ivory Coast , USA , Rwanda , Mali , Zimbabwe or Senegal and of course Cameroon . However, for their own protection, the names of the members from the latter country are not publicly listed.
Article 53
Article 53, from which the name of the organization is derived, refers to a section of the constitutional amendment of April 14, 2008. In February 2008, riots broke out due to the pending constitutional amendment, during which security forces killed at least 100 people. The reason for the protests was the constitutional amendment made possible to extend the term of office of President Paul Biya , who had already served two official terms and had ruled for 14 years before 1996. In addition, “rapidly rising costs of living and low wages” played a major role.
Another key message of the constitutional amendment includes the impunity of the president during and after his term of office. The Tribunal Article 53 is therefore understood as a civil society court, where citizens have the opportunity to raise their voice against this constitutional amendment and to indict Biya . However, Cameroon has not ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court . Thus, the international criminal court has no jurisdiction, as it restricts itself to crimes that were committed on the territory of a contracting state or by a national of a contracting state and after the entry into force of the statute.
Freedom of the press in Cameroon
The freedom of the press in Cameroon, although guaranteed since the constitutional amendment of 1996, hardly exists any more. In September 2013, seven newspapers , three radio stations and one TV channel were shut down by the National Communications Council because they had violated ethical and professional norms. For this reason, among other things, and because of Article 17, which allows the government to ban the media, the organization Freedom House rates Cameroon as a non-free country.
Writer, politician and presidential candidate Enoh Meyomesse was arrested in December 2012 shortly after returning from a trip abroad and kept in solitary confinement for a month . With no prosecutor, no testimony and no evidence of wrongdoing, a military tribunal sentenced him to 7 years in prison. On April 27, 2015, as a result of the efforts of this and other associations, he was released from custody at Kondengui Central Prison in Yaoundé .
It is not uncommon for prisoners to die in prison, as the case of Bibi Ngotas shows.
literature
- Patrice Nganang: Contre Biya - procès d'un tyran - Tribunal article 53 . Edition Assemblage, July 2011, ISBN 978-3-942885-07-2 .
- Fanny Pigeaud: Au Cameroun de Paul Biya. Karthala, Paris 2011, ISBN 978-2-8111-0526-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Website of the Tribunal Article 53 on January 19, 2012. ( Memento of January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved on February 26, 2014.
- ↑ a b Tribunal Article 53 : Self-Presentation in English ( Memento of December 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF). Self-presentation in French ( memento of January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ↑ a b Deji Olukotun: Five Questions with Patrice Nganang, Cameroonian Human Rights Advocate & Author , March 29, 2013. Interview Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ↑ Constitutional amendment of April 14, 2008 ( Memento of the original of October 13, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; French) accessed on February 26, 2014.
- ↑ Amnesty Report 2009 - Cameroon . Amnesty International ; Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ^ Press release of September 10, 2013. freedomhouse.org; Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ↑ Cameroon 2013. freedomhouse.org; Retrieved February 26, 2014.
