Cameroon is facing several security challenges which are a major threat to peace and affect in particular women’s lives. The Boko Haram crisis and the violence in the South West and North West regions have profound impacts on the people in the affected areas, especially women and girls. The conflicts worsened the living conditions of women, exposing them to food and water insecurity and causing the destruction of socio-economic infrastructure such as hospitals, health centres and schools.
Armed conflict has also led to increased circulation of the weapons. The immediate impact of these armed conflicts is the massive displacement of women and children. Women are also victims of threats, rape, and assault committed under the threat of weapons.
Since its establishment in January 2014, WILPF Cameroon has focused its actions on furthering the implementation at the national level of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 and its related resolutions. It carries out awareness-raising and advocacy on this issue and works to ensure the implementation of instruments to fight against arms proliferation and the illegal arms trade, and to improve women’s and girls’ living conditions in the country.
“There is no development possible without the full participation of women.”
Sylvie Ndongmo
Africa Regional Representative on the WILPF International Board
In Cameroon, women participation in politics remains low. In addition to a reduced political representation (only 31,1% of deputies in the Parliament are female), many women do not have a voter’s card, and if they do, they sometimes are instructed by their husbands or families on their vote and can face reprisals and violence from their spouse for voting.
Since the presidential election of 7 October 2018, WILPF Cameroon set up a Women’s Situation Room, which is an early warning and rapid response mechanism against violence around elections, publishing afterwards a report of its monitoring of those elections.
This report was developed by WILPF Cameroon and was submitted to the 65th session of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which reviewed Cameroon’s periodic report on 20 and 21 February 2019.
The report highlights the recommendations in five key areas: non-discrimination, gender equality and gender-based violence, women’s right to favourable and just
conditions of work, birth registration and the right to education.
The report analyses the geopolitical situation in Cameroon, addressing the challenges women and girls face due to conflict, limited political participation and inequality in the eyes of the law.
For the 30th Session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group (7 May 2018 – 18 May 2018), WILPF made recommendations on Cameroon regarding arms control, gender-based violence, political and socio-economic participation of women, participation of women in conflict prevention and resolution, birth registration, protection of persons in humanitarian situations.
This report was developed by WILPF Cameroon,
in consultation with members and focal points of WILPF Cameroon in the Central, Littoral, Eastern and Western regions of Cameroon, as well as based on interviews with various relevant stakeholders in Cameroon regarding the Universal Periodic Review mechanism.
In 2018, after years of strenuous research, planning, and lobbying, WILPF Cameroon made a breakthrough. For the first time in Cameroon, they saw their government adopt a National Action Plan (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security.
The NAP lays out concrete operational procedures in Cameroon regarding UN Security Council Resolution 1325. In particular, it addresses the elements of violence that corrupt women’s security in the country, both internal and those filtering across the borders. The report analyses commitment and knowledge of UNSCR 1325 and the WPS agenda, and submits recommendations for local and nation-wide initiatives to combat these inequalities.
Matt Mahmoudi (he/him) is a lecturer, researcher, and organizer. He’s been leading the “Ban the Scan” campaign, Amnesty International’s research and advocacy efforts on banning facial recognition technologies and exposing their uses against racialized communities, from New York City to the occupied Palestinian territories.
More about Hanne Peterson coming soon.
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Diana María Salcedo López holds a degree in Political Science from the National University of Colombia, a Master’s degree in Women’s, Gender and Citizenship Studies from the University of Barcelona, and a Master’s degree in Human Rights, the Rule of Law and Democratisation from the University of Alcalá de Henares in Madrid. A feminist and anti-militarist, she has a solid track record spanning two decades working as a consultant for non-governmental organisations, international cooperation agencies, the United Nations and state bodies in Colombia.
Her work has focused on safeguarding women’s rights, incorporating a gender and intersectional perspective into public policy, strengthening the social fabric amongst women who are victims of the armed conflict, and consolidating local peace-building processes.
She currently serves as director of the Colombian section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (LIMPAL Colombia), where she leads initiatives on issues such as feminist approaches to the energy transition, the protection of women human rights defenders, the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, and advocacy in international forums. She also represents the organisation on the Special Women’s Body for Monitoring the Peace Agreement and on the Intersectoral Commission on Security Guarantees for Women Human Rights Defenders and Women Leaders in Colombia.
Desirée Sterner currently serves as President of the Swedish Section (IKFF), a role she has held since 2023. Her engagement with WILPF began at the grassroots level through the local branch in Lund/Malmö during her university years. Desirée brings a deep substantive understanding of WILPF’s core issues, rooted in academic training in gender, peace and security (LSE), war studies (Swedish Defence University), peace and conflict studies, and human rights (Lund University), combined with several years of practical advocacy, movement-building and organisational leadership work in Swedish civil society.
Sylvie Ndongmo, is a Cameroonian peacebuilder, feminist leader, civil society actor and Women, Peace and Security expert with over 30 years of experience in peacebuilding, mediation, and gender equality advocacy. She serves as International President of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and Executive Secretary of Women Peace Initiatives. She coordinates the Women and Youth Early Warning Monitoring Room in Cameroon and was recently appointed to the African Union Advisory Panel on Democratic Elections and Governance in Africa. Her work focuses on advancing women’s leadership, conflict prevention, and sustainable peace through feminist, inclusive, and intergenerational approaches.
In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region.
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WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.
Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.
Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.
WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.
In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.
In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.
