Advocacy

Discriminatory and inhumane practices like female genital mutilation, debt bondage, breast ironing, girl-child marriage, girl-child slavery and exploitation practiced in Cameroon were brought to the fore through its advocacy activities with the parliament and government ministers.

CYJULERC’s successes in fighting harmful discriminator cultural practices can be seen in the a major drop in the practice of some of these traditions and the enactment and adoption of laws to criminalize: female genital mutilation (FGM), breast ironing, debt bondage, eviction of women from their matrimonial home and torture of widows adopted in the July 2016 Cameroon Penal Code.

More successes to promote equality can be seen in the adoption of the legislation on: equal standards of adultery for husband and wife; increase age of marriage for girls and boys to 18 years; and equal age of marriage for girls and boys adopted in the 2016 Cameroon Penal Code (Sections 277(1) – 361). See https://www.droit-afrique.com/uploads/Cameroun-Code-2016-penal1.pdf