Cameroon : Indicators

Cameroon Government has foreseen several mechanisms to guarantee transparency in public institutions. The most important is the 1996 Constitution of the Country which indirectly secures transparency by referring to International and Regional conventions like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) stating that everyone has the right to information. Apart from the constitution, there exist national laws of various sectors with reference to transparency. However these provisions are never entirely followed while the implementation decrees and transparency norms are most of the time ignored or violated. In July 2010, two laws were voted by the Parliament, one on the fight against cyber-criminality and promotion of cyber-security, and another one on E-communication. These two laws contain anti-transparency provisions and will slow down information flow and encourage repression of information holders (sections 24 and 78§1).

Cameroon has also joined the GLIN initiative (Global Legal Information Network) which is a public database of official texts of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and other complementary legal sources contributed by governmental agencies and international organizations. The GLIN members contribute the full texts of their published documents to the database in their original languages. The Cameroon GLIN database is still widely incomplete.

  Read the report...

Is there a Freedom of Information Act?

Cameroon does not have a Freedom of Information Act. However, three separate initiatives by civil society organisations have been launched and they all call upon Government to endow the country with such legislation: (1) ‘Citizen’s Governance Initiatives’ carried out a study in 2010 on the ‘Right to know in Cameroon’ and expressed the necessity for the elaboration of Freedom of Information Act in the country (2) ‘Publish What You Pay Coalition’ advocated for greater transparency and accountability in management of revenues from the oil, gas and mining industries, and (3) CED carried out a transparency study of the forest sector and provided recommendations for robust transparency for next forest law. Read more...

In addition to any specific freedom of information laws, are there references to transparency in the Constitution, general laws, regulations, decrees etc. that all public institutions must adhere to (the next indicator is specifically about the forest sector)  Read the report...

What other rules provide for transparency?

The Constitution of the country and some sector-specific national laws contain provisions on transparency and access to information. These sectors are: media; archives; public service and governmental communication; decentralization; environment and natural resources management; Human Rights, governance and transparency in the management of public affairs... The most elaborated norms are the 1996 Framework Law Governing Environmental Management (sections 72 and 74), and one of its implementation Decree of 2005 organizing Environmental Impact Assessment. They both provide for obligations to the project sponsors to inform neighbouring communities and the wide public on their projects’ impacts and mitigation measures. Generally, the laws say that information dissemination has to be done, but doesn’t say how it should be done. Read more...

Are there any forest-specific written laws and regulations, key announcements or speeches that develop the right to access public information on the sector, for example a Service Charter.  Read the report...

Are there any forest sector specific laws / rules / statements that provide for transparency?

The 1993 forest policy document, sub-regional agreements signed by Cameroon and ongoing VPA-FLEGT process have stressed on local community participation and transparency as prerequisite for implementing sustainable forest management. Within the frame of VPA implementation, Cameroon government will ensure all legislation, forest production, concession contract and allocation information, harvesting, processing and management documents and data including Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), management plans and concession-community social agreements, financial revenue data, export information, verification and control reports and processes, audits and the institutional framework of the forestry sector is made available to the public. Read more...

Are there clear, documented, and understood steps for resolving conflicts between transparency and confidentiality norms, or where / when authorities fail or refuse to provide information?
If so, is this dispute-settlement process well-advertised, not prohibitively costly and therefore realistically accessible to most people?  Read the report...

Is there any settlement process for disputes regarding access to information?

There is no specific settlement process for disputes regarding access to information in Cameroon. Nevertheless, a citizen who deems offended by the State for information refusal can suit Government before the Administrative Court. However, administrative courts created by Law n° 2006/015 of 29 December 2006 are located in the Headquarter of each region of the country and are not yet operational. So far the only administrative court is in Yaoundé, the Capital city. The success of such a court will have to overcome the weaknesses of the law, which lack a clear description of formal obligations by Government officials in terms of implementing the right for citizens to know. Besides, access to administrative courts is expensive and difficult for local communities living in remote areas. Read more...