Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The local population is living with the consequences because it can't negotiate with the armed groups or the government.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There has certainly been confusion around the matter, but things have changed over time. Initially, when the crisis began, the education system was one of the issues being disputed. People asked the children not to go to school as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the central government.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, absolutely. It's being held hostage and having to live with the very real consequences of the school dispute. In a number of cases, it was decided that the children would be sent to border regions—mainly along the coast and in western Cameroon—so they could try to go to school.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Certainly it can be a tool. I think it should be put on the table because the ultimate goal is to get the parties to stop killing each other and to come to the negotiating table. If that can happen as an incentive, it should be utilized. The concerns that I have are born out of the experience that we've seen on the field where, for example, material assistance that was given to the Cameroon military to fight Boko Haram in the eastern and northern part of the country got diverted and transferred into the Southern Cameroons—the northwest and the southwest—to be engaged in that theatre of operation.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I will echo that and add that in previous atrocities committed in countries such as Myanmar—we saw that with the Rohingya massacre, so a genocide—the United Nations human rights commission was instrumental in that regard. I think if Canada begins to take the lead with some of its partners, it can galvanize the amount of international attention that is required to then get the United Nations human rights commission to step forward and take responsibility to conduct such a high-level fact-finding mission.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Honourable member, your question just underscores the need for a negotiated solution to this crisis. Between the reunification in 1961 and 2016, no one in what was the former British Southern Cameroons was killed because of being an anglophone. Between 2016 and today, thousands of people have been killed.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's unfortunate that the international media doesn't have as much access and that the local national media sometimes has felt constrained in its ability to go into the conflict zones and to report adequately and honestly on the impact of this conflict. Media relations in Cameroon are also deplorable, and there is a whole host of journalists in prison.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, I'd like to add two things. To begin with, the first images we saw of the conflict date back to 2017. We saw villages that had been set on fire in Kumba and an old mother who had been burned alive in her home. Since then, numerous crimes have been committed against women and children.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'd like to say something more about the African Union, if I may. It operates on the principle of subsidiarity. In other words, every sub-regional organization must get involved first and may then turn to the African Union for assistance. In West Africa, for instance, the Economic Community of West African States is very active.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I would just add to that I think everyone who calls for thorough investigations, especially an international fact-finding mission, is open to having atrocities by whichever party is culpable or responsible identified. There's always the danger to try to rationalize. Also, while both sides have committed atrocities, there's a pattern of atrocities that are committed by uniformed officers and atrocities that are committed by the non-state actors, who, for the most part, are very involved in crimes such as kidnappings for ransom and sometimes the targeting of individuals whom they see as supporters of the state.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Honourable members, you may be aware of the fact that, in 2020, the UN Secretary-General issued a statement calling for a global ceasefire because of COVID-19 and that the UN Security Council passed resolution 2532, asking countries and warring factions around the globe to embrace the ceasefire because of COVID-19.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  If I may add in response to Honourable Anita's question, one of the challenges with the conflict in Cameroon is that we don't have access to the most updated information. Once in a while there's a massive atrocity, like the massacre in Ngarbuh or the massacre of schoolchildren in Kumba, and everyone cries out, but lives are being lost on a daily basis.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Mr. Chair and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to testify before you regarding the ongoing armed conflict in Cameroon and the possible contribution that Canada could make towards ending the conflict while tackling the real and legitimate grievances of anglophones.