Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of escalating violence and human rights abuses towards Anglophone communities in Cameroon; and what steps they are taking to prevent any continued violence or abuse.

The British Government remains deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in the North-West and South-West (Anglophone) regions of Cameroon. These regions suffer from high levels of violence, which have driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. We have consistently called for an end to the violence and investigations into all reports of human rights violations and abuses. We continue to maintain a spotlight on the crisis and raise our concerns at the highest levels, including with the Government of Cameroon, at the United Nations (UN) and with international partners. The Government of Cameroon convened a National Dialogue in October 2019, and legislation concerning bilingualism and special status for the North-West and South-West regions was passed in December. These are welcome initial steps forward. Commitments and legislation now need to be implemented in a timely manner to support genuine decentralisation of power and to tackle the root causes of the crisis.