Communiqué: Free 84 children illegally detained for six months

The Cameroonian authorities should immediately release 84 children – some being only five years old - held for six months as a result of raids carried out in the extreme north in Quranic schools, Amnesty International said on Friday, June 19.

On December 20, 2014, Cameroonian security forces carried out raids in several schools in the city of Guirvidig; They arrested 84 children and 43 men, including many teachers. Only three of these children are more than 15 years, and 47 are less than 10 years. The authorities claim that the schools in question served as cover for "Boko Haram training camps".

Six months after their arrest, the children concerned are still being held in a juvenile facility in Maroua, the main town in the North, while they were not charged with any offence. To overcome the failure of the local authorities, the UN children's Fund (UNICEF) has provided mattresses at the centre, and the World Food Programme (WFP), food - whose stocks is running out.

"It is unthinkable to keep children of this age away from their parents for so long with so little support. They want nothing more than to go home and be with their families. They do not deserve to suffer the collateral damage of the war against Boko Haram," said Steve Cockburn, Deputy regional director of Amnesty International for West and Central Africa.

"Holding young children will not protect Cameroonians who live under the threat of Boko Haram. The Government must maintain its commitment to human rights in the fight against Boko Haram and release these children so that they can rejoin their families without delay."

Last year, Cameroon considerably strengthened the presence of security forces in the far north of the country following a series of large-scale attacks by Boko Haram on its territory. Many civilians were executed and abducted.

On 20 December, a joint force comprising of police, gendarmes and soldiers sealed off neighbourhoods of Guirvidig and carried out raids in schools that local authorities accused of recruiting children on behalf of Boko Haram. However, no attacks had been reported in the city.

Witnesses reported that during the operation, the men and boys had been assembled and waited for several hours in a public square, before they were forced onto trucks. Children were detained at the headquarters of the gendarmerie for four days, and then transferred to a juvenile facility run by the Ministry of Social Affairs. The men were taken to the central prison of Maroua, where they are still being held in extremely precarious conditions.

A child told an Amnesty International researcher what happened: "we were reading the Quran when agents of the security forces broke into our school. They asked for our ID cards and we were interrogated. They said they were going to dig a grave and throw us in it. We were terrorized. Then, they beat our teachers... some had the face covered in blood."

According to testimonies collected by Amnesty International, the agents also entered into several houses, where they confiscated property and demanded bribes. A father saw people give money to the security forces to release their sons. "That day, I had no money then they took my son", he said.

Several men were beaten at the time of their arrest, including a Professor of 39 years and teacher in a Quranic school. Amnesty International delegates met him at the prison of Maroua. He could not hold his head upright and needed help to walk. He was hospitalized to treat tuberculosis but his injuries were not yet treated.

Amnesty International researchers directly raised the issue of minors detained with many Cameroonian authorities. Even though most of them acknowledge that these children do not constitute a threat, none has taken the responsibility to facilitate their release or their reintegration, thus leaving them in limbo.

Amnesty International urges that all children under 15 years are immediately released and set to their families and that those more than 15 years be released immediately unless they are charged with an offence by law. The African Charter on human and peoples rights, to which Cameroon is a party, sets the age of criminal responsibility at 15 years.

In addition, Amnesty International calls on the Cameroonian authorities to launch an independent inquiry into the arrests which took place in Guirvidig and investments in detention that followed, as well as to ensure that the men arrested during the operation have a fair trial and conditions of detention are respectful of human dignity.