Communities at risk
'Westerners' , Southerners
Summary
Cameroon ranked 17th in 2019’s Peoples under Threat index and rose 14 places from 2018’s ranking. After a worrying trend in recent years, Cameroon has leapt up the index amid sharply escalating political violence in the country’s north-west and south-west regions. Peaceful demonstrations in 2016 against decades-old political and economic marginalization of the country’s Anglophone regions… Read more »
Peoples Under Threat Data
| 2020 Data | Peoples under Threat value |
|---|---|
| Self-determination conflicts | 5 |
| Major armed conflict | 2 |
| Prior genocide / politicide | No data |
| Flight of refugees and IDPs | 0.0436 |
| Legacy of vengeance - group grievance | 8.6 |
| Rise of factionalized elites | 9.3 |
| Voice and Accountability | -1.104 |
| Political Stability | -1.376 |
| Rule of Law | -1.080 |
| OECD country risk classification | 6 |
| TOTAL | 15.73 |
The overall measure for each country is based on a basket of 10 indicators. The number in each row is drawn from the source for that particular indicator. The sources of data and calculations used are detailed on the Notes to Table page.
Background
Cameroon ranked 17th in 2019’s Peoples under Threat index and rose 14 places from 2018’s ranking.
After a worrying trend in recent years, Cameroon has leapt up the index amid sharply escalating political violence in the country’s north-west and south-west regions. Peaceful demonstrations in 2016 against decades-old political and economic marginalization of the country’s Anglophone regions by the French-dominated government has led to a separatist movement for an independent state, Ambazonia. Thousands of people have been killed or disappeared at the hands of government forces and numerous emerging separatist groups, who have committed a range of abuses, often against civilians. At the same time, Boko Haram attacks persist in the far north, adding to the growing numbers of IDPs and a deepening humanitarian crisis. President Paul Biya, in power since 1982, has labelled the separatists as terrorists and social media ‘a new form of terrorism’. Facing prolonged internet shutdowns and scant international attention, protesters, and later separatists, have relied heavily on Twitter hashtags to mobilize.