This policy brief aims to inform legislative reform to end the legislative gap in Cameroon’s current legal framework with respect to victim protection in domestic violence cases, particularly regarding the need to adopt statutory provisions enabling courts to issue civil protective orders. The policy brief draws on comparative African legal models and Cameroon's international treaty obligations to protect women’s and girls’ rights to life, bodily integrity and equality.
Violence against girls and women in Cameroon, including femicide—the intentional killing of women and girls with a gender-related motivation—is pervasive but, paradoxically, invisible. The 2025 national situational analysis on gender-based violence published by the Ministry of the Promotion of Women’s Empowerment and the Family (MINPROFF) highlights persistently high levels of intimate partner violence, harmful traditional practices, and severe service gaps affecting survivors across Cameroon.Structural discrimination enables and normalizes violence, while poor judicial protections and socio-cultural pressures discourage reporting. When femicides occur, they are not usually isolated events, but often occur where there has been a history of domestic violence.
Despite ongoing joint resourcing and service projects for health facilities and women’s and girls’ safe houses by the government and multilateral organizations such as United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), gender‑based violence in Cameroon remains inadequately addressed. Establishing legally enforceable protective orders can address violence at its earliest and most preventable stage and provide a rapid mechanism to shield women at risk and potentially prevent violence from escalating.
Reporting Is Increasing, But Does Not Reflect Real Numbers
In Cameroon, violence against women is multifaceted and includes physical, sexual, psychological, emotional and economic violence, and involves violence by intimate partners, family members, and strangers. About 44 percent of girls and women in Cameroon aged 15–49 who are in, or have been in, a union reported experiencing emotional, physical, or sexual violence by a current or former partner, according to Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from 2018, the most recent year for which DHS data is available. Combined data from multiple United Nation agencies and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that 36 percent of all women and girls who have ever been in a relationship (ever-partnered women and girls) aged 15 to 49 had experienced intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime in Cameroon.
Numbers across the country vary and, in some parts of Cameroon, the figure was even higher—for example, in the Centre Region (excluding Yaounde, the nation’s capital), where the ratio of women and girls who reported emotional, physical, or sexual violence by a current or former partner reached 64 percent. The accuracy of the data may also be affected by difficulties in reaching some groups of women and girls, for example rural and displaced people. Neither international organizations nor the government collect data on the prevalence of violence against women aged 50 and older.
The real number on violence against women in Cameroon is likely significantly higher given the prevalence of underreporting. There is no national database on violence, including homicides more broadly, domestic violence, or intimate partner violence. The Central Bureau of the Census and Population Studies (BUCREP) warns that the current number of recorded homicides, including femicides, is underestimated due to weak reporting systems, while socio‑cultural pressures and limited judicial protection allow intimate‑partner or domestic violence to escalate unchecked.
Recently, there has been more discussion on social media about violence against women, with an emphasis on femicide. Femicide is not currently classified as a distinct criminal offense under Cameroonian law. During an inquiry at the Cameroon National Assembly in June 2026, the Minister of MINPROFF said recorded cases of femicides increased from 56 cases in 2023 to 77 in 2025, an increase of 37 percent. Between January to April 2026, officials recorded 50 cases—a sharp jump in recorded gender-related lethal violence—alongside 166 cases of rape of women and girls.
Structural Discrimination Fosters and Normalizes Violence
The violence Cameroonian women face is structural and closely linked to women’s limited control over land, housing, income, and other economic resources. Discriminatory traditional norms and family structures reinforce stereotypical gender roles, create unequal power dynamics in the control of land and property, and ultimately undermine women’s safety within the home. Discriminatory gender roles and practices coupled with social norms that justify and perpetuate violence against women drive intimate partner violence and under-reporting of that violence.
In 2024, the World Economic Forum ranked Cameroon 97 out of 146 countries worldwide, and 20 out of 35 countries across Africa, on the Global Gender Gap Index, which tracks gender parity across economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. In 2023, Cameroon ranked 148 out of 162 countries in the UNDP Gender Inequality Index, reflecting significant disparities between women and men in the dimensions of reproductive health and access to employment, and, to a lesser extent, education.
Legal Framework Reinforces Discrimination and Domestic Violence
The legal framework governing family relations reinforces male dominance and weakens women’s decision-making power over residence, employment, and immovable property during marriage and after its dissolution. Cameroon’s Civil Code institutionalizes gender inequality by designating the husband as the head of household and primary manager of matrimonial property limiting married women’s autonomy in many areas, including their choice of residence, employment, and their ability to make decisions over matrimonial and their individual property. The husband’s overriding authority in these matters not only limits the wife’s rights but also renders women economically and socially dependent on their husbands, reinforcing unequal power dynamics in marriage. Discriminatory provisions, including wording that imply spouses must adhere to traditional gender roles, also restrict women’s rights and increase women’s vulnerability to violence.
Domestic violence is not the explicit subject of any national piece of legislation in Cameroon. However, the Preamble of Cameroon’s 1996 Constitution provides in paragraph 5 that “Freedom and security shall be guaranteed each individual, subject to respect for the rights of others and the higher interests of the State.” This is a constitutional guarantee of physical and moral integrity and imposes an obligation on the state to protect individuals from violence, abuse, and threats to their dignity.
Gender‑based violence (GBV), particularly domestic violence, constitutes a direct violation of both physical integrity through bodily harm and moral integrity through psychological abuse, intimidation, and degradation. Several provisions in Cameroon’s 2016 Penal Code criminalize acts that fall within the scope of gender‑based violence (GBV). For example, arts. 275–281 address murder, capital murder, grievous harm, assault occasioning death, assault occasioning grievous harm, simple harm, and slight harm thereby punishing individuals guilty of physical violence. Art. 296 criminalizes rape, while art. 302‑1 addresses sexual harassment, recognizing violations of bodily autonomy and dignity. In addition, art. 338 on assault on a pregnant woman or woman with a child, and art. 350 on assault on children demonstrate heightened protection for groups susceptible to abuse and requiring extra support or care. The Penal Code also strives to protect moral and psychological integrity, including provisions on threats (arts. 301-302) and sexual harassment (art. 302-1), highlighting that harm is not limited to physical injury but includes psychological coercion which involves actions that make a person feel fear, obligation, guilt, or dependence. These provisions collectively affirm that Cameroonian law acknowledges the importance of safeguarding bodily integrity.
Provisions of the Penal Code on physical integrity and moral integrity both share a critical limitation: they are activated only after harm has occurred and evidence of injury is required for perpetrators to be prosecuted and punished. The Code also addresses physical and moral integrity primarily through a punitive lens and ignores the complexity around domestic violence. This prosecutorial framework does not offer immediate preventive protection to victims at risk of abuse or continued abuse. Consequently, the State’s duty to ensure security of persons needs to extend beyond punishment to include preventive protection against foreseeable harm. Currently, the lack of protective orders or alternative measures to protect people from experiencing domestic violence undermines the effective realization of these constitutional rights and impedes the government fulfilling its duty to guarantee the “security of person” mentioned in the Preamble of the Constitution. This gap highlights a crucial opportunity for reform in Cameroon. What is missing is a preventive legal mechanism which would reinforce the freedom and security of people stated in the Preamble of the Constitution before harm occurs. Cameroon can use its Penal Code not only as a punitive instrument, but as a foundation for a comprehensive domestic violence law that prioritizes prevention, immediate protection, and the preservation of life. By building on the provisions mentioned above Cameroon can introduce protective orders as a complementary tool that allows courts and law enforcement to intervene at earlier stages of violence.
Cameroon’s Human Rights Obligations
Several international and regional human rights instruments, which Cameroon has ratified, obligate states to prevent violence and protect survivors of domestic violence. These include the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (Banjul Charter), and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). Together, these frameworks emphasize that states must move beyond punitive responses and adopt preventive and protective measures to address gender‑based violence.
The CEDAW Committee, in General Recommendation No. 35, paragraph 31(a)(ii), specifically requires states parties to establish “appropriate and accessible protective mechanisms to prevent further or potential violence.” The Committee underscores that such mechanisms should include immediate risk assessment and a range of protection measures, including eviction, restraining, and emergency barring orders, backed by effective monitoring and sanctions for non‑compliance. Importantly, protective measures must not impose financial, procedural, or personal burdens on survivors. Similarly, in General Recommendation No. 33, paragraph 51(j), the Committee calls on states to ensure that women are not subjected to undue delays when seeking protection orders, recognizing the urgency and life‑saving nature of such interventions.
Furthermore, the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) has clarified that state responsibility extends to acts of violence committed by private individuals. In General Comment No. 2, paragraph 18, the Committee states that authorities’ failure to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, prosecute, and punish acts of violence by private actors, amounts to state acquiescence. This interpretation reinforces Cameroon’s obligation to adopt effective preventive measures, including protection orders, to safeguard women from foreseeable harm.
The ability to swiftly issue ex parte protective orders does not conflict with due process guarantees: the orders are temporary and are followed promptly by a hearing, often within days, at which the respondent has the opportunity to be heard. The fair trial standards for example under Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), do not apply to the initial process of issuing an order.
The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights calls on states to establish free and immediately accessible protective orders for victims and survivors facing imminent danger. Application forms should be readily available through the police, courts, legal aid or public defender offices, law firms, legal associations, and at the premises of any other relevant stakeholder. These orders should impose appropriate protective measures and restrictions on perpetrators, be available for a specified period regardless of whether a criminal complaint, prosecution or conviction exists. Breaches must be subject to effective, proportionate and deterrent sanctions, including criminal penalties.
The African Union also recently adopted its own Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls. While it is not yet in force, and several of its provisions are problematic, it explicitly includes the obligation to establish an effective system of protection orders for victims of domestic violence.
Why Protective Orders Are Essential
Domestic violence related crimes, including intimate partner violence, exist within a complex ecosystem of abuse that often involves ongoing physical, economic, psychological, and emotional violence. These abuses may not always result in visible physical harm but could have long-lasting impacts on the victim. Domestic violence often involves a gradual escalation, and victims may endure prolonged periods of abuse, sometimes ending in death.
Protective orders are important because they can address violence at its earliest and most preventable stage. Unlike criminal prosecution, which operate after harm has occurred and takes time, to determine whether an offence has been committed and if the accused should be punished, protective orders allow the state to act preventively, that is, it provides an option for immediate intervention upon credible threats, helping to prevent escalation into serious injury or femicide.
Protective orders are not just procedural tools—they are lifesaving legal measures. By enabling early intervention, reducing risk, and saving lives, they bridge the gap between recognizing harm in law and providing real protection in practice.
Generally, protection orders are court-issued legal measures aimed at preventing further acts of domestic or gender-based violence by reinforcing the prohibition on abusive conduct, restricting contact with the survivor, and providing immediate protection and safety. They can complement criminal prosecution by providing an immediate layer of protection while criminal, family, or other proceedings continue. Protection orders may include several forms of protection depending on the level of risk faced by the survivor. These measures may:
- prohibit any communication or contact with the survivor;
- require the abuser to stay away from the survivor’s home, workplace, or school;
- temporarily remove the abuser from a shared residence;
- reinforce the prohibition on intimidation, harassment, or threats;
- require participation in counseling or rehabilitation programs; and
- provide emergency protection pending a full court hearing.
- Provide victims and survivors with emergency shelter, medical, psychological, and financial assistance in the immediate, and longer term if needed.
Protective orders have civil and criminal dimensions. Civil protection orders are primarily intended to provide immediate safety and are generally issued through simplified and accessible procedures. For example, in South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya, they are issued at the request of the victim. Criminal protection orders can be imposed by the court and may arise where a civil protection order is violated or where violence forms part of ongoing criminal proceedings. In both cases, the goal is to provide rapid protection of the victim and prevent the escalation of violence. In the context of Cameroon, where limited judicial interventions are available to capably interrupt or avert violence, a well-designed and enforced protective-order regime would give the state a rapid mechanism to interrupt escalating violence, separate the abuser from the victim or survivor, restrict contact and access to firearms and other weapons—even when the abuser has a permit or is in law enforcement or the armed forces—and it would trigger police and judicial intervention.
A protective order is not a substitute for prosecution, policing, shelters, or survivor services. Protective orders should be embedded inside a broader safety system. The issuance of an order is not the end of the state’s intervention. Instead, for protective orders to be effective, issuance of an order should trigger enhanced protection, which could include rapid access to orders, prompt service of orders, notification of police, assessment of homicide risk and monitoring of high-risk cases, enforcement of firearms and other weapons provision, referral to shelters, legal services, and victim/survivor support services, and prompt and meaningful consequences for violations.
Comparative Models in Africa
Comparable African countries have created legal pathways through which victims and survivors of violence can obtain immediate, enforceable protection from the courts, including civil protection orders. South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana provide models for a practical, dedicated protective-order mechanism.
South Africa’s Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 as amended in 2021, provides courts the authority to issue protection orders, establishes police powers, facilitates seizure of weapons, and creates an integrated electronic repository for protection orders. The Act also provides for a suspended warrant of arrest to be issued automatically alongside every protection order to ensure immediate consequences can follow if the order is violated. For example, if an abuser breaches the order, the police can act immediately to make an arrest without requiring the survivor to initiate a new case.
Similarly, Kenya’s 2015 Protection Against Domestic Violence Act empowers courts to issue protection orders to prevent or stop acts of physical, sexual, psychological, and economic abuse, and to impose conditions that restrict contact, harassment, or any form of continued harm against the survivor. Importantly, specified third parties, including police, social-welfare officers, relatives, medical practitioners, and NGOs can file applications for protection orders on the survivor’s behalf.
Ghana’s 2007 Domestic Violence Act establishes interim and final protection orders, occupation orders governing the home, extension of protection to others, sanctions for contravening an order, police assistance and links between protection proceedings and criminal proceedings.
Emerging evidence from South Africa indicates that protection orders can stop further victimization for many victims and survivors who receive them. However, research across the three countries demonstrates that the effectiveness of protective orders depends on implementation, particularly police enforcement, accessible courts, service of orders, victim and survivor awareness, and coordination between justice and social-service institutions. It is important for legislation to specify what courts may order, and who is institutionally responsible for making the orders effective after the victim or survivor leaves the courts.
Recommendations
Cameroon’s legislative silence on critical preventative measures is not merely a legal oversight—it directly contradicts Cameroon’s international and regional commitments and its own constitutional promises to guarantee the security and integrity of its citizens. To align with regional and international human rights obligations and to effectively address the prevalence of violence against women, including domestic violence, we recommend the following:
A. Adopt a Standalone Domestic Violence Law
Enact a comprehensive standalone Domestic Violence Act that draws on existing Penal Code provisions, while expanding them into a preventive legal framework, to classify acts of domestic violence. The Act should provide for police intervention, establish clear procedures for seeking and issuing protection orders, and adopt a hybrid model that integrates both civil and criminal remedies. Civil remedies should ensure victims and survivors can rapidly access protective measures that are individually tailored, even when they may not want to “criminalize” their partner but desperately need immediate safety and legal protection. Breaching a civil protection order should be a criminal offense, which should carry defined legal consequences—empowering the police to arrest an abuser for violating the order, even if no new physical assault has occurred.
B. Effective Implementation
The law should grant jurisdiction for protective orders to the Courts of First Instance. Granting jurisdiction to lower courts is essential because domestic‑violence cases require rapid, accessible, and community‑level protection. Lower courts are geographically closer to victims and survivors, reducing delays and transportation barriers that often prevent women from seeking help.
Protective orders should override customary law and traditional mediation to prevent the use of “cultural norms” as an argument to undermine legal protections.
A victim or survivor should not have to initiate or complete a criminal prosecution in order to get a protective order; similarly, criminal or family proceedings should not prevent a court from granting a protective order.
Applications for protective orders should be simple, inexpensive, and available without requiring a lawyer, and with procedural assistance provided by the government. Legislation should permit third-party or designated representatives—such as the police, officials in the Ministries of Social Affairs, and the Promotion of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, relatives of victims and survivors, and social workers from non-governmental organizations (NGOs)—to apply for protective orders on behalf of a victim who may be too afraid, intimidated, or otherwise unable to do so themselves.
Law enforcement should have clear statutory duties, including promptly enforcing protective orders, and respond to violations, rather than discretionary language about assisting protected victims and survivors.
Additionally, judges and police should receive regular and ongoing training on handling gender-based violence cases, including domestic violence. Specialized training helps the police and judges better understand the complexities of domestic violence, assess risks accurately, and issue effective protective orders that truly safeguard survivors. Training should also promote a trauma-informed approach, reducing the risk of re-traumatization during proceedings. Importantly, such training equips the police and judges to challenge harmful gender biases and cultural norms that may undermine justice.
The law should require statutory monitory and evaluation, including mandatory recording and centralized tracking of applications, orders issued/denied, time to issuance, service, reported breaches/violations, enforcement actions, repeat victimization and publication of annual statistics.
C. Invest in Support Services, Domestic Violence Shelters
Cameroon should establish and fund a national network of women’s shelters as a key pillar in addressing gender-based violence. Women’s shelters are defined as safe, confidential spaces that provide temporary accommodation and protection for women and girls experiencing violence, particularly gender-based violence. These shelters would provide immediate, safe, and confidential accommodation, especially at the moment survivors leave abusive environments. In a context where many women lack independent housing, shelters offer a realistic alternative to remaining in harm’s way. They should be linked to police Gender Desks, courts, and social services, including local branches of ministries of Women’s Empowerment and Promotion of the Family, and Social Affairs, to ensure quick access to protection.
Beyond immediate safety, shelters should also provide integrated support to help survivors rebuild their lives such as legal assistance, psychosocial counseling, medical care, and pathways to economic independence. The government should establish a dedicated social protection fund and comprehensive economic support and empowerment program for victims and survivors that provides immediate assistance, such as emergency shelter, cash transfers, health services, alongside longer-term support currently available at MINPROFF’s Women’ Economic Empowerment Centers to secure paid employment and achieve financial independence.
______________
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), Five Essential Facts to Know about Femicide, Explainer, November 25, 2025, https://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/explainer/five-essential-facts-to-know-about-femicide (accessed October 9, 2026).
Republic of Cameroon, Ministry for the Promotion of Women’s Empowerment and the Family (MINPROFF), “Situational Analysis Gender-Based Violence in Cameroon,” August 2025, https://minproff.gov.cm/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Report-Situational-Analysis-Gender-Based-Violence-In-Cameroon-2025_ENG_s.pdf (accessed October 9, 2026).
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), Femicides in 2024: Global Estimates of Intimate Partner/Family Member Femicides, 2025, https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2025/11/femicides-in-2024-global-estimates-of-intimate-partner-family-member-femicides (accessed October 9, 2026).
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), “Situation Report #31: The Humanitarian Crisis in Cameroon Remains a Critical Concern,” June 12, 2025, https://cameroon.unfpa.org/en/publications/situation-report-31-april-2025 (accessed October 9, 2026).
Republic of Cameroon, MINPROFF, “Situational Analysis of Gender-Based Violence in Cameroon, August 2025,” https://minproff.gov.cm/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Report-Situational-Analysis-Gender-Based-Violence-In-Cameroon-2025_ENG_s.pdf (accessed October 9, 2026).
National Institute of Statistics of the Republic of Cameroon, “Enquête Démographique et de Santé du Cameroun 2018,” February 2020, https://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR360/FR360.pdf, p. 394.
World Bank Group, “Gender Data Portal: Proportion of women who have ever experienced intimate partner violence (% of ever-partnered women ages 15-49),” undated, https://genderdata.worldbank.org/en/indicator/sg-vaw-ipve-zs (accessed October 9, 2026).
Ibid., p. 397.
Mark T. Yost et al., “Who seeks care after intimate partner violence in Cameroon? sociodemographic differences between a hospital and population sample of women,” PLOS Global Public Health 4(7) (2024), accessed October 9, 2026, doi:10.1371/journal.pgph.0003408; and Tia Palermo et al., “Tip of the iceberg: Reporting and Gender-based Violence in Developing Countries,” American Journal of Epidemiology, 179(5) (2014):602-612, doi: 10.1093/aje/kwt295.
United Nations, Addressing Homicide: How Cameroon is Closing the Data Gap, Department of Economic and Social Affairs: Statistics Division, September 3, 2024, https://unstats.un.org/UNSDWebsite/capacity-development/data-for-now/story-details/how-cameroon-closing-data-gap (accessed October 9, 2026).
Central Bureau of the Census and Population Studies (BUCREP), “Féminicides au Cameroun: Tiron la Sonnette d’Alarme, IWD March 8, 2025, BUCREP: Yaounde, pg. 7; and BUCREP, JIF-Edition 2024: Investir en Faveur des Femmes: Accélérer le Rythme, IWD March 8, 2024, pg. 44, https://bucrep.org/publications/ (accessed October 9, 2026).
Kimeng Hilton, “Femicide Crisis in Cameroon: MINPROFF Reports 50 Brutal Murders in First Four Months of 2026,” Cameroon Tribune, June 19, 2026, https://www.cameroon-tribune.cm/article.html/77866/fr.html/femicide-crisis-in-cameroon-minproff-reports-50-brutal-murders-in-first-four (accessed October 9, 2026); MINPROFF and UNFPA Cameroon, “Voices of Cameroon,” December 29, 2025, https://cameroon.unfpa.org/en/publications/voices-cameroon-2024 (accessed May 18, 2026), p. 4.
Human Rights Watch, I Live in Constant Peril: Discrimination, Lack of Economic Autonomy, and Violence Against Women in Cameroon, June 2026, https://www.hrw.org/report/2026/06/24/i-live-in-constant-peril/discrimination-lack-of-economic-autonomy-and-violence.
Kusum Kali Pal et al., “Global Gender Gap 2024: Insight Report June 2024,” World Economic Forum, June 11, 2024, https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-gender-gap-report-2024/ (accessed October 6, 2025), pp. 12 and 27.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), “Human Development Reports: Gender Inequality Index (GII),” undated, https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/thematic-composite-indices/gender-inequality-index#/indicies/GII (accessed October 24, 2025); United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), “Global Database on Violence against Women and Girls,” undated, https://data.unwomen.org/global-database-on-violence-against-women/country-profile/Cameroon/country-snapshot (accessed October 24, 2025); and UNDP, “Human Development Report 2021/2022: Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World,” September 8, 2022, https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-2021-22 (accessed October 24, 2025). According to the UNDP, Human Development Report 2021/2022, the Gender Inequality Index is a composite measure reflecting inequality between women and men in three different dimensions: reproductive health (maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rate), empowerment (share of parliamentary seats held by women and share of population with at least some secondary education), and labor market participation (labor force participation rate).
The Republic of Cameroon, The Civil Code, 1968, http://jafbase.fr/docAfrique/Cameroun/CODE-CIVIL-CAMEROUNAIS%20complet.pdf, arts. 215, 223, 1421, 1422 and 1428.
Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon, Law No. 96-6 of 18 January 1996, amendment to the Constitution of 2 June 1972, Preamble, https://www.assnat.cm/images/The_constitution.pdf.
Republic of Cameroon, Law No.2016/007 of 12 July 2016 to establish the Penal Code of Cameroon.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted December 18, 1979, G.A. res. 34/180, 34 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 46) at 193, U.N. Doc. A/34/46, entered into force September 3, 1981, acceded to by Cameroon on August 23, 1994; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), adopted December 16, 1966, G.A. Res. 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 52, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171, entered into force March 23, 1976, acceded to by Cameroon on June 27, 1984; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), adopted December 16, 1966, G.A. Res. 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 49, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3, entered into force January 3, 1976, acceded to by Cameroon on June 27, 1984; Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention against Torture), adopted December 10, 1984, G.A. res. 39/46, annex, 39 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 51) at 197, U.N. Doc. A/39/51 (1984), entered into force June 26, 1987, acceded to by Cameroon on December 19, 1986; the African (Banjul) Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (African Charter), adopted June 26, 1981, OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5, 21 I.L.M. 58 (1982), entered into force October 21, 1986, acceded to by Cameroon on September 18, 1989; and Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, adopted by the 2nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union, Maputo, September 13, 2000, CAB/LEG/66.6, entered into force November 25, 2005, ratified by Cameroon December 28, 2012.
UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, General Recommendation No. 33: Women’s Access to Justice, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/33 (2015), para. 31(a)(ii).
CEDAW, General Recommendation No. 33: Women’s Access to Justice, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/33 (2015), para. 51(j).
UN Committee Against Torture, General Comment No. 2 on the Implementation of Article 2 by States Parties, U.N. Doc, CAT/C/GC/2 (2007), para. 18.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), art. 14.
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), Guidelines on Combating Sexual Violence and its Consequences in Africa, adopted 2017, para. 27 (1-4), https://achpr.au.int/en/node/848 (accessed October 9, 2025).
Ibid., para. 27 (1-4).
African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, adopted February 2025, arts. 11-12, https://achpr.au.int/sites/default/files/files/2025-05/en-au-convention-ending-violence-against-women-and-girls-cevawg-27052025.pdf (accessed October 9, 2026).
The Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, a Council of Europe treaty, while not binding on Cameroon, also offers authoritative guidance on the normative content of the obligation on states to create a system of protection orders for victims of domestic violence. The body that oversees the Istanbul Convention - GREVIO (Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence) - has emphasized to governments how the obligation in articles 52 and 53 to create a comprehensive, accessible and effectively enforced system requires that protection orders be readily accessible to victims, that authorities be able to act swiftly, and orders promptly issued. They also stress that breaches of the orders need to have meaningful consequences so that the orders are effective in practice. See for example Emergency Barring Orders in Situations of Domestic Violence: Article 52 of The Istanbul Convention, Council of Europe, June 2017.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 3, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.”
Republic of South Africa, Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Apply for a Domestic Violence Protection Order, webpage, https://www.justice.gov.za/services/dv-protection-order.html (accessed October 9, 2026); Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW), Handbook on Protection Orders in Kenya, pg. 14-16, https://covaw.or.ke/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Hand-Book-on-Protection-orders-in-Kenya.pdf (accessed October 9, 2026).
Republic of South Africa, Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 as amended in 2021; Republic of Kenya, Protection Against Domestic Violence Act of 2015; Republic of Ghana, Domestic Violence Act of 2007.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women has likewise identified lack of enforceability, inadequate shelters, insufficient state capacity and inadequate training of officials as recurring weaknesses in protection systems. See: United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR), Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Report on Shelters and Protection Orders, A/HRC/35/30 (2017), https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-violence-against-women/report-shelters-and-protection-orders (accessed October 9, 2026).
Republic of South Africa, Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 as amended in 2021, Sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, https://www.gov.za/documents/domestic-violence-act.
Republic of Kenya, Protection Against Domestic Violence Act of 2015, Sections 8-10, https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/act/2015/2/eng@2022-12-31.
Republic of Ghana, Domestic Violence Act of 2007.
Yeukai Leoba Muruzi, Evaluating the Effectiveness of Protection Orders in Preventing Further Victimisation of Female Survivors of Domestic Violence in the City of Tshwane, South Africa, PhD Dissertation, 2024, Department of Social Work and Criminology, University of Pretoria, http://hdl.handle.net/2263/103340 (accessed October 9, 2026).
Ncube, Mongiwa Pamela Ncube, “Protection Orders in South Africa: The Effectiveness of Implementation and Enforcement for Victims of Gender-based Violence,” Master’s Thesis, 2021, Faculty of Law, Department of Public Law, University of Cape Town, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36015 (accessed October 9, 2026); Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW), “Handbook on Protection Orders in Kenya,” October 2025, https://covaw.or.ke/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Hand-Book-on-Protection-orders-in-Kenya.pdf (accessed October 9, 2026) pp. 14-16; OHCHR, Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Protection orders and Shelters: Country Visits Information, https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Women/SR/Shelters/SheltersProtectionOrders.pdf (accessed October 09, 2026).
Effectiveness depends on designing enforceability into the legislation from the outset through clear police duties, rapid judicial procedures, sanctions for breach, survivor assistance, institutional coordination, and mandatory monitoring of implementation and outcomes.
OHCHR, Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Report on Shelters and Protection Orders, A/HRC/35/30 (2017), https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-violence-against-women/report-shelters-and-protection-orders (accessed October 9, 2026). The UN Special Rapporteur identifies ineffective enforcement, insufficient shelters, insufficient training of public officials and lack of state capacity as major obstacles to effective protection.
OHCHR, Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Report on Shelters and Protection Orders, A/HRC/35/30 (2017), https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-violence-against-women/report-shelters-and-protection-orders (accessed October 9, 2026).
