List of issues and questions in relation to the combined fourth and fifth periodic reports of Cameroon *

Constitutional, legislative and institutional framework

1.It is indicated in paragraphs 41, 43 and 46 that the penal, civil and family codes are being revised. Please indicate the content of the draft amendments relating to women’s rights and provide a clear time frame for their adoption. Please also provide information on the content of customary law that may infringe upon the human rights of women and on the measures taken to review it.

Access to justice

2.Please provide information on the impediments faced by women in gaining access to justice and the measures taken to overcome them. Please provide information on the implementation of Act No. 2009/004 of 14 April 2009 concerning the organization of legal assistance. Please also provide information on the existence of customary justice mechanisms and, if any, describe their functioning and their relationship with the formal justice system.

National machinery for the advancement of women

3.In paragraph 54, mention is made of the drafting of a national gender policy. Please provide information on its content, indicate the actions taken to accelerate the development of the policy and provide a clear time frame for its adoption and implementation. Please also indicate how the coordination, monitoring and evaluation of its implementation are envisaged.

Stereotypes and harmful practices

4.Please indicate specific measures taken and envisaged to change social and cultural patterns and eliminate gender-based stereotypes and harmful practices, such as early and forced marriages; female genital mutilation; breast ironing; and reported kidnapping of children, especially young girls, for the purpose of selling their organs or magico-religious practices. Please provide information on steps taken to explicitly criminalize these practices and to educate and raise awareness about this subject, targeting women and men at all levels of society and involving the school system, the media and community and religious leaders.

Violence against women

5.Please indicate whether the State party envisages the adoption of a specific law on violence against women and the criminalization of, among others, domestic violence, including marital rape. Please also indicate the measures taken to withdraw legal provisions exempting from punishment a rapist who subsequently marries the victim. It is mentioned in paragraph 63 that a national strategy to combat gender-based violence, developed in 2009, is in the process of being publicized. Please indicate whether the strategy is currently in force, and if so, provide information on its implementation.

6.In paragraph 65, mention is made of the existence of centres for women’s empowerment that act as shelters. Please provide further information on the number, locations and functioning of the shelters and indicate the actions taken to provide remedies and assistance, in addition to counselling and rehabilitation services, to all victims of domestic violence.

Trafficking and exploitation of prostitution

7.Please provide data on trafficking and exploitation of women in prostitution and information on the enforcement of article 293 of the Penal Code criminalizing trafficking in human beings.

8.Please indicate the measures taken or envisaged to: (a) develop a national strategy to address trafficking in women and exploitation of prostitution; (b) decriminalize women victims of prostitution; and (c) address the cases of babies stolen for the purpose of illicit adoption or trafficking of girls.

Participation in decision-making and representation at the international level

9.Please provide information on the measures envisaged to increase the number of women in elected and appointed decision-making bodies and to achieve equal representation of women in political and public life, including through the adoption of temporary special measures in accordance with article 4 (1) of the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendation No. 25 (2004), on temporary special measures.

Disadvantaged groups of women

10.Please provide information on the measures envisaged to ensure that disadvantaged groups of women, including women refugees, women with disabilities, indigenous women and girls living in the street, have effective access to health, education, water, food, housing and income-generating projects and that indigenous women, including pastoralists and pygmies, have access, without discrimination, to land and self-sufficient livelihoods. To this end, please provide information on steps envisaged to adopt temporary special measures in accordance with article 4 (1) of the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendation No. 25.

Education

11.Please provide information on the measures taken and envisaged to: (a) increase the enrolment rate of girls in education and address regional disparities in this regard; (b) reduce the school dropout rate among girls; (c) eliminate economic, social and cultural obstacles to girls’ access to education, including the direct and indirect costs of education, in addition to early marriage and pregnancy; (d) curb violence against and sexual harassment of girls in schools; and (e) eliminate stereotypical attitudes about the roles and responsibilities of women and men in textbooks, curricula and teacher training.

Employment

12.In paragraph 151, it is indicated that an interministerial commission to redesign the Labour Code is currently in place. Please provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to: (a) withdraw the discriminatory provisions of Decree No. 81-02 of 1981 allowing a husband to oppose his wife’s employment; (b) adopt legal provisions covering all situations of sexual harassment; (c) accelerate the reform extending social security to women working in the informal sector; and (d) increase women’s access to microcredit.

13.Please indicate the measures taken to address cases of: (a) exploitative labour and hazardous conditions of work experienced by women and girls in cocoa plantations; (b) exploitative labour, violence and deprivation of liberties experienced by women and girls who are domestic workers; and (c) exploitation of girls in the framework of fostering arrangements.

Health

14.Please indicate the measures envisaged to further address: (a) the persistently high rates of maternal mortality; (b) the high number of cases of vesico-vaginal fistula; and (c) the persistent lack of access to basic health-care services, including essential obstetric care.

15.Please provide information on the measures envisaged to further increase: (a) the availability and accessibility of comprehensive education on sexual and reproductive health and rights and family planning services; and (b) the rate of contraceptive use.

16.Please indicate whether the State party envisages the decriminalization of abortion in cases of rape or incest and when pregnancy is harmful to the mother’s life and/or health.

17.Please provide information on the implementation and impact of the National Strategic Plan to Combat HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (2011-2015).

Rural women

18.Please provide comprehensive data on the situation of rural women in all areas covered by the Convention, as recommended by the Committee in its previous concluding observations (CEDAW/C/CMR/CO/3). Please also provide information on measures envisaged to eliminate, in practice, discrimination against rural women with regard to access to and control and ownership of land. Please also indicate the measures taken and envisaged to ensure that rural women have equal access to basic services, including health and education, and infrastructure, in addition to economic opportunities, including income-generating projects and credit facilities, on an equal and equitable basis with men and with their urban counterparts.

Marriage and family relations

19.It is indicated in paragraphs 43 and 46 that the civil and family codes are being revised. Please indicate whether the State party envisages withdrawing from the codes all discriminatory provisions, including those relating to polygamy, the different minimum age of marriage for girls and boys, early and forced marriages and the husband head of household. Please also provide information on measures taken to review customary laws that discriminate against women with regard to their right to inheritance.

Amendment to article 20 (1) of the Convention

20.Please indicate any progress made with regard to acceptance of the amendment to article 20 (1) of the Convention.