Acronyms

ACAFEJCameroonian Association of Women Lawyers

ACAFIACameroonian Association of Women Agricultural Engineers

ACBFAfrican Capacity Building Foundation

ACEPPrivate Enterprises Credit Agency

ADBAfrican Development Bank

ALVFAssociation to Combat Violence against Women

BCCBehaviour Change Communication

BIPpublic investment budget

CAMCCULCameroon Cooperative Credit Union League

CAREFBuilding the Poverty-Reduction Capacity of Women’s Networks

CDAcommunity development activities

CEACCommunity Education Action Centre

CEC/PROMMatureWomen Promoters’ Savings and Credit Cooperatives

CEDAWConvention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

CENAMENational Centre for the Supply of Essential Drugs and Medical Consumables

CEPSICentre d’Etudes des Problèmes Sociaux des Indigènes

CFPR/EBFast-Track Vocational Training Centre/Clerical Workers

CFPR/MIFast-Track Vocational Training Centre/Industrial Workers

CHACOMbehaviour change and community mobilization

CNDHLNational Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms

COFECCollective of Women’s Advocacy Organizations in Cameroon

COOPECSavings and Loans Cooperative

CPFcentre for the advancement of women

CTAappropriate technologies centre

CVECASelf-Managed Village Savings and Credit Fund

DESSSpecialized Higher Education Diploma

ECAMCameroonian Household Survey

EDSCDemographic and Health Survey of Cameroon

EIGeconomic interest group

EOCemergency obstetric care

EPIExpanded Programme on Immunization

FACILSCollective action facility for local solidarity initiatives

FADCRRural Community Development Support Fund

FAOFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

FAWECAMForum for African Women Educationalists in Cameroon

FNENational Employment Fund

FOREFAEFThink Tank on the Financing and Development of Women’s Activities

FOURMI IIUrban and Rural Organizations and Micro Initiatives Fund

GERGross Enrolment Ratio

HIPCHeavily Indebted Poor Countries

IGAincome-generating activities

ILOInternational Labour Organization/International Labour Office

INJSNational Youth and Sports Institute

INSNational Institute of Statistics

IPParity Index

IPECInternational Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour

IRICInternational Relations Institute of Cameroon

JIGjoint initiative group

LUTRENAProject to Combat Child Trafficking in West and Central Africa

MC2Community Growth Mutual Fund Network

MDGsMillennium Development Goals

MFCmicrofinance company

MFImicrofinance institutions

MINADTMinistry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization

MINAGRIMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development

MINASMinistry of Social Affairs

MINEDUBMinistry of Basic Education

MINEDUCMinistry of National Education

MINEEMinistry of Energy and Water Resources

MINEFIMinistry of the Economy and Finance

MINEPATMinistry of Economic Affairs, Programming and Regional Development

MINESECMinistry of Secondary Education

MINESUPMinistry of Higher Education

MINPMEESAMinistry of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts

MINPROFFMinistry for the Promotion of Women and the Family

MPPF-CAMProductive Microprojects on Behalf of the Women of Cameroon

MUFFAMutual Financing Society for African Women

NACCNational Anti-Corruption Commission

NGOnon-governmental organization

NGPNational Governance Programme

NSINational Institute of Statistics

OHADAOrganization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa

ONELNational Elections Observatory

PACDDUSupport for Urban Decentralization Programme

PADCCommunity Development Support Programme

PAEFMIRProject to Support Women Entrepreneurs in Rural Areas

PANELPNational Action Plan to Promote Employment and Reduce Poverty

PARFARProgramme to Increase Rural Family Income

PASEEducational Support Programme

PCRDDecentralized Rural Credit Project

PDPVVillage Palm Groves Development Programme

PGPDGender, Population and Development Project

PLHApeople living with HIV/AIDS

PMTCTprevention of mother-to-child transmission

PNDPNational Community-Driven Development Programme

PNDRTNational Roots and Tubers Development Programme

PNVRANational Agricultural Extension and Research Programme

PREPAFENProject on Poverty Reduction and Action on Behalf of Women in the Province of Extrême-Nord

PRFPProgramme on the Economic Redevelopment of the Plantain

PRSPPoverty Reduction Strategy Paper

RHreproductive health

SMEsmall and medium-sized enterprises

SSDSSocial Development Sector Strategy

SSSHealth Sector Strategy

STISexually Transmitted Infection

UNDPUnited Nations Development Programme

UNESCOUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNFPAUnited Nations Population Fund

UNICEFUnited Nations Children’s Fund

UNIFEMUnited Nations Development Fund for Women

WACAPWest Africa Cocoa Commercial Agriculture Project

ZEPpriority educational areas

Introduction

Cameroon ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), hereinafter called the “Convention”, on 23 August 1994. On 7 January 2005, it also ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention, which came into effect on 7 April of the same year.

Through these acts, it not only demonstrated its political resolve to promote and protect the basic rights of women, but also confirmed its commitment to respect and fully apply the provisions of this instrument.

Under article 18 of the Convention, States Parties undertake to submit to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, hereinafter called the “Committee”, an initial report followed by periodic reports on the measures they have taken to give effect to their commitments under the Convention.

Pursuant to this article, Cameroon’s initial report (CEDAW/C/CMR/1), submitted in 1999, was considered on 20 June 2000. On 26 June 2000, the Committee made its final observations and recommendations to the Government of Cameroon.

Through this first periodic report, Cameroon intends to fulfil its four-year obligation under the Convention.

This report is a compilation of supplemental information and responses to specific observations and questions of the Committee and new measures and facts relating to the implementation of the Convention.

The report is divided in two parts:

•The first part presents the general socio-economic, political and legal framework in Cameroon;

•Part two presents article-by-article information on the new measures taken by Cameroon to implement the Convention, as well as clarifications in response to the Committee’s concerns and observations.

Part One

General presentation of the socio-economic, legal and political framework of Cameroon

I.Overview of the socio-economic, legal andpolitical framework

Socio-economic framework

The information contained in the initial report remains valid. However, it should be noted that Cameroon went through a period of major economic recession which led to a decline in purchasing power following a hiring freeze and downsizing in the civil service, corporate restructuring in the private and semi-public sectors, wage cutbacks and unemployment.

However, the Government has made efforts to restore prosperity through the structural adjustment programme established under agreements with international financial institutions (International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank).

Legal and political framework

The legal and political framework described in the initial report remains valid. However, innovations have been made to improve the situation.

For example, under Law No. 96/06 of 18 January 1996, the Constitution that was adopted by referendum on 20 May 1972 has been revised to strengthen the rule of law. That constitutional revision is characterized mainly by the inclusion of human rights as a constitutional principle, designation of the judiciary as an authority independent of the executive and legislative authorities, and administrative decentralization.

With regard to judicial power, article 37 of the Constitution states that justice shall be administered in the territory of the Republic on behalf of the Cameroonian people. Judicial power shall be exercised by the Supreme Court, courts of appeal and tribunals.

According to article 38, the Supreme Court shall be the highest court of the State in legal and administrative matters as well as in the appraisal of accounts. It shall comprise a Judicial Bench, an Administrative Bench and an Audit Bench:

•The Judicial Bench (art. 39) shall give final rulings on appeals accepted by law against final rulings given by the various courts and tribunals of the judicial system;

•The Administrative Bench (art. 40) shall examine all administrative disputes involving the State and other public authorities. It shall also examine appeals on regional and council election disputes;

•The Audit Bench (art. 41 — Law No. 2003/005 of 21 April 2003 setting forth the attributions, organization and functioning of the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court) shall be competent to control and rule on public accounts as well as on those of public and semi-public enterprises.

Each of these three benches of the Supreme Court shall give final rulings on rulings handed down by lower courts under its jurisdiction and shall examine all matters expressly devolving upon it by law. The structuring of the new administrative jurisdiction will therefore include the new Administrative Bench of the Supreme Court as an appellate jurisdiction, and the administrative courts to be created and established throughout the country, unlike previously when only one administrative jurisdiction existed in the Supreme Court in Yaoundé.

The revised Constitution of 1996 also created the Constitutional Council, which has jurisdiction in matters pertaining to the Constitution. It is the organ regulating the functioning of the institutions. The Constitutional Council shall give final ruling on:

•The constitutionality of laws, treaties and international agreements;

•The constitutionality of standing orders of the National Assembly and the Senate prior to their implementation;

•Conflict of powers between State institutions; between the State and the regions, and between the regions.

The Constitutional Council was established pursuant to Law No. 2004/004 of 21 April 2004 on the organization and functioning of the Constitutional Council.

Laws, treaties and international agreements may, prior to their enactment, be referred to the Constitutional Council by the President of the Republic, the President of the National Assembly, the President of the Senate, one third of the members of the National Assembly or one third of the Senators and presidents of regional executives.

The Constitutional Council shall also ensure the regularity of presidential elections, parliamentary elections and referendum operations and shall proclaim the results thereof.

The powers of the Supreme Court in constitutional matters have therefore been upgraded and transferred to the Constitutional Council. For example, jurisdictional control (by way of an action or an exception) over the constitutionality of laws, which was very restricted, has been fully enhanced and expanded.

The jurisdiction ratione personae of the High Court of Justice has been expanded. The Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of acts committed in the exercise of their functions to try:

•The President of the Republic for high treason;

•The Prime Minister, other members of Government and persons ranking as such and senior government officials to whom powers have been delegated, for conspiracy against the security of the State.

Furthermore, over the past few years, several laws relating to the electoral process have been passed, including:

•Law No. 90-56 of 19 December 1990 relating to political parties;

•Law No. 91-20 of 16 December 1991 laying down conditions governing the election of Members of Parliament, as amended by Law No. 97-13 of 19 March 1997;

•Law No. 92-002 of 14 August 1992 establishing conditions for the election of municipal councillors;

•Law No. 92-10 of 17 September 1992 laying down conditions governing the vacancy of and election to the Presidency of the Republic, as amended by and supplemented by Law No. 99-020 of 9 September 1999.

Administrative organization was amended by Decree No. 92/186 of 1 September 1992, on the creation of new departments, and Law No. 92/187 of 1 September 1992, on the creation of new districts.

In addition, Cameroon had already taken the initiative to combat torture by adopting the following texts of 10 January 1997:

•Law No. 97/009 of 10 January 1997, which amended and supplemented some provisions of the Penal Code and added an article 132 bis, entitled “Torture”, to the section dealing with offences by civil servants in the performance of their duties. This new article, which reproduces mutatis mutandis the treaty-based definition of torture, also lays down the penalties to be applied against perpetrators of acts of torture. It also reiterates the absolute nature of the law in protecting human beings against torture, excluding any exemption to the prohibition of torture;

•Law No. 97/010 of 10 January 1997, which amended and supplemented certain provisions of Law No. 64/LF/13 of 26 June 1964 on extradition, satisfying the requirements of article 3 of the Convention against Torture, which states that no State Party shall expel, return or extradite a person to another State where he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture.

Moreover, Cameroon has made every effort to better implement the “Paris Principles” on the status of national institutions, including the promulgation of Law No. 2004/016 of 22 July 2004 on the creation of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms (CNDHL). This is an independent institution for consultation, observation, evaluation, dialogue, coordination, promotion and protection of human rights. Accordingly, it receives all complaints concerning cases of violation of human rights and freedoms. CNDHL is supported by development partners in the implementation of its human rights education programme in Cameroon, from primary schools to the university and other institutions of higher learning, in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Second Decade for Human Rights Education.

II.Socio-economic, political, legal and judicial measures takento implement the Convention since the submission of theinitial report

Since the submission of the initial report in 2000, Cameroon has taken measures to strengthen the framework for the protection of human rights in the country.

A.Socio-economic measures

Government authorities have developed several documents and programmes to improve the management of public affairs, foster public participation in development and enhance the programming of government actions in the various sectors. They include:

•Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), approved in 2003. Chapter 3 and other sections of this report refer to the Government’s resolve to improve the living conditions of women: specifically, respect for their rights, concrete recognition of their contribution to development and their integration into income-generating economic activities;

•National Governance Programme (NGP), developed and executed during the 2001-2004 period. This programme had identified and targeted six sectors to be reformed, including public administration; economic, financial and social management; justice; decentralization; fight against corruption; and participation of citizens and civil society in the management of public affairs.

Many positive measures have been taken to combat corruption, such as the creation of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and the adoption of a law during the parliamentary session of March 2006, on the declaration of assets.

It should be noted that, in implementing the NGP on respect for human rights, the Ministry of Justice gave an update on the situation in an evaluation report that was approved on 25 April 2006.

The actions cited in this report will soon be executed with the support of development partners.

Other programmes have been implemented by the Government in collaboration with civil society organizations and development partners within the context of bilateral and multilateral cooperation. They include:

•National Community-Driven Development Programme (PNDP) which is explained under “Political measures”;

•Community Development Support Programme (PADC) explained under “Political measures”;

•Programme to Increase Rural Family Income (PARFAR);

•FACILS programme (a collective action facility for local solidarity initiatives).

Similarly, the Government has developed and implemented strategies to reduce poverty and improve the social conditions of the population, as follows:

–Social Development Sector Strategy, which consists in finding mechanisms to promote the welfare of disadvantaged segments of the population, as follows women;

–Rural Development Sector Strategy (see article 14);

–Health Sector Strategy (see article 12);

–Education Sector Strategy (see article 10).

B.Political measures

The principle of the separation of powers, affirmed in the initial report, has been strengthened with the gradual introduction of the institutions provided for in Law No. 96/06 of 18 January 1996 on the revision of the Constitution of 1972.

It is under this process that the following texts were adopted:

•Law No. 2003/005 of 21 April 2003 setting out the attributions, organization and functioning of the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court;

•Law No. 2004/004 of 21 April 2004 establishing the organization and functioning of the Constitutional Council;

Administrative organization has improved, bringing governmental institutions closer to users, thanks to the following legal instruments:

•Law No. 2004/017 of 22 July 2004 on the orientation of decentralization;

•Law No. 2004/018 of 22 July 2004 establishing the rules applicable to councils;

• Law No. 2004/019 of 22 July 2004 establishing the rules applicable to regions;

•Decree No. 004/320 of 8 December 2004 on Government reorganization.

The promulgation of Law No. 2000/15 of 19 December 2000, on public financing of political parties and election campaigns, and Law No. 2003/15 of 22 December 2003, setting up the National Elections Observatory (ONEL), may be considered a major step forward in the process of consolidating democratic institutions in Cameroon.

Likewise, improving the electoral system is one of the Government’s main concerns, in its effort to increase the involvement of citizens in the management of public affairs.

With regard to the administrative system, the Constitution has created 10 regions to replace the 10 provinces that had been in existence since 1984 and that were decentralized administrative constituencies. Unlike its 1972 predecessor, the current Constitution devotes its entire title X to the decentralized territorial communities of the Republic represented by the regions and councils. These communities are public legal entities. They enjoy administrative and financial autonomy in the management of regional and local interests. They administer themselves freely through regional councils. The purpose of these councils is to promote economic, social, health, educational, cultural and sports development in their communities, under the overall supervision of the State.

Cameroon is a decentralized, democratic and unitary State with a semi-presidential regime and separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The unicameral parliament consisting of the National Assembly, a single chamber under the Constitution of 1972, became a bicameral institution under the Constitution of 1996 with the addition of a second chamber, called the Senate.

The other example of the sharing of decision-making powers with the population is the “community-driven development” approach, which laid the groundwork for the National Community-Driven Development Programme (PNDP) developed by the Government to drastically reduce poverty by 2015. Its objective is to empower grass-roots communities and the decentralized structures of the State so that they can play a role in their own development, in the gradual process of decentralization.

Other structures have been established along the same lines, including the Support for Urban Decentralization Programme (PACDDU), the Community Development Support Programme (PADC) and FOURMI II, as well as the Local Governance Programme, which prepares the public to share in decision-making.

The goal of “community-driven development” is to build partnership relationships between the State, civil society, the private sector and development partners by strengthening the capacities of grass-roots communities. These partnerships would be gradually expanded to cover the whole country.

The capacity-building objective will be achieved through the following measures:

•Financing projects and activities initiated by local districts, village communities and other segments of civil society, based on “community development plans” and Rural Community Development Support Fund (FADCR);

•Preparing local councils and grass-roots communities for their effective integration into the gradual decentralization process;

•Improving the knowledge and skills of community-driven development actors for their concerted involvement in poverty alleviation efforts. The targets of this capacity-building are: grass-roots communities, decentralized local communities, decentralized service agents of the State, NGOs, service providers and microfinance institutions;

•Providing community-driven development actors with the necessary information and management and decision-making tools for them to fulfil their responsibilities;

•Reinforcing institutional mechanisms by creating specific ministerial structures responsible for gender promotion and for the establishment of partnerships with civil society and international organizations.

C.Legal and judicial measures

Since the submission of the initial report in 2000, the following measures have been taken:

•Ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW);

•Ratification of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its three supplemental protocols pursuant to Decree No. 2004/20 of 18 May 2004. The first of these protocols is designed to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children. This Convention is in the process of being incorporated into domestic law;

•Ratification on 18 May 2004 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption;

•Promulgation of Law No. 2005/015 of 29 December 2005 on child trafficking and slavery;

•Draft bill on protection and promotion of disabled persons which sets out measures to facilitate their access, without gender discrimination, to education, health, sports and leisure, the environment, etc.;

•Promulgation of Law No. 2005/007 of 27 July 2005 on the Code of Criminal Procedure.

In the context of a liberalization of the media in Cameroon, media coverage has been fostering public education about human rights with a view to their effective realization. In order to reconcile prosecutorial requirements with freedom of expression, crimes of opinion have been eliminated. Pursuant to Law No. 90/092 of 19 December 1990 on freedom of social communication, all violations of these provisions incur only fines.

The Prime Minister, as Head of Government, has also signed Decree No. 2000/158 of 3 April 2000, which lays down the conditions and modalities under which private audio-visual communication companies may be established.

Moreover, with the same aim in view, judicial mechanisms for the protection of human rights have been strengthened.

Thus, in addition to the triple right of action under the criminal laws referred to in the initial report, collective responsibility has been given effect throughout Cameroon’s courts of appeal and courts of major jurisdiction in the main metropolitan areas where complex cases and cases involving major economic interests arise, so that two tiers of jurisdiction can provide a stronger guarantee of defendants’ rights.

Arbitration, which facilitates prompt and simple settlement of disputes, is increasingly being applied through legislation in accordance with the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) which Cameroon is gradually implementing internally, notably through:

•Law No. 2003/008 of 10 July 2003 laying down penalties for violations of certain OHADA uniform acts;

•Law No. 2003/009 of 10 July 2003 appointing the competent jurisdictions described in the uniform act on arbitration rights and specifying how referrals to them are effected;

•Decree No. 2002/299 of 3 December 2002 appointing the authority entrusted with affixing the executory formula to decisions of the OHADA Common Court of Justice and Arbitration.

Part Two

Specific information on each provision of the Convention

I.Constitutional and legal framework for protection of women’s rights (articles 1-5)

Article 1

For the purposes of the present Convention, the term “discrimination against women” shall mean any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.

Cameroon’s body of laws embodies the principle of equality between men and women. It should be noted that the various texts pertaining to this matter were addressed in the initial report of Cameroon on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 2000. It is worth recalling that some of those texts embody the principle of equality between men and women, namely:

•The revised Constitution of 18 January 1996;

•The Penal Code;

•The Labour Code;

•The electoral laws;

•The Civil Service Regulations.

By ratifying the Convention, Cameroon undertook to apply the principle of non-discrimination with respect to women.

No legal definition of discrimination has so far been adopted. However, the draft law for the prevention and punishment of violence against women and of gender-based discrimination provides for a definition of discrimination and subsequent sanctions (responses to Committee recommendations 49 and 50). This marks the Government’s resolve to strengthen existing legal machinery and instruments for the protection of women. Accordingly:

•The Optional Protocol to the Convention was ratified by Cameroon on 7 January 2005 and took effect on 7 April 2005 (response to Committee recommendation 64);

•The draft law setting out the code governing persons and the family seeks to apply uniform treatment in the handling of male/female relationships by adopting special measures that enshrine the principle of equality between these two components of society. One of the more noteworthy major innovations is strengthening equality between men and women with respect to name, domicile, age of marriage, and the organization and revitalization of the family council;

•The draft law on the prevention and punishment of violence against women and gender-based discrimination is fairly innovative, as it addresses violations that heretofore went unpunished, such as female genital mutilation and sexual harassment. The areas addressed in this draft law seek effectively to ensure protection of the person and rights of women in society.

In the commercial sphere, the provisions of the OHADA uniform act pertaining to commercial law, in article 7, govern inequalities between men and women.

Article 2

States Parties condemn discrimination against women in all its forms, agree to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating discrimination against women and, to this end, undertake:

(a) To embody the principle of the equality of men and women in their national constitutions or other appropriate legislation if not yet incorporated therein and to ensure, through law and other appropriate means, the practical realization of this principle;

(b) To adopt appropriate legislative and other measures, including sanctions where appropriate, prohibiting all discrimination against women;

(c) To establish legal protection of the rights of women on an equal basis with men and to ensure through competent national tribunals and other public institutions the effective protection of women against any act of discrimination;

(d) To refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination against women and to ensure that public authorities and institutions shall act in conformity with this obligation;

(e) To take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women by any person, organization or enterprise;

(f) To take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women;

(g) To repeal all national penal provisions which constitute discrimination against women.

The observations presented with regard to article 1 apply to this article.

Article 3

States Parties shall take in all fields, in particular in the political, social, economic and cultural fields, all appropriate measures, including legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men.

With a view to enabling women to enjoy the rights recognized under the Convention, the authorities have taken political, institutional, legislative and administrative measures.

To that end, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) affords a suitable framework for implementing the policy laid down by the Head of State. The lines of action laid down in the PRSP are carried out by the administration through sectoral strategies.

The Government’s commitment effectively to combat poverty is expressed by:

•Pursuit of policies to secure lasting and equitable economic growth;

•Reallocation of a substantial portion of public resources to basic social and economic sectors;

•Efficient human resources management;

•Specific initiatives in favour of women and other vulnerable groups.

For that purpose, programmes and projects are developed for the advancement of women in the context of bilateral and multilateral cooperation. Those initiatives are geared to capacity-building for women in the socio-economic and legal arenas, in order to foster full autonomy for this vulnerable sector of society.

Chapter 3, section 373, of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) is devoted to the advancement of women. The Government’s initiatives in this area focus on four primary areas, namely:

•Improvement of women’s social and legal status;

•Improvement of women’s standard of living;

•Promotion of equality and equity between the sexes in all areas of national life;

•Strengthening of institutional structures and mechanisms.

Response to Committee recommendation 52

Having espoused the defence and protection of human rights as one of the aims of its National Governance Programme (NGP), the Government intends to afford protection to vulnerable groups and minorities. Accordingly, it is developing an action plan aimed at the advancement of women, in which it proposes:

•To translate into reality the principle of equal access by men and women to elective offices and functions;

•To promote, encourage and oversee a quota policy in elections and in the workplace;

•To ensure that, where rules so allow, women receive compensation equal to that of men;

•To support the policy of combating violence against women;

•To adopt a Family Code;

•To approve the strategy regarding vocational training on an equitable basis.

Similarly, the Social Development Sector Strategy contains mechanisms to enable the promotion of well-being for disadvantaged populations, including women. Specific initiatives are envisaged for women prostitutes, in particular to address their social and health needs through:

•An antiretroviral maintenance treatment fund;

•Education and awareness-raising among prostitutes and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) (Behaviour Change Communications (BCC) strategy);

•Development, adoption and implementation of texts on the rights of PLHA;

•Creation of centres for socio-vocational reintegration of prostitutes.

As part of the strategy for combating poverty and social exclusion comprised by chapter 8 of the document entitled Cameroon: Building Governance (Cameroun: Les chantiers de la gouvernance), after taking stock of the situation, the Government adopted a number of goals under the PRSP. One noteworthy goal upon which the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family (MINPROFF) may focus is strengthening human resources in the social sector and integrating disadvantaged groups into the economy.

Response to Committee recommendation 52

The Government also intends to encourage the growth of civil society by strengthening the capacities of associations. This undertaking may be seen in a number of laws dealing with the freedom of association. Individual women in Cameroon can, in the framework of associations, cooperatives or NGOs, contribute effectively to the socio-economic development of their country. Several laws and decrees have enabled the associative movement in Cameroon to make significant headway.

In this context, a law that has been added to the books is Law No. 99/014 of 21 December 1999 on non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It has been followed by an implementing decree.

However, from the organizational perspective, the structure of the associative movement is still at a rudimentary stage, and one consequence of this is a dissipation of energies sometimes leading to unproductive misunderstandings. That state of affairs substantially reduces civil society’s ability to be an interlocutor to the State, development partners and the private sector.

The lack of training among the actors involved is compounded by weak managerial capacities and a lack of structures mediating with the State or with stakeholders in the market economy sphere.

Research done for the design and development of the National Governance Programme disclosed that the associative sector brings together about 78 per cent of the active population of our country. A 2003 survey identified 55,602 duly constituted associations, although they were unevenly distributed throughout the provinces. In light of the data gathered on the ground, the associations seem to be serving as a training-ground to strengthen grass-roots initiatives and local and regional competencies. In recent years, they have emerged as a forum for social dialogue, or as a link between the State and the socio-economic sphere.

Article 4 — Temporary special measures aimed at accelerating de factoequality between men and women

1. Adoption by States Parties of temporary special measures aimed at accelerating de facto equality between men and women shall not be considered discrimination as defined in the present Convention, but shall in no way entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate standards; these measures shall be discontinued when the objectives of equality of opportunity and treatment have been achieved.

2. Adoption by States Parties of special measures, including those measures contained in the present Convention, aimed at protecting maternity shall not be considered discriminatory.

Since the submission of the initial report of 2000 under the Convention, Cameroonian authorities have adopted a number of measures designed to accelerate de facto equality between men and women.

In the field of education, the following may be noted:

•A scholarship policy which sets aside 40 per cent of scholarships to be granted to girls;

•A project on “child-friendly, girl-friendly schools”, designed to give particular encouragement to young girls to attend school.

With regard to the fight against HIV/AIDS, in 2001 the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family developed a campaign against HIV/AIDS in the female population. In implementing this strategy, actions are planned to strengthen the economic capacities of women who have been infected with or are suffering from HIV/AIDS.

Article 5

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures:

(a) To modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women;

(b) To ensure that family education includes a proper understanding of maternity as a social function and the recognition of the common responsibility of men and women in the upbringing and development of their children, it being understood that the interest of the children is the primordial consideration in all cases.

Age-old cultural practices, customs and traditions continue to be a hindrance to actions pursued by the public authorities in order to improve the status of women in all areas. This is most apparent in rural areas, varying according to region and religion.

How does the State go about modifying negative sociocultural patterns and models of behaviour that perpetuate discrimination? Is there a legal framework set up by the State in order to combat these pernicious practices? Our approach consists of:

•Identifying behaviours and attitudes that discriminate against women;

•Identifying obstacles to the elimination of stereotypes and prejudices;

•Taking action to combat such discrimination.

I.Identifying of behaviours and attitudes that discriminate against women

1.Stereotypes and prejudices in respect of occupational and educational activities

Strategic, technical and managerial posts

In public and private structures alike, the majority of such posts are held by men.

According to data from the statistical yearbook on the situation of women in Cameroon, the proportion of women in positions of responsibility (posts of Director and similar) in central ministerial services was 12 per cent in 2002 and 2005 (see table 1 in annex).

The association of certain occupations with women

The occupations of secretary, nurse, primary-school teacher and social worker are usually exercised by women. This reflects the low rate of enrolment of girls in technical schools and institutions and the small number of boys who receive training for occupations traditionally associated with women. According to the 2004 statistical yearbook of the National Institute of Statistics, 56,516 girls were enrolled in institutions of technical education, representing 41 per cent of the total enrolment.

Agriculture

A stereotyped image of women exists in the agricultural sector, but it is tending to become less apparent. The drop in the prices of cash crops (cocoa, coffee) has led to the development of new crop-growing practices among men, who are switching to food crops, which were formerly the preserve of women.

Education

In education, preference is given to boys.

2.Stereotypes and prejudices in respect of marital relations

•Mothers remain largely responsible for children’s education and for the performance of countless domestic tasks;

•There is a widespread belief that women determine the child’s sex;

•In childbirth, a preference is shown for the male sex;

•Female sexual expression remains a taboo.

It is usually left to men to start up discussions about sexuality. As a result, women have to put up with all the frustrations incurred through their silence (violence, sexist insults, male chauvinism).

The likening of women to property

Women are unable to be in charge. Since they are regarded as property, responsibility for the management of household property falls to men. Women consequently find it difficult to engage in financial transactions without a means of guarantee. Nor can they inherit, and it is hard for them to own land.

3.Stereotypes and prejudices in respect of social life

Women’s rights fall short of men’s rights

Notwithstanding the provisions of the Constitution and the many laws and conventions ratified by Cameroon, the national community persists in believing that men have more rights than women.

Men justify their acts of physical violence by invoking their recognized right to administer corporal punishment.

Confinement of girls to household tasks

School textbooks and advertisements carry stereotyped images of girls confined to household tasks, while boys are shown playing football or waiting to be served at table.

Belief that women like to be beaten by men

A woman who is not beaten by her husband thinks that he doesn’t really love her.

Belief that women who do not submit to the rites of widowhood are either witches or responsible for their husbands’ death

Women run a high risk when they fail to submit to the rites of widowhood. The belief that they should do so is very strongly entrenched, while varying from one group to another, and requires women to comply with degrading practices.

Women as AIDS carriers

Considered to be responsible for bringing AIDS into the community, women are particularly marginalized when they are known to be HIV-positive.

Because of the prevalence of such views in society, men and the community exert particular pressure on women.

4.Stereotypes and prejudices in respect of political life

The prevalence of the view that women’s abilities do not naturally predispose them to engage in politics is a factor in the scant admittance of women into the political arena.

II.Identifying obstacles to the elimination of stereotypes and prejudices

A variety of factors still contribute to the persistence of negative stereotypes and prejudices in regard to women. These include:

•Sociocultural constraints;

•The weak economic power of women;

•The paucity of resources allocated to bodies for the advancement of women;

•Insufficient development of awareness about the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;

•Low representation of women in decision-making posts.

III.Action taken

Action to combat discrimination against women has been taken at various levels, including by the Government, associations, NGOs, the media and religious communities.

• Appointment of two women in the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization by Decree No. 2006/231 of 17 July 2006 concerning the appointment of Sub-Prefects

This legislation is one of the major innovations introduced into territorial administration.

• Drawing up of a draft bill on violence

The Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family (MINPROFF) has prepared a draft bill on violence against women and gender-based discrimination. This text identifies the main offences constituted by violence against women and the corresponding punishments.

• Institutionalization of the gender perspective in development policies and programmes

Gender mainstreaming in all development policies, programmes and projects is one of the main methods adopted to improve the status of Cameroonian women. As a result of this approach, gender issues are taken into account in all the planning, programming, implementation and evaluation projects carried out by national bodies.

The situation of women in each area of development has also been able thereby to be taken into account in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, with a view to improving their living conditions.

• Organization of awareness-raising workshops on practices that discriminate against women

Organized by the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family in Mbalmayo from 11 to 13 December 2001 and in Buea from 28 to 30 June 2002, these workshops were designed to make the participants aware of the harmful effects of discriminatory practices on the self-fulfilment of women with a view to inducing them, through their actions, to bring about gender-oriented social change.

• Organization of law clinics

The Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund, has organized law clinics in the Ouest, Centre and Sud provinces. These have served to identify certain basic problems impeding the enjoyment or exercise by women of their rights and a number of violations of women’s rights. Follow-up action on these specific cases has been initiated by the provincial offices of the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family.

• Organization of a training seminar for senior public officials

A training seminar for senior public officials was organized by the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family from 24 to 26 May 2004 in Yaoundé. Its purpose was to make them aware of the relevance and crosscutting nature of gender issues and to induce them to integrate a gender perspective in development policies and programmes with a view to fostering equality between men and women and promoting the participation of women in the management of public affairs.

• Integration of women in town-planning services

Municipalities now include women in town-planning projects.

• National Community-Driven Development Programme (PNDP)

The PNDP calls for the full participation and presence of women in the entire development process.

In December 2005 an awareness-raising seminar was held for parliamentarians on gender-based budgeting.

Article 6 — Suppression of the exploitation of prostitution of women

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women.

The causes of prostitution set out in the previous report continue to apply. It should be noted, however, that this scourge has intensified on account of the massive use of new information and communications technologies like the Internet.

Measures taken by Cameroon

Cameroon has taken preventive measures against the economic exploitation of children. These include:

•Ratification of International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 182: Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention;

•Ratification of ILO Convention No. 138 concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment;

•Signature and ratification in progress of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, concerning respectively the involvement of children in armed conflict and the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;

•Ratification of the Additional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Decree No. 2004/120 of 18 May 2004), to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children;

•Project to combat national and cross-border trafficking in children in West and Central Africa (LUTRENA);

•ILO-IPEC WACAP project against the exploitation of children on cocoa farms;

•Draft bill on violence against women, which provides for stiffer penalties for procurement;

•Social Sector Development Strategy, which provides for improved social support and health care for prostitutes through the establishment of specialized centres and socio-occupational integration.

Law No. 2005/015 of 29 December 2005 against trafficking in children.

In addition, a national plan against child labour adopted some years ago provides in the short term for adequate protection of children against all the most demeaning and degrading forms of abuse and exploitation, which may impair their physical and psychological integrity.

In this spirit, Cameroon has joined various subregional, regional and international initiatives to combat the trafficking and exploitation of children (including girls) for commercial ends. Mention may be made in this connection of the following:

•Seminar-workshops held in Libreville, Gabon, in 2001 and 2002 to prepare a convention against this scourge in the Central and West African subregions;

•Second World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, held in Yokohama, Japan, in December 2001;

•Establishment of Interpol offices to combat child trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Lastly, under the new cooperation programme for 2003-2007 between Cameroon and UNICEF, specific measures have been adopted for children in need of special protection, including child victims of trafficking.

All these initiatives demonstrate the political will of the public authorities to protect children (girls) and women from sexual exploitation and trafficking.

Response to Committee recommendation 51

Article 7 — Discrimination in political and public life

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country and, in particular, shall ensure to women, on equal terms with men, the right:

(a) To vote in all elections and public referenda and to be eligible for election to all publicly elected bodies;

(b) To participate in the formulation of government policy and the implementation thereof and to hold public office and perform all public functions at all levels of government;

(c) To participate in non-governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country.

Women and political life

A.Presidential election of 11 October 2004

Following examination of 46 candidacies, including three from women, submitted for the presidential election, 16 candidates were selected, of whom not one was a woman.

B.Legislative elections

Out of a total of 331 electoral slates, 22 per cent of candidate slates contained women as against 32 per cent of alternate slates: women thus constituted 22 per cent of candidates and 32 per cent of alternates.

Total number of slatesCandidate slates with womenAlternate slates with womenCandidate slates headed by women\s

Source: Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family (MINPROFF), 2004 statistical yearbook.

Out of 1,612 candidates and alternates designated for the 2002 legislative elections, 219 were women, accounting for 13.6 per cent of the total number, as compared with 1,393 men, accounting for 86.41 per cent.

All candidates designated by political partiesMen86%Women14%

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

In 1997, there were 2,282 candidates, 12.9 per cent of whom were women.

Alternates 2002Candidates 2002Alternates 1997Candidates 1997

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

The above graph shows that, generally speaking, the majority of women included in electoral slates for legislative office are alternates. Thus, in 1997 and 2002 alike, the proportion of women on candidate slates did not exceed 11 per cent and, on alternate slates, was around 16 per cent. The tendency towards stronger representation of women on alternate slates seems to have prevailed for both elections.

Results of 2002 elections

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

It emerges from these results that out of 180 elected members of the National Assembly, only 20 are women and account for 11.11 per cent of members and 18.3 per cent of alternates, as compared with 160 men, accounting for 88.89 per cent of members.

Since the last two legislatures, the number of women members of the National Assembly has doubled.

The participation of women in the various legislative elections is clearly shown in annex tables 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

C.Municipal elections

Candidates admitted to the municipal elections, by sexWomen13%Men 87%\s

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

Of the 22,636 candidates approved to run in the municipal elections in 2002, 1,946 (13 per cent) were women. The elections were held in 337 local governments.

Results

Municipal councillors, by sexWomen 1,302 (13%)Men8,661 (87%)\s

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

Nationally, 9,963 council members were elected in the municipal elections of 2002, of whom 1,302 (13 per cent) were women and 8,661 (87 per cent) were men.

Ten women were elected mayor, along with 327 men, which amounts to 3 per cent women and 96.9 per cent men (see annex 13).

Distribution of elected mayors, by sexWomen10 (3%)Men327 (97%)\s

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

It should be pointed out that women also serve as deputy mayors.

Percentage of women in municipal executive positions3.00%10.70%23.70%15.70%50.00%12.70%0.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00% MayorsFirst deputiesSecond deputiesThird deputiesFourthdeputiesTotal

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

In some provinces women hold more than 20 per cent of the municipal executive positions. This applies mainly to the provinces of Centre and Sud, whereas the proportion in Nord and Est provinces is under 10 per cent.

Proportion of women in municipal executive positions,by province9.1%20.2%5.3%9.4%10.8%12.2%22.1%15.3%7.1%11.2%0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%20.0%25.0%ADCEESTENLTNONWOUSUDSW

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

Representation of women in local government

Number of female councillors on town councils18 39 51 65 96 39 13 10 6 - 4020 8060 1201000 1 2 3 4-56-78-9 10-1112-16Number of womenNumber of town councils

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

The chart above shows that, of the 337 town councils for which elections were held, 18 have no female councillors, 155 have no more than 3 women and only 16 have 10 women or more.

Growth in the number of women on town councils since 1982

Growth in the number of women councillors since 1982130210613364460500100015001982198719962002YEARNUMBER

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

The number of female mayors went from zero in 1982 to 10 in 2002, with only one in 1987 and two in 1996. The number of women councillors rose from 336 in 1982 to 1,302 in 2002 (see annex, tables 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15).

D.Participation of women in the organization of elections

The National Elections Observatory (ONEL) has 11 members, 3 of them women, including one vice-president. The provincial, departmental and municipal offices of the Commission have 3, 41 and 174 female members, respectively, which corresponds to 5 per cent, 12 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively (see annex, tables 16, 17 and 18).

E.Number of women in senior posts (see annex, tables 19 and 20)

Response to Committee recommendations 55 and 56

With a view to increasing the representation of women in decision-making posts, the Committee proposed various measures: the institutionalization of gender mainstreaming, the establishment of a quota of at least 30 per cent for women and the requirement that election slates place women candidates closer to the top.

Article 8 — The right to represent one’s Government at the international level

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure to women, on equal terms with men and without any discrimination, the opportunity to represent their Governments at the international level and to participate in the work of international organizations.

Women are represented in the diplomatic sector. Like men, they can represent Cameroon at the international level and can participate in the work of international organizations.

Admission to the International Relations Institute of Cameroon (IRIC), which trains diplomats, is open without discrimination to Cameroonians and all Africans of either sex who have a bachelor’s degree.

Statistics on the gender distribution of diplomats trained at the Institute show that women are being admitted, although they have been few in number (see annex, table 21).

Of the 166 diplomats trained and awarded a doctor’s degree in international relations, only 24 are women.

Of the 60 diplomats awarded the recently created Specialized Higher Education Diploma (DESS) Programme in international relations between 2002 and 2005, 47 are men and 13 are women (see table 21 bis). This low number of female diplomats has an impact on their representation in the Government department that deals with diplomacy, as well as in embassies and international organizations (see annex, tables 22 and 23).

I.Representation at the international level

It should be pointed out that women diplomats participate on the same basis as their male colleagues in international conferences and seminars, depending on their individual areas of expertise. The number of women is low, however, and some delegations representing Cameroon abroad consist entirely of men.

In an effort to conform with the principles adopted by such international organizations as the United Nations and the African Union regarding gender parity among candidates, including placing a priority on female candidates for certain posts, Cameroon has given preference to female candidates for posts in the United Nations system and the African Union. In 2003 a Cameroonian woman was elected as a judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and another was elected Commissioner for Trade and Industry in the African Union.

II.Gender-based affirmative action

As a result of a sweeping measure relating to the diplomatic corps, namely, Decree No. 173/4/PR of 17 April 2006, 10 women were posted to Cameroonian diplomatic missions abroad, along with 89 men. In the central services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2 women hold the rank of Director and 7 that of Deputy Director. Unfortunately, the number of women who have the opportunity to represent the Government at the international level remains low. Another aspect of the situation is that the spouses of diplomats cannot be given diplomatic posts; in some embassies, however, spouses are hired to work as administrative staff.

Article 9

1. States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality. They shall ensure in particular that neither marriage to an alien nor change of nationality by the husband during marriage shall automatically change the nationality of the wife, render her stateless or force upon her the nationality of the husband.

2. States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men with respect to the nationality of their children.

The legislation on nationality remains unchanged. However, the draft bill on the Code of Persons and the Family takes a very positive view on this matter, stressing the equality of men and women.

Article 10

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in order to ensure to them equal rights with men in the field of education and in particular to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women:

(a) The same conditions for career and vocational guidance, for access to studies and for the achievement of diplomas in educational establishments of all categories in rural as well as in urban areas; this equality shall be ensured in preschool, general, technical, professional and higher technical education, as well as in all types of vocational training;

(b) Access to the same curricula, the same examinations, teaching staff with qualifications of the same standard and school premises and equipment of the same quality;

(c) The elimination of any stereotyped concept of the roles of men and women at all levels and in all forms of education by encouraging coeducation and other types of education which will help to achieve this aim and, in particular, by the revision of textbooks and school programmes and the adaptation of teaching methods;

(d) The same opportunities to benefit from scholarships and other study grants;

(e) The same opportunities for access to programmes of continuing education, including adult and functional literacy programmes, particularly those aimed at reducing, at the earliest possible time, any gap in education existing between men and women;

(f) The reduction of female student drop-out rates and the organization of programmes for girls and women who have left school prematurely;

(g) The same opportunities to participate actively in sports and physical education;

(h) Access to specific educational information to help to ensure the health and well-being of families, including information and advice on family planning.

I.Measures adopted by Cameroon to promote the education of women

The education system of Cameroon has two sectors: one formal and the other informal. In order to deal with gaps resulting from ignorance and the persistence of cultural practices, Cameroon has adopted a number of measures to reduce the gaps and promote equality between the sexes.

A.Steps taken in the formal system

•Development and implementation of an Education Sector strategy that includes gender concerns;

•Priority granted to the social, health and education sectors in the allocation of supplementary resources under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative;

•Free primary education through the elimination of fees for public primary schools and the provision of minimum school kits since 2001;

•A scholarship award policy with a mandatory quota of 40 per cent for girls;

•Textbook policy: establishment of a council charged with approving school textbooks and teaching materials. Its responsibilities include reviewing school textbooks to eliminate discriminatory attitudes such as sexist stereotypes. Any book that contains sexist stereotypes is removed from the list of official textbooks;

•Strengthening the partnership between the State and international organizations, NGOs and associations that deal with the schooling of girls. Several activities in this field are being carried out in partnership with UNICEF, the Ministry of Basic Education (MINEDUB) and the Ministry of Social Affairs (MINAS). They include social mobilization to promote schooling for girls and the fostering of extracurricular science-related activities for girls to interest them in scientific careers;

•Adoption of an action plan in the education sector to combat HIV/AIDS;

•Establishment of a gender committee in the former Ministry of National Education (MINEDUC) whose strategic orientation includes the elimination of all forms of discrimination against girls and women in education, the promotion of educational access for girls and keeping them in school and the full use of female human resources;

•Revision of school textbooks with a view to eliminating sexist stereotypes;

•Training of trainers in gender issues;

•Scholarship grants for the female candidates with the highest scores in official examinations, with a view to promoting excellence among women;

•Free distribution of textbooks;

•Support for families.

In this connection UNICEF, in the context of its “child-friendly, girl-friendly schools” project, has intervened in priority educational areas in order to lower the number of repeaters and dropouts on the part of both boys and girls. This also applies to the Forum for African Women Educationalists in Cameroon, which provides guidance to girls’ clubs in schools, organizes science camps for girls and awards prizes to girls with the highest scores on national examinations.

•Support for school cafeterias;

•Advocacy for girls’ schooling;

•The establishment of a unit for the education and training of women and girls within the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family.

Furthermore, the Educational Support Programme (PASE), which involves the Ministries of Basic Education, Secondary Education and Higher Education and is funded by the World Bank, devotes a great deal of attention to the problem of fairness in ensuring access on the part of girls to schooling and keeping them in school, especially in the priority education areas (ZEP). Cameroon has made a significant effort to ensure schooling for all at the primary level but the challenges at the secondary and higher levels remain. To deal with these challenges the Government has set the following priorities:

•Broaden access to secondary and higher education;

•Promote high quality secondary and higher education;

•Combat pupil wastage;

•Reduce the gaps between the sexes;

•Promote the professionalization of teachers.

B.Steps taken in the informal system

1.Strengthening institutional machinery in informal education

Special tasks have been assigned to some of the Government services that are responsible for informal education, for example, the Ministry for the Promotion of Women, which provides training for women in centres for the advancement of women and centres for appropriate technology. This sort of arrangement gave rise to a project to establish a support mechanism for poor women in centres for the advancement of women. With HIPC funding the project has sought to strengthen the operational capacities of centres for the advancement of women so that they can:

•Provide information and guidance to women;

•Provide consulting services to women trying to start their own businesses or develop an innovative idea;

•Provide training and continuing education to women facing difficulties in obtaining employment.

A draft project to implement the idea has been formulated. Sixty trainers have been recruited and various types of equipment and teaching materials have been acquired.

Response to Committee recommendation 57

•The Ministry of Social Affairs has contributed by establishing and rehabilitating centres for the education and training of girls who have dropped out of school and by providing support to vulnerable families and communities. The Ministry also runs workshop residences, social centres and the “Spool of Gold” centre, which trains handicapped girls and women to prepare them for employment.

•The Ministry of Youth provides training for girls in centres and homes for young people and in youth clubs.

•The Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, which was created as part of the overall strategy for vocational training reform and development of jobs, manages the fast-track vocational training centres for clerical and industrial workers (CFPR/EB and CFPR/MI, respectively).

This ministry has developed specific strategies for such vulnerable groups as women. Reducing gender gaps in vocational training will require maintaining better balance between sexes through specific measures aimed at benefiting girls. In that connection various measures are planned:

•Establishing earmarked funds to promote access to vocational training;

•Establishing a vocational training mechanism;

•Revision of current vocational training textbooks;

•Establishment of a framework for discussion and awareness-raising.

2.Strengthening the partnership between the State, international organizations, NGOs and national organizations that are active in training and finding employment for young women

From 2002 to 2004 the results of such activities have been that:

•600 female community organizers have been designated and trained in the nine districts that make up the intervention zones covered by the basic education programme being implemented with UNICEF help;

•A workshop to develop picture boxes for community organizers was held;

•Networks for community organizers were set up to strengthen awareness-raising activities.

II.Education statistics

(See annex tables 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33)

In general, the educational level of women still needs to be improved. The literacy rate for women is 60 per cent in contrast to 70 per cent for men.

Since 2001, the level of schooling has been generally satisfactory.

With respect to primary education, the gross enrolment ratio (GER) was 102.97 per cent in 2002/2003 as opposed to 98.08 per cent in 2001/2002.

Primary education

The gross enrolment ratio for primary education stood at 100 per cent in 2003 and at 100.14 per cent in 2004. While the general parity index is 0.85, it stands at 0.64 and 0.63 in the Nord and Nord Extrême provinces respectively.

Moreover, it should be noted that the drop-out rate among girls at the primary education level is higher than the rate among boys.

General secondary education

The parity index at entry is 0.92. However, fewer girls than boys complete their secondary education. The retention level at the senior secondary level is 54.6 per cent for girls and 76 per cent for boys.

Technical secondary education

Girls make up 41 per cent of enrolment; however, there is greater retention rate for girls than for boys.

The repeat rate for girls, on average, is 25 per cent at the primary education level and 18 per cent at the secondary level (both general and technical).

Higher education

At the higher education level, the parity index is 0.64.

Percentage of women enrolled in State universities

The bar graph above shows that the proportion of women remained stable during 2001/2002 and 2002/2003 at State universities. The number of women enrolled at University of Buea is virtually the same as the number of men. They make up no more than 27 per cent of students at Ngaoundéré University, whereas the overall total is 39 per cent (see annex, table 28).

In sum, there are gender disparities in the Cameroonian educational system. However, it should be emphasized that although the disparities are not great at the primary level, they are more significant at the senior secondary and higher education levels.

III.Major obstacles

Despite the measures taken to promote education for all, a number of obstacles continue to stand in the way of optimally addressing the concerns and challenges expressed by Cameroon. For example:

•Insufficient financial and material resources;

•Family poverty;

•Persistence of cultural constraints and discriminatory practices against women;

•Insufficient expertise in the gender approach on the part of social and sectoral partners.

Article 11

1. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of employment in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular:

(a) The right to work as an inalienable right of all human beings;

(b) The right to the same employment opportunities, including the application of the same criteria for selection in matters of employment;

(c) The right to free choice of profession and employment, the right to promotion, job security and all benefits and conditions of service and the right to receive vocational training and retraining, including apprenticeships, advanced vocational training and recurrent training;

(d) The right to equal remuneration, including benefits, and to equal treatment in respect of work of equal value, as well as equality of treatment in the evaluation of the quality of work;

(e) The right to social security, particularly in cases of retirement, unemployment, sickness, invalidity and old age and other incapacity to work, as well as the right to paid leave;

(f) The right to protection of health and to safety in working conditions, including the safeguarding of the function of reproduction.

2. In order to prevent discrimination against women on the grounds of marriage or maternity and to ensure their effective right to work, States Parties shall take appropriate measures:

(a) To prohibit, subject to the imposition of sanctions, dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy or of maternity leave and discrimination in dismissals on the basis of marital status;

(b) To introduce maternity leave with pay or with comparable social benefits without loss of former employment, seniority or social allowances;

(c) To encourage the provision of the necessary supporting social services to enable parents to combine family obligations with work responsibilities and participation in public life, in particular through promoting the establishment and development of a network of childcare facilities;

(d) To provide special protection to women during pregnancy in types of work proved to be harmful to them.

3. Protective legislation relating to matters covered in this article shall be reviewed periodically in the light of scientific and technological knowledge and shall be revised, repealed or extended as necessary.

A.The rights exercised by women on a basis of equality with men

The Labour Code and the General Civil Service Regulations guarantee the equality of both sexes in respect of employment. The Labour Code stipulates that the right to work is recognized as a basic right of each citizen, and that the State must do its utmost to help every citizen find and retain employment.

The following principles are set forth in the General Civil Service Regulations:

•The right to work as an inalienable right of all human beings;

•The right to the same employment opportunities, including the application of equitable criteria for selection in matters of employment;

•The right to free choice of profession and employment, the right to promotion, job security and all benefits and conditions of service and the right to receive vocational training and retraining;

•The right to equal remuneration, including benefits, in respect of work of equal value, as well as equality of treatment in the evaluation of the quality of work;

•The right to social security, particularly in cases of retirement, unemployment, sickness, disability and old age and other incapacity to work, as well as the right to paid leave;

•The right to health protection and job security, including the safeguarding of the function of reproduction.

Social security covers workers of both sexes. The political will to extend social security to the informal sector has led to the creation of a committee charged with reforming social security in preparation for the expansion of mutual health and occupational hazard insurance to all segments of the population.

The right to protection set forth in articles 82, 84, 85, and 87 (2) of the Labour Code cannot be abridged in any way. Moreover, any breach of contract by an employer on grounds that contravene the rules set forth in those articles is not tolerated and is punishable by administrative and financial penalties in accordance with the regulations in force.

In practice, all Cameroonian citizens who satisfy the requirements of a given job have access to that job without discrimination. Nevertheless, certain requirements are discriminatory against disabled persons.

B.Legal measures to protect the health and safety of working women

(a)Prohibition of dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy;

(b)Introduction of paid maternity leave;

(c)Payment of an allowance during maternity leave.

The above-mentioned measures, which pertain to the protection, health and safety of working women — reaffirmed by article 84, paragraphs 1 and 5, of the Labour Code, article 2 of International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 100 and articles 66 (1) and (4) of the General Civil Service Regulations — have not been amended in any way that could adversely affect the health and safety of working women.

However, it has been difficult to find a way to take into account the domestic work done by women.

Response to Committee concerns and recommendations 59, 60 and 65

C.Protection of the physical and moral integrity of women

Apart from the provisions of the Penal Code, which protect the physical integrity of persons in general, and pregnant women in particular, against attack, it should be noted that a significant development has taken place in that regard. A draft law on the prevention and suppression of violence against women and of gender-based discrimination has been prepared. Under the proposed law, sexual harassment would be subject to criminal penalties and pecuniary compensation.

Overall, the Government of Cameroon does not discriminate in any way in respect of legislation concerning the employment of women. However, it is regrettable that, in the private sector, women may be recruited on condition that they do not become pregnant — although such cases are very isolated. In any event, labour inspectors ensure that legal and regulatory provisions are strictly observed.

The creation of a social security reform committee is a reflection of the Government’s political will. The committee’s objective is to improve the management system of the National Social Security Fund, which covers private sector workers, and to extend social security to the informal sector.

The number of women in the various trade unions can be found in table 34 of the annex.

Response to Committee recommendation 65

Article 12

1. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, access to health-care services, including those related to family planning.

2. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph I of this article, States Parties shall ensure to women appropriate services in connection with pregnancy, confinement and the post-natal period, granting free services where necessary, as well as adequate nutrition during pregnancy and lactation.

I.Health policy in Cameroon

The social policy of the State recognizes that improving the health of the people is crucial to the economic and social development of Cameroon.

This policy has led to the strengthening of the institutional mechanisms for the promotion of women’s health and the development of the Health Sector Strategy, which was adopted in 2002 and is currently being implemented.

A.Strengthening of the institutional framework for the promotion of women’s health

This goal was reflected in the signing of Decree No. 2002/209 of 19 August 2002 on the organization of the Ministry of Health, which is charged with devising and implementing health policy in Cameroon.

The Directorate of Family Health is part of that Ministry and is charged with, among other things, the development and follow-up of the implementation of the Government’s reproductive health policies as well as the coordination and implementation of activities relating to reproductive health. Among the divisions of this Directorate are the Sub-Directorate of Reproductive Health and the Sub‑Directorate of Vaccination. One of the great innovations of the aforementioned decree has been a commitment to promoting a gender-based approach in the health system.

B.Development and implementation of the Sectoral Health Strategy

The objective of this strategy is to reform the health system over the coming years, to make health services more accessible to all levels of society, to make essential medications available and to make it possible to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in the area of health.

This Strategy takes into account all aspects of human life at all stages: the health of women, children, men, older persons and adolescents.

As part of the implementation of this Strategy, and taking into account the political, legal, socio-economic and health situation in Cameroon, programmes in the following eight areas have been developed:

•Disease control;

•Reproductive health;

•Health promotion;

•Essential drugs, reagents and medical devices;

•Management;

•Health care supply;

•Health-sector financing programme;

•Institutional development.

The reproductive health (RH) programme, which is aimed at improving the health status of mothers and children by reducing maternal and infant mortality by a third by 2010, is being implemented through the following measures:

•Provision of reproductive health services on a trial basis in 11 health districts with the assistance of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); this programme will be gradually extended to cover the entire country;

•Emergency obstetric care (EOC) project, aimed at reducing maternal mortality; this project was tested in two health districts and has since been extended to cover the entire country;

•Strategic plan to safeguard contraceptives, which is aimed at preventing and reducing infant mortality;

•Project for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS (PMTCT), which provides the following services to seropositive pregnant women: treatment with anti-retroviral drugs; treatment of diseases that might promote the transmission of HIV; utilization of safe practices with respect to newborns and treatment during delivery; proper prenatal and postnatal nutrition. The Government is providing the project with stocks of anti-retroviral drugs and drugs for the treatment of opportunistic infections;

•The establishing of 8 May of every year as Maternal Mortality Prevention Day in Africa.

II.Achievements in 2000-2006 with respect to women’s health

Women’s health also forms part of the improvement in the living conditions of women and is thus a major component of action for the advancement of women in Cameroon. Targeted actions were carried out during the 2000-2006 period. At the level of the Ministry of Public Health several actions were carried out with a view to improving women’s health and reducing maternal mortality.

As part of the fight against HIV/AIDS, the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) was introduced in 2000 through a pilot phase in the Centre and Nord-Ouest provinces. To date, 462 PMTCT sites have opened, covering 64 per cent of health districts, and a number of trained advisers and caregivers are employed there.

For the future, the Ministry of Public Health expects to extend the PMTCT programme to all provinces through the following actions:

•Decentralization of the supply of antiretroviral drugs and tests to health districts through the supply chain of the National Centre for the Supply of Essential Drugs and Medical Consumables (CENAME);

•Establishment of provincial focal points and of a provincial coordination structure;

•Establishment of a district-based approach with a coordination structure at the health district level and a district networking system.

With the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), all pregnant women are systematically immunized against tetanus at prenatal consultations.

In the fight against malaria, the authorities have restructured the National Malaria Control Programme through the creation of a Central Group with a permanent secretariat and of provincial malaria control units.

As part of the intermittent malaria treatment programme for pregnant women, impregnated mosquito nets and insecticides are systematically distributed in all health districts.

With a view to improving women’s reproductive health, the European Union, in collaboration with a number of non-governmental organizations and other partners such as UNFPA, is strengthening the capacities of traditional birth attendants as part of the promotion of basic community services and is distributing prenatal consultation kits.

With the financial support of FAO, the project on behaviour change and community mobilization (CHACOM) for reproductive health aims to promote hygiene, primary health care, family education and the prevention of certain diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and cholera.

To the same effect, specialized reference hospitals in the field of reproductive health have been established (the Ngousso Gynaecological-Obstetric-Pediatric Hospital in Yaoundé).

In 2003, the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family (MINPROFF) approved the women’s component of the plan to combat HIV/AIDS. The plan was prepared on 4 March 2003 and has been implemented since June of that year. Various large-scale actions have been carried out including both the staff of the Ministry services and among women members of the public within their respective groups and organizations. Such actions cover training, awareness, care and the strengthening of institutional mechanisms.

1.Training

With respect to training the following actions may be noted:

•Training of the staff of MINPROFF central and field services on STD/HIV/AIDS;

•Training of leaders of women’s associations and groups in leadership techniques, gender-oriented prevention of STD/HIV/AIDS and management of community development activities;

•Training of the staff of the MINPROFF field services in Behavior Change Communication (BCC) for combating STD/HIV/AIDS;

•Training of leaders of women’s associations in BCC in the context of the fourth programme of cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

2.Awareness

The following awareness-training actions have been conducted:

•Social mobilization of women within centres for the advancement of women and women’s associations engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS;

•Awareness training on STD/HIV/AIDS directed at various social categories (market saleswomen, adolescent girls, rural women) through educational talks, round tables, lectures, focus groups and on the occasion of various remembrance days;

•Awareness training for staff of the central services of MINPROFF and of partner bodies on the prevention of STD/HIV/AIDS, with emphasis on preventing stigmatization of, and discrimination against, people living with HIV/AIDS.

3.Caregiving

Care has been extended to some 310 people living with HIV through varied forms of support (financial support, purchase of medicines, income-generating activities (IGA) and commodity grants, among others). The purpose of such actions is not only to combat stigmatization of such people, and discrimination against them, but also, and above all, to promote solidarity with them.

4.Strengthening of institutional machinery

Examples include the following:

•The opening and funding of an appropriation line for combating AIDS in 2003 and 2004 in the amount of 30 million CFA francs;

•The creation within centres for the advancement of women of counselling units on STD/HIV/AIDS;

•The creation within MINPROFF of a service for the promotion of the health of women and girls; this service is responsible, in particular, for the prevention of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases among women and girls.

Statistics relating to women’s health are given in the annex, tables 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 and 47.

Article 13

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in other areas of economic and social life in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular:

(a) The right to family benefits;

(b) The right to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit;

(c) The right to participate in recreational activities, sports and all aspects of cultural life.

I.Measures taken to eliminate discrimination against women in the economic and social fields

Cameroon embarked on the third millennium with important advantages while, at the same time, facing major challenges in terms of diversifying its economy, strengthening its growth and improving the living conditions of its people. The advantages included: a stable macroeconomic framework after sustained efforts to achieve adjustment, more attractive conditions for the development of the private sector, its status as a focal point of development in an increasingly open subregional framework, an increasingly young and educated population capable of absorbing new technologies and improving productivity, and a high degree of political and institutional stability.

Even though impact data are unavailable on the extent to which the trends in the situation of women as described in the initial report in 2000 have changed, the quality of the actions undertaken gives grounds for hoping for substantial positive modifications in the short, medium and long term.

Between 2000 and 2006, the Government continued actively to pursue a policy for the advancement of women.

This action took the following forms:

•Strengthening the economic capacities of women;

•Implementation of cooperation programmes;

•Strengthening institutional machinery.

A.Strengthening the economic capacities of women and implementation of cooperation programmes

In the framework of the implementation of the poverty reduction policy, the Government, with the support of the established cooperation bodies, set up a number of programmes and projects in support of women.

(a)Programmes

1.Comprehensive Programme for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality

The programme receives financial assistance from UNDP and has the aim of improving socio-economic conditions by granting microcredit to women.

In the context of this programme the following actions have been undertaken:

•Financing and follow-up of 240 women’s projects in the provinces of Littoral, Ouest, Nord-Ouest and Adamaoua. The entrepreneurs who received credit from the gender programme regularly reimburse their loans. The reimbursement rate in 2002 was 83 per cent;

•Training of 200 women in receipt of credits from the programme for the management of income-generating activities (IGA);

•Retraining of the staff supervising the entrepreneurs engaged in IGA in the pilot provinces of Ouest, Littoral, Nord-Ouest and Adamaoua. The staff were retrained in the main stages of the process of reviewing the applications from entrepreneurs.

2.Programme to Increase Rural Family Income (PARFAR) in theNorthern provinces

This programme is financed by the African Development Bank (ADB). It comprises a component on support for women’s economic activities and combating HIV/AIDS. The central management structures of PARFAR were set up within the provincial delegations of the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family (MINPROFF) in Adamaoua, Nord and Extrême-Nord provinces.

3.“Jobs for Africa” programme

The purpose of the programme is to support the Government, the private sector and civil society in developing and introducing investment strategies to promote decent employment of a kind suited to poverty eradication. It receives funding from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The participation of MINPROFF in the process of development, finalization and approval of the National Action Plan to Promote Employment and Reduce Poverty (PANELP), developed in the framework of this programme, has made it possible to integrate gender mainstreaming components.

(b)Projects

1.Support for integration of women in microenterprises

This project is paid for by MINPROFF funds. It is part of the fulfilment by the Government of its commitment to reduce poverty. It provides equipment to women belonging to joint initiative groups and associations to assist them in carrying out their projects in the fields of agriculture, stock raising, food processing, arts and crafts, and so forth.

Agricultural and food-processing equipment has been allocated to women.

2.Gender, Population and Development Project (PGPD)

This project is part of the third assistance programme of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the 1998-2002 period.

The PGPD covers six provinces and is designed to empower leaders of both sexes with respect to reproductive health and the management of community development activities.

3.Project on Poverty Reduction and Action on Behalf of Women in the Province of Extrême-Nord (PREPAFEN)

This project is funded by ADB and UNDP and focuses on capacity-building and the establishment of structures and infrastructures.

To date, PREPAFEN has granted credits to a value of 785 million CFA francs. Credits have been provided to by PREPAFEN to 1,036 women out of 1,339 people funded, corresponding to 77 per cent of projects supported.

4.Gender Equality Project

The chief objective of this UNFPA-funded project is to reduce inequality between the sexes through gender mainstreaming in sectoral policies and programmes; gender-based training of national administrative staff; training of women’s associations and groups in leadership techniques, the induction of new members and management of microprojects; and making community structures and networks responsive to the needs of women and the promotion of gender equality.

5.Project on Building the Poverty-Reduction Capacity of Women’s Networks in the Republic of Cameroon (CAREF)

A tripartite grant agreement was signed in January 2004 between the Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family (MINPROFF) and the Collective of Women’s Advocacy Organizations in Cameroon (COFEC) in an amount of 850 million CFA francs for empowering women’s organizations in Cameroon.

6.Project to Support Women Entrepreneurs in Rural Areas (PAEFMIR)

The objectives of this project, which is funded by HIPC resources, are:

•To promote the socio-economic development of rural women by building the organizational and managerial capacities of groups of rural women;

•To raise the income of rural women through support for the conduct of income-generating activities (funding of women’s microprojects).

(c)Strengthening the institutional machinery within certain ministerial departments

1.Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family

The decree on the organization and operation of centres for the advancement of women (CPFs) which are specialized technical units of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, defines their principal tasks as the civic, moral and intellectual training and education of women and girls who have dropped out of the formal education system. To date, 44 CPFs are in operation in Cameroon.

Furthermore, with a view to optimizing their action for mentoring, educating, training and supporting women, 120 trainers specializing in information and communications technologies, project management, social intervention, the clothing industry, agro-pastoral activities, and the hotel and restaurant industries have been recruited. Similarly, 40 CPFs have received HIPC resources under the project for the establishment of a support mechanism for poor women in centres for the advancement of women.

2.Ministry of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts (MINPMEESA)

With a view to promoting entrepreneurship among women, this department has created and brought into operation an entire policy for the mentoring and support of women heads of SMEs and microenterprises, and promoters of social economy structures (associations, NGOs, joint initiative groups (JIGs), economic interest groups (EIGs) and so forth) and handicraft groups.

For this purpose, there is a project to set up a surety fund to help provide the guarantees which are often required of entrepreneurs. Thus, promotional activities and incentives are offered to induce women to manage their associations more effectively and thus promote women’s entrepreneurship.

On another note, the financial and/or technical support applications submitted by women are subject to privileged treatment as a means of encouraging them. For this reason, most such applications, if approved, are transmitted to the National Employment Fund (FNE).

It may also be noted that a draft training programme has been devised to enhance the managerial capacity of women heads of SMEs with the aim of enabling them to take charge of their businesses more effectively and to avoid bankruptcy. They will receive support prior to and during the management of the credits granted.

3.Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training

This Ministry has adopted a programme dealing with the strengthening of gender mainstreaming in policies and programmes for the promotion of employment.

The objective of this programme is to put in place a framework and mechanisms to incorporate gender mainstreaming more effectively in the promotion of employment and the fight against poverty. A project is in preparation on support for women’s entrepreneurship (training, technical follow-up and funding), for the skills of women entrepreneurs and for women’s organizations of an economic nature.

The overall objective of this project is to facilitate the creation of enterprises belonging to women. The technical partners are the International Labour Office, UNESCO and the Ministry of the Economy and Finance (MINEFI).

4.Ministry of Social Affairs

This Ministry grants substantial aid to associations and private charities for disabled women and marginal populations with a view to enhancing their capacities.

With regard to aspects of economic life in the field of the entitlement to family benefits, the right to bank loans and the right to participate in recreational and sporting activities, our approach is to draw attention to the measures taken by Government authorities.

II.Other aspects of economic life

Statistics on the rates of active employment and of unemployment among women as defined by the International Labour Office are set out in the annex, tables 48, 49, 50, 51 and 52.

A.Right to family benefits

It should be pointed out that the rate of family benefits is modest and is inadequate to attain the objectives for which the benefits are granted.

Furthermore, the policy on the matter does not allow both spouses to draw the benefits. In practice, where the regime of family benefits favours the woman rather than the man, a waiver of the rule preventing the overlapping of benefits, issued by the husband as head of the family, is required in order for the wife to be able to draw the related benefits together with her remuneration.

It would be desirable for benefits to be provided and paid as soon as the entitlement to them is established.

B.Right to bank loans

Bearing in mind the limitations of the traditional system of effectively funding the economic and commercial activities of women, the Government liberalized this sector, the immediate effect of which was the emergence of a large number of microfinance institutions specializing in the provision of financial support to income-producing women’s projects.

However, noting the shortcomings of this new situation and the consequential relative impact of action by credit cooperatives on behalf of women’s economic activities, MINPROFF organized a forum attended by over 200 women participants together with national and international public and private stakeholders with a view to improving and facilitating the long-term access of women to bank loans and mortgage financing.

Five major issues were developed in the course of this work:

•The role of the State in the process of funding economic activities;

•The policy for funding women’s economic activities by traditional banks, microfinance establishments and donors;

•The prerequisites for the success of a women’s enterprise in an urban and rural environment;

•The experiences of bodies and projects supporting women’s economic micro-activities;

•Promotion of the funding of women’s economic activities.

At the present time, a targeted series of meetings has been launched by the Government in order to develop and implement an overall funding platform for women’s economic and commercial activities.

C.Rights to recreational and sports activities

Within the framework of the strategies that have been implemented to promote women’s recreational and sports activities, several actions should be noted:

•The continuous organization of national competitions and championships for women in all sports;

•The establishment throughout the country of specialized sports centres and facilities (fitness trails known as “Parcours Vita”);

•The now traditional organization by the National Youth and Sports Institute (INJS) and the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family (MINPROFF) of structured sports sessions called “INJS-Women-Sport-Leisure-Health” in the main urban centres;

•Regular organization by MINPROFF of sports events (handball and football matches) for all socio-occupational categories of women;

•The popularization of urban team sports for mixed groups supervised by physical education and sports instructors.

It should be emphasized that rural populations in general do not have sports infrastructures like those that might be found in urban areas. In addition, women are generally prevented from participating in these kinds of activities because of factors such as tradition, the above-mentioned unequal recreational opportunities, the onerous nature of their work, their modest standard of living and their level of education.

Women’s representation within national sports federations is far from brilliant. Only one of the 40 national sports federations, the National University Sports Federation, is headed by a woman. There is thus an imbalance between women’s qualifications and the few posts that they hold within these federations.

Response to Committee recommendations 52 and 65

Article 14

1. States Parties shall take into account the particular problems faced by rural women and the significant roles which rural women play in the economic survival of their families, including their work in the non-monetized sectors of the economy, and shall take all appropriate measures to ensure the application of the provisions of the present Convention to women in rural areas.

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, that they participate in and benefit from rural development and, in particular, shall ensure to such women the right:

(a) To participate in the elaboration and implementation of development planning at all levels;

(b) To have access to adequate health-care facilities, including information, counselling and services in family planning;

(c) To benefit directly from social security programmes;

(d) To obtain all types of training and education, formal and non-formal, including that relating to functional literacy, as well as, inter alia, the benefit of all community and extension services, in order to increase their technical proficiency;

(e) To organize self-help groups and cooperatives in order to obtain equal access to economic opportunities through employment or self - employment;

(f) To participate in all community activities;

(g) To have access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities, appropriate technology and equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement schemes;

(h) To enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in relation to housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply, transport and communications.

Rural women play an important role in the development of rural areas as a whole and in the area of food security in particular. Nevertheless, they are faced with numerous problems, including lack of access to basic social services (water, electricity, housing, health), few ways to obtain agricultural credit and loans and limited access to appropriate technology and land.

The Government is proposing to implement programmes and projects for the benefit of rural areas through the various ministries responsible for the rural sector (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Livestock Fisheries and Animal Industries, Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Post and Telecommunications). These programmes and projects will provide information, training, institutional support and financial support to enable women to develop income-generating activities and have unlimited access to basic social services.

In order to address these difficulties, the following strategies have been adopted:

1.Promoting increased representation of women in management structures in rural areas and in occupational and inter-occupational organizations;

2.Ensuring the economic advancement of rural women;

3.Ensuring their social advancement.

The following actions have been proposed in order to meet the objectives:

•Preparation of a strategy paper (focusing on rural women, access to inputs and credit);

•Recruitment of 200 female extension workers within the framework of the second phase of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Programme (PNVRA);

•Review of land tenure with a view to promoting women’s access to land.

Since 2000, the following specific actions have been taken by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development within the framework of implementation of its sectoral strategy:

(a)Women’s participation in the elaboration and implementation of development planning

The Government is aware of the difficulties encountered by rural women and has set up the following development projects to establish mechanisms and spaces for participatory planning that promote the participation of the most impoverished rural communities: the Community Development Support Programme (PADC) in the Centre and Extrême-Nord provinces, the National Community-Driven Development Programme (PNDP), the National Roots and Tubers Development Programme (PNDRT), the Village Palm Groves Development Programme (PDPV) and the Decentralized Rural Credit Project (PCRD).

The service responsible for women’s agricultural initiatives at the Directorate for Community Development has also implemented specific actions for training women leaders in community development planning.

(b)Access to adequate health-care services

Community development workers have organized educational talks aimed at promoting hygiene, basic health care, family education and HIV/AIDS prevention.

(c)Access to all types of education and training

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has undertaken the following actions aimed at increasing the number of women leaders and strengthening their capacities and local leadership structures:

•In 2002, 200 contractual extension workers were recruited and trained under PNVRA and women community development leaders were retrained;

•Two women were appointed outreach officers for PADC, and several women directors of Community Education Action Centres (CEAC) (in the Sud-Ouest province) and others took specific training courses in Cameroon and overseas.

With regard to rural women, leaders of several groups have received training: of 25,717 leaders trained, 3,174 (12.34 per cent) were women. This number is low because rural women are called on to do several jobs (wife, mother, entrepreneur) but the figure is rising.

•In 2000, 40 women’s groups were trained in Extrême-Nord province;

•In 2001, 30 women’s groups were trained in Est province;

•In 2002, 30 women’s groups were trained in Littoral province and another 30 in Ouest province.

It should also be noted that several non-governmental organizations and associations train women’s groups to allow them to improve their technical and managerial capacities.

There are 58 Community Education Action Centres.

(d)Organization of self-help groups and cooperatives

Women are aware that all development initiatives that require funding from donors depend on the existence of a dynamic group. There has thus been an increase in the number of women’s groups.

These groups benefit from aid in the following areas:

•Organizational support;

•Support for finding sources of funding;

•Technical support and equipment;

•Direct funding and support.

The revitalization, consolidation and professionalization of these groups must be carried out on a regular basis.

(e) Participation in community development activities

Rural women are more involved in community development projects (building access roads, wells/boreholes, community huts and meeting centres among other things) because of their position within families and because it is clear to all development partners that it is necessary to actively involve women in order to reduce poverty levels in rural areas.

(f) Women’s access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities, appropriate technology and equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement schemes

Five per cent of the 11,296 clients of all banks are women, and they only receive four per cent of the bank credits granted. The poor supply of financial services to rural women clients is not the result of the misogyny found in traditional banks; it is due to the following constraints that rural women encounter in carrying out their activities:

•Low incomes;

•Lack of professionalism;

•Little or no savings or surety owing to the fact that they have limited access to property;

•Insufficient self-financing;

•Illiteracy;

•Lack of availability;

•Lack of self-confidence.

At the current stage, the supply of credit to women from traditional banks is not tailored to the real needs of rural women. However, financing is a tool for their emancipation and advancement.

Five years ago the Government decided to restructure the sector with the support of donors to enable it to effectively discharge its function of funding micro-enterprises. The following solutions have been found to support rural women’s activities:

1.Lightening the burden of women’s work and community tasks by acquiring collective and individual equipment (such as wheelbarrows, mills, carryalls, inputs, hoes and machetes). This funding is generally provided by the Government, bilateral and multilateral partners, decentralized local administrations and non-governmental organizations. For the past four years, several farming groups and private associations have benefited from government funding.

2.Professionalizing rural women’s activities by giving women the means to develop income-generating activities (IGA):

•Stricter regulations were put in place in 2005 with a view to strengthening and sustaining microfinance;

•The State has facilitated the organization of a number of projects that have a microfinance component and offer preferential rates of interest:

–Project on Poverty Reduction and Action on Behalf of Women in the Province of Extrême-Nord (PREPAFEN);

–Programme to Increase Rural Family Income (PARFAR);

–Community Growth Mutual Fund Network (MC2);

–Cameroon Cooperative Credit Union League (CAMCCUL);

–Savings and Loans Cooperative (COOPEC);

–Self-Managed Village Savings and Credit Fund (CVECA). This project is part of PCRD and is funded by HIPC resources; 34.1 per cent of its members are women, and between 2000 and 2003 women held 32 per cent of the savings and received 21 per cent of the credits;

•The following mechanisms are aimed at women in particular:

–Women Promoters’ Savings and Credit Cooperatives (CEC-PROM Mature) provides funding exclusively for women’s activities;

–The Private Enterprises Credit Agency (ACEP) in Cameroon pays special attention to female tenderers;

–The Gatsby Charitable Foundation;

–SOS Women;

–Mutual Financing Association for African Women (MUFFA).

The National Employment Fund (FNE) also provides funding for rural women’s microprojects. In spite of the efforts that have been undertaken, these initiatives are precarious and limited in scope.

With regard to trade, rural women are actively involved in commercial activities and this allows them to resolve everyday household problems. Unfortunately, they encounter a great deal of difficulties in carrying out these activities owing to lack of access roads and the fact that the market is not organized.

Rural women have only limited access to appropriate technologies. The equipment and tools (short-handled hoes, machetes, carryalls and mills) provided to them through donations or purchased on the market are out of date and do not allow them to make their work profitable. There is only one appropriate technology centre (ATC) in the north of the country.

Although land reform has been one of the three priority actions of the sectoral strategy for five years, nothing has been done to make land more accessible to women. Women cannot inherit land, and very few women are land owners in rural areas. Nevertheless, they must develop these lands in order to ensure the survival of their families. There is an urgent need to establish regional land monitoring centres and form multidisciplinary think tanks on sustainable development and land use.

(g) Living conditions for rural women, particularly in relation to housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply, transport and communications

Water is essential to the development of human life. Cameroon has declared water to be part of its natural heritage and has ratified all relevant agreements, conventions and treaties.

According to a study carried out by the Sub-Directorate for Sanitation of the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources (which was formerly known as MINMEE and is now MINEE), waterborne diseases and illnesses caused by poor sanitation account for 63 per cent of health centre consultations.

Supplying water to populations and maintaining the quality of this resource are part of the mission of MINEE in the subsectors of water and sanitation.

There are numerous water and sanitation needs in both rural and urban areas. Rural women need water for their household and agricultural work and must travel kilometres to obtain supplies.

Supplying populations with drinking water has always been a priority for the Government. The administrations in charge of water have carried out massive village water-supply programmes. In rural areas, drinking water is distributed at points (springs, wells and, increasingly, boreholes) and small-scale water supply systems for small and medium-sized villages.

In 2001, the following achievements were made:

•Wells equipped with pumps: 3,500;

•Boreholes equipped with pumps: 1,500;

•Developed springs: 1,000;

•Storage dams: 10;

•Untreated water supplies: 750;

•Treated water supplies: 450.

The total number of works is 7,130 at a cost of 88 billion CFA francs.

In 2005, 169 boreholes were drilled and another 113 are being drilled using HIPC resources. As part of the fourth phase of a project funded by Japan, 183 boreholes will be drilled in 183 villages in the Centre, Sud, Littoral and Adamaoua provinces in 2007.

One of the Millennium Development Goals is to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.

Article 15

1. States Parties shall accord to women equality with men before the law.

2. States Parties shall accord to women, in civil matters, a legal capacity identical to that of men and the same opportunities to exercise that capacity. In particular, they shall give women equal rights to conclude contracts and to administer property and shall treat them equally in all stages of procedure in courts and tribunals.

3. States Parties agree that all contracts and all other private instruments of any kind with a legal effect which is directed at restricting the legal capacity of women shall be deemed null and void.

4. States Parties shall accord to men and women the same rights with regard to the law relating to the movement of persons and the freedom to choose their residence and domicile.

The principle of equality is enshrined in Cameroon’s Constitution. The adoption of the Code of Criminal Procedure under Law No. 2005/007 of 27 July 2005 will undoubtedly have a significant impact on women with respect to the defence of their rights in the justice system.

A wide-ranging campaign to enhance awareness and understanding of the Code was launched in Yaoundé on 3 and 4 May 2006, and continued in the other nine provinces. It included a mock trial to illustrate women’s key roles in the justice system, both as subjects of law and as legal professionals.

Women’s role as legal professionals, as shown in annex table 54 giving sex-disaggregated data on court and tribunal judges, is still underdeveloped and nothing specific has been done to address this problem. The situation is no better with respect to the Prison Administration, which has just been placed under the authority of the Ministry of Justice. Positive discrimination to favour women in recruitment and promotion processes should be considered (all the relevant statistics on judicial personnel disaggregated by entity, level and sex are given in annex tables 53, 54, 55, 56 and 57).

Despite the awareness-raising efforts carried out by Government authorities and civil society, customs and practices that discriminate against women are still in evidence.

As indicated in the conclusion of the initial report’s section on article 15, the shortcomings observed in women’s exercise of their rights are a consequence of women’s insufficient information about their rights, sociocultural factors and the continued application of certain legal provisions unfavourable to women.

To remedy this situation, the Government has taken the following measures:

•Establishment of community radio stations in some parts of the country. These can be used to provide rural women with information about their rights in local languages;

•Revision of discriminatory legal texts.

Civil society is very active in raising women’s awareness of their rights and spreading information about the legislation currently in force.

Article 16 — Rights in relation to civil status

1. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women:

(a) The same right to enter into marriage;

(b) The same right freely to choose a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent;

(c) The same rights and responsibilities during marriage and at its dissolution;

(d) The same rights and responsibilities as parents, irrespective of their marital status, in matters relating to their children; in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount;

(e) The same rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights;

(f) The same rights and responsibilities with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship and adoption of children, or similar institutions where these concepts exist in national legislation; in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount;

(g) The same personal rights as husband and wife, including the right to choose a family name, a profession and an occupation;

(h) The same rights for both spouses in respect of the ownership, acquisition, management, administration, enjoyment and disposition of property, whether free of charge or for a valuable consideration.

2. The betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect, and all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage and to make the registration of marriages in an official registry compulsory.

While the situation in this respect is still as described in the initial report, it should be noted, with regard to the Convention’s implementation, that two preliminary draft laws have been drawn up:

•The Code of Persons and the Family;

•A law on the prevention and suppression of violence against women and gender-based discrimination.

These two texts are aimed at correcting most of the problems arising from the current legislation.

Conclusion

The foregoing comments and analyses show that the Convention’s implementation is a priority of the State of Cameroon.

Obstacles to the actions taken for the full implementation of this important legal instrument are related to cultural barriers, social and/or community practices arising from age-old traditions, certain flaws in legislation, the legacy of colonialism and the poverty that has resulted from the severe economic crisis in which the country has been mired since the 1980s.

In view of these challenges, the authorities of Cameroon have adopted a series of measures to increase the effectiveness of their efforts to promote women’s rights. Specifically, these include:

•Grass-roots awareness-raising and advocacy with a view to changing practices and customs that discriminate against women and girls;

•Legislative improvements; one visible result of these efforts is the adoption of a new Code of Criminal Procedure and the establishment of an operational unit to develop proposals on how to make national law consistent with international legal provisions;

•The preparation and implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and the successful conduct of sectoral and cross-sectoral policies and programmes to reduce poverty among women and HIV/AIDS transmission within the family;

•The strengthening of the institutional mechanisms put in place since 2000;

•The strengthening of partnerships with development partners and civil society to create more synergies in the promotion of women’s rights.

These efforts will be stepped up in the coming years, as Cameroon has qualified for assistance under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.

Annexes to the periodic report

Article 5

1.Percentage of executive positions in ministerial departments occupied by women

Function	% accounted for by women (2002)	% accounted for by women (February 2006 1 )
Inspector-General	8.6	16.6
Inspector	18.8	18.2
Technical Adviser	15.6	21.4
Director	11.8	11.7
Deputy Director	—	—
Assistant Director 2	14.9	15.1
Chief of Service	21.9	23.6
Total	17.1	20.0

Source: MINPROFF.

1The sample included 19 ministerial departments encompassing 1,509 posts encumbered in February 2006.

2Including Deputy Directors.

2.Percentage breakdown of households by home ownership status, area and sex of head of household

	Rural areas		Urban areas
Ownership status	Male head of household	Female head of household	Male head of household	Female head of household
Owner	85.6	74.4	55.7	61.2
Owner with title to the property	5.3	8.2	21.3	21.7
Owner without title to the property	80.3	66.2	34.5	39.5
Tenant	4.2	5.9	35.0	27.3
Provided with free lodging	10.1	19.7	9.3	11.2

Source: Second household survey (ECAM II) (2001), National Institute of Statistics (INS).

Article 7

3.Breakdown of slates of nominees (2002 legislative elections) showing women candidates and alternates, as well as slates headed by women

Province	Number of slates	Number of slates with women candidates	Number of slates with women alternates	Number of slates with a woman as the head candidate
Adamaoua	21	2	3	0
Centre	51	22	30	7
Est	15	2	2	1
Extrême-Nord	54	4	4	3
Littoral	58	16	26	8
Nord	21	3	4	2
Nord-Ouest	25	3	6	0
Ouest	42	9	20	2
Sud	13	4	5	2
Sud-Ouest	31	7	6	4
Total	331	72	106	29

Source: MINPROFF (analysis using 2002 election documents).

4.Gender breakdown of all candidates and alternates nominated bypolitical parties

Province	Total women 3	Grand total	Women as % of grand total	Women candidates	Total candidates	Women as % of total candidates	Women heading slates
Adamaoua	6	88	6.8%	2	44	4.5%	0
Centre	78	336	23.2%	34	168	20.2%	7
Est	5	84	6.0%	2	42	4.8%	1
Extrême-Nord	9	232	3.9%	4	116	3.4%	3
Littoral	50	264	18.9%	17	132	12.9%	8
Nord	4	82	4.9%	3	41	7.3%	2
Nord-Ouest	9	122	7.4%	3	61	4.9%	0
Ouest	33	244	13.5%	11	122	9.0%	2
Sud	12	64	18.8%	4	32	12.5%	2
Sud-Ouest	13	96	13.5%	7	48	14.6%	4
Total	219	1 612	13.6%	87	806	10.8%	29

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

3Including both candidates and alternates.

5.Women as a percentage of total candidates in the 1997 and 2002 elections,by province

Province	AD	CE	EST	EN	LT	NO	NW	OU	SUD	SW	Total
% accounted for by women in 1997	4.1	19.0	5.2	5.0	20.8	8.3	7.6	12.2	20.4	7.7	12.9
% accounted for by women in 2002	6.8	23.2	6.0	3.9	18.9	4.9	7.4	13.5	18.8	13.5	13.6

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

6.Number of women candidates and alternates in 1997 and 2002

Province	Women candidates, 1997	Women candidates, 2002	Women alternates, 1997	Women alternates, 2002
Adamaoua	2	2	3	4
Centre	36	34	51	44
Est	1	2	6	3
Extrême-Nord	6	4	9	5
Littoral	40	17	43	33
Nord	1	3	8	1
Nord-Ouest	4	3	7	6
Ouest	15	11	31	22
Sud	7	4	15	8
Sud-Ouest	4	7	6	6
Total	116	87	179	132
Total candidates	1 141	806	1 141	806
% accounted for by women	10.2%	10.8%	15.7%	16.4%

7.Outcome of legislative elections (candidates and alternates), by sex and province

Province	Candidates		Alternates
Women	Men + women	Women	Men + women
Adamaoua	0	10	0	10
Centre	4	28	11	28
Est	2	11	1	11
Extrême-Nord	1	29	1	29
Littoral	4	19	4	19
Nord	0	12	1	12
Nord-Ouest	0	20	0	20
Ouest	3	25	6	25
Sud	1	11	7	11
Sud-Ouest	4	15	2	15
Total	19	180	33	180
% accounted for by women	10.6%		18.3%

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

8.Number of women deputies since 1973

Legislature	Total deputies	Number of women deputies	% accounted for by women
1973-1978	120	7	5.8%
1978-1983	120	12	10.0%
1983-1988	120	17	14.2%
1988-1992	180	26	14.4%
1992-1997	180	23	12.8%
1997-2002	180	10	5.6%
2002-2007	180	20 4	10.6%

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

419 women deputies were elected, but following the application of the law, the number rose to 20 in 2004 because 1 male deputy was replaced by a woman alternate.

9.Breakdown, by sex and province, of nominees for the 2002 municipal elections

Province	Men	Women	Total	% accounted for by women
Adamaoua	1 014	105	1 119	9.4%
Centre	3 116	684	3 800	18.0%
Est	1 261	167	1 428	11.7%
Extrême-Nord	3 507	219	3 726	5.9%
Littoral	2 232	479	2 711	17.7%
Nord	1 613	145	1 758	8.2%
Nord-Ouest	2 226	243	2 469	9.8%
Ouest	2 691	528	3 219	16.4%
Sud	802	148	950	15.6%
Sud-Ouest	1 228	228	1 456	15.7%
Total	19 690	2 946	22 636	13.0%
Percentage	87.0%	13.0%	100.0%

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

10.Women elected officials, by province

Province	Total councillors	Number of women councillors	% accounted for by women
Adamaoua	503	46	9.1%
Centre	1 834	344	18.8%
Est	848	102	12.0%
Extrême-Nord	1 475	76	5.2%
Littoral	917	142	15.5%
Nord	647	48	7.4%
Nord-Ouest	1 034	108	10.4%
Ouest	1 225	184	15.0%
Sud	665	105	15.8%
Sud-Ouest	815	147	18.0%
Total	9 963	1 302	13.1%

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

11.Women on town councils

Number of women	Number of town councils	Percentage	Cumulative percentage
0	18	5.3%	5.3%
1	39	11.6%	16.9%
2	51	15.1%	32.0%
3	65	19.3%	51.3%
4-5	96	28.5%	79.8%
6-7	39	11.6%	91.4%
8-9	13	3.9%	95.3%
10-11	10	3.0%	98.2%
12-16	6	1.8%	100.0%
Total	337	100.0%	//

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

12.Number of women on town councils, by province

Province	Town councils with 0 women	Town councils with 1 woman	Town councils with 2 women	Town councils with 3 women	Town councils with 4 women	Town councils with 5 women
Adamaoua	3	3	4	1	5	—
Centre	—	2	5	15	9	15
Est	1	4	8	10	4	1
Extrême-Nord	9	14	12	8	—	—
Littoral	—	2	3	4	8	6
Nord	1	5	5	3	3	1
Nord-Ouest	5	4	2	6	5	4
Ouest	—	2	3	12	9	6
Sud	—	1	3	3	8	5
Sud-Ouest	—	2	6	3	6	1
Total	18	39	51	65	57	39

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

13.Elected mayors, by sex and province

Province	AD	CE	EST	EN	LT	NO	NW	OU	SUD	SW	Total
Mayors	17	68	32	45	31	19	32	41	25	27	337
Men	17	64	31	45	30	19	32	41	22	26	327
Women	—	4	1	—	1	—	—	—	3	1	10

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

14.Distribution of municipal executive positions, by sex

	Number of mayors	Number of first deputies	Number of second deputies	Number of third deputies	Number of fourth deputies	Total municipal executive positions	Sex of executive staff, %
Men	327	301	257	59	1	945	87.3%
Women	10	36	80	11	1	138	12.7%
Total	337	337	337	70	2	1 083	100.0%
Women as %	3.0%	10.7%	23.7%	15.7%	50.0%	12.7%	//

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

15.Number of women in municipal management since 1982

Year	Total councillors	Number of women councillors	% accounted for by women	Number of women mayors
1982	5 107	336	6.6%	—
1987	5 345	446	8.3%	1
1996	9 932	1 061	10.7%	2
2002	9 963	1 302	13.1%	10

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

16.Women on staff and in permanent secretariat of the National Elections Observatory (ONEL)

	Total staff	Number of women	% accounted for by women
ONEL	11	3	27.3%
Permanent secretariat	57	19	33.3%
Total	68	22	32.4%

Source: ONEL.

17.Representation of women at the provincial, departmental and municipal levels in the National Elections Observatory (ONEL)

Province	Total staff	Number of women	% accounted for by women
Provincial representation	58	3	5.2%
Departmental representation	335	41	12.2%
Municipal representation	1 582	174	11.0%

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

18.Women among polling-station staff (delegates) of the National Elections Observatory (ONEL)

Province	Total staff	Number of women	% accounted for by women
Adamaoua	925	49	5.3%
Centre	3 506	590	16.8%
Est	1 114	255	22.9%
Extrême-Nord	2 881	203	7.0%
Littoral	2 449	566	23.1%
Nord	1 300	113	8.7%
Nord-Ouest	1 669	123	7.4%
Ouest	2 137	279	13.1%
Sud	1 154	168	14.6%
Sud-Ouest	1 515	267	17.6%
Total	18 650	2 613	14.0%

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook.

19.Women in selected senior posts

Post	Number of women
Minister	4
Secretary of State	2
Secretary-General in ministry or university	6
University rector	1
University vice-rector	2
Director-General of State company	3
Ambassador or consul	1
Plenipotentiary Minister	5
International Court of Justice	1
African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry	1
Sub-prefect	3
Chef supérieur	2
Chief Superintendent of Police	3
Senior officer in the armed forces	2
Assembly member	20
Alternate member	33
Mayor	10
Deputy mayor5	128

Source: MINPROFF (document-based analysis).

5This includes first, second, third and fourth deputies.

20.Members of the Government, by sex, as at 8 December 2004

Post	Men	Women	Total
Prime Minister	1	—	1
Minister of State, Secretary-General at the Presidency	1	—	1
Deputy Secretary-General at the Presidency	2	—	2
Deputy Prime Minister	1	—	1
Minister of State	5	—	5
Minister Delegate at the Presidency	3	—	3
Minister	23	4	27
Minister Delegate to the Ministers	9	—	9
Minister in charge of Missions at the Presidency of the Republic	3	—	3
Secretary of State	8	2	10
Secretary-General at the Prime Minister ’ s Office	1	—	1
Deputy Secretary-General at the Prime Minister ’ s Office	1	—	1
Delegate General for National Security	1		1
Total	59	6	65

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook (analysis of information from decree).

Article 8

21.Breakdown of admissions to IRIC for the doctoral programme in international relations

Year	Sex	Total
Male	Female
1985-1986	06	01	07
1986-1987	16	01	17
1987-1988	05	01	06
1988-1989	07	01	08
1989-1990	10	00	10
1990-1991	10	00	10
1991-1992	16	02	18
1992-1993	10	01	11
1993-1994	02	01	03
1994-1995	07	01	08
1995-1996	07	01	08
1996-1997	05	01	06
1997-1998	10	02	12
1998-1999	02	01	03
1999-2000	06	02	08
2000-2001	07	02	09
2001-2002	02	00	02
2002-2003	06	02	08
2003-2004	07	03	10
2004-2005	01	01	02
Total	142	24	166

Source: Institute of International Relations, Yaoundé, Cameroon.

21 (bis).Breakdown of admissions to IRIC for the DESS programme in international relations

Year	Sex	Total
Male	Female
2002-2003	10	02	12
2003-2004	21	06	27
2004-2005	14	05	19
2005-2006	02	00	02
Total	47	13	60

Source: Institute of International Relations, Yaoundé, Cameroon.

22.Women in diplomatic posts at the Presidency of the Republic

Posts	Men	Women	Total
Attaché	01	00	01
Chargé de mission	03	02	05
Technical Adviser	01	00	01

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Affairs Department, 2006.

22 (bis).Women in diplomatic missions, by function

Function	Total posts	Men	Women	% accounted for by women
Plenipotentiary Minister	60	55	05	8.3%
Counsellor for Foreign Affairs	28	28	00	0.0%
Secretary for Foreign Affairs	123	90	33	26.8%
Total	211	173	38	18.8%

Source: MINPROFF, 2004 statistical yearbook (analysis using documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

23.Women in senior posts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Posts	Men	Women	Total
Minister	1	0	1
Deputy minister	2	0	2
Secretary-General	1	0	1
Inspector-General	3	00	03
Technical Adviser	4	00	04
Director	08	02	10
Assistant Directors	33	07	40
Chief of Service	45	36	81

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Affairs Department, 2006.

Article 10

24.Literacy rate (as a percentage) of the population aged 15 years or over in 2001

	Men	Women	Total
Yaoundé	96.3	92.5	94.4
Douala	97.2	90.5	94.0
Urban areas	92.4	83.1	87.8
Rural areas	66.5	46.6	55.7
Total	77.0	59.8	67.9

Source: ECAM II (2001), MINEPAT/INS.

25.Population aged six years or over, by highest level of schooling

Sex	No education	Primary	Secondary	Higher	Total
Male	17.0	51.4	27.8	3.2	100.0
Female	29.2	46.8	22.1	1.4	100.0

Source: EDSC III (2004).

26.Net school attendance rate of the population, by highest level of schooling

	Primary		Secondary
Sex	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
Net attendance rate 6	79.2	76.4	77.8	34.2	31.4	32.8
Gross attendance rate 7	124.0	111.1	117.7	49.9	42.7	46.3

Source: EDSC III (2004).

6The net attendance rate for the primary level is the percentage of the population aged 6-11 years that attends primary school. For secondary school it refers to children aged 12-18 years. By definition, it cannot be more than 100%.

7The gross attendance rate for the primary level is the proportion of primary-level pupils of any age in the population of the official age for attending primary school.

27.Percentage of girl pupils, by level of schooling

Level of schooling	% accounted for by girls
Nursery school	49.5%
Primary	45.7%
General secondary	46.7%
Technical secondary	41.2%
Teacher training	61.6%
Total	45.9%

Source: MINEDUC, education statistics for Cameroon.

28.Percentage of girls at State universities

University	Buea	Douala	Dschang	Ngaoundéré	Yaoundé I	Yaoundé II	Total
Girls as %	49.9	38.1	36.1	26.7	39.1	42.1	38.8
Women as % of teachers	23.6	18.9	12.7	10.2	14.5	13.1	15.8

Source: MINESUP.

University	2001/2002	2002/2003
Buea	49.9%	50.0%
Douala	38.1%	36.2%
Dschang	36.1%	36.6%
Ngaoundéré	26.7%	27.8%
Yaoundé I	39.1%	40.1%
Yaoundé II	42.1%	38.0%
Total	38.8%	38.2%

29.Net enrolment ratio8 of children aged 6-14 years (as a percentage)

Province	Boys	Girls	Total
Adamaoua	66.8	53.8	60.7
Centre	91.0	92.4	91.7
Est	79.2	79.4	79.3
Extrême-Nord	54.6	38.0	46.7
Littoral	94.7	94.1	94.4
Nord	60.7	42.2	51.5
Nord-Ouest	90.2	88.0	89.1
Ouest	93.5	93.5	93.5
Sud	94.6	90.0	92.3
Sud-Ouest	92.2	91.4	91.8
Total	81.3	76.2	78.8

	Boys	Girls	Total
Yaoundé	94.6	94.0	94.3
Douala	95.9	96.4	96.1
Urban areas	91.1	89.9	90.5
Rural areas	77.1	69.6	73.5

Source: ECAM II, MINEPAT/INS.

8The net enrolment ratio here is the number of pupils aged 6-14 years enrolled in school as a percentage of the population of official school age for primary school.

30.Primary gross enrolment ratio,9 by province, in 2003/2004

Province	Boys	Girls	Total
Adamaoua	113.83	80.87	97.26
Centre	114.48	112.24	113.37
Est	109.62	97.58	103.72
Extrême-Nord	113.06	70.75	92.01
Littoral	93.37	89.18	91.27
Nord	117.28	74.94	96.66
Nord-Ouest	96.27	90.54	93.43
Ouest	129.65	119.26	124.41
Sud	105.49	105.35	105.42
Sud-Ouest	85.17	79.22	82.15
Total	108.14	92.05	100.14

Source: MINEDUC, education statistics for Cameroon.

9The gross enrolment ratio here is the number of pupils enrolled in primary school, regardless of age, as a percentage of the population of official school age for the primary level. The rate is over 100% owing to grade repetition and, in particular, to early admissions (many children under 6 years of age attend primary school).

31.Number of pupils in MINEDUC establishments by level of schooling, in 2002‑2003 and 2003-2004

Level of schooling	2002-2003		2003-2004
Female	Total	Girls as %	Female	Total	Girls as %
Nursery school	69 073	138 716	49.8%	87 181	175 970	49.5%
Primary	1 278 804	2 798 523	45.7%	1 329 106	2 906 732	45.7%
General secondary	311 230	669 129	46.5%	355 652	762 053	46.7%
Teacher training	4 150	6 739	61.6%	3 123	5 068	61.6%
Total	1 663 257	3 613 107	46.0%	1 775 062	3 849 823	46.1%

Source: MINEDUC, education statistics for Cameroon.

32.Number of pupils in MINEDUC establishments, by level of schooling, sector and gender, in 2003/2004

	Public		Private
Level of schooling	Girls	Total	Girls (%)	Girls	Total	Girls (%)
Nursery school	31 073	62 773	49.5	56 108	113 197	49.6
Primary	1 002 723	2 222 051	45.1	326 383	684 681	47.7
General secondary	230 984	519 259	44.5	124 668	242 794	51.3
Teacher training	3 042	4 955	61.4	113	145	77.9
Total	1 267 822	2 809 038	45.1	507 272	1 040 817	48.7

Source: MINEDUC, education statistics for Cameroon.

33.Number of pupils at all levels in MINEDUC establishments, by province, in 2003/2004

Province	Boys	Girls	Total	Girls (%)
Adamaoua	91 956	64 571	156 527	41.3
Centre	383 702	367 334	751 036	48.9
Est	94 277	80 294	174 571	46.0
Extrême-Nord	326 604	188 206	514 810	36.6
Littoral	273 899	269 657	543 556	49.6
Nord	156 436	91 049	247 485	36.8
Nord-Ouest	226 995	216 154	443 149	48.8
Ouest	302 418	287 832	590 250	48.8
Sud	74 478	68 166	142 644	47.8
Sud-Ouest	143 996	141 799	285 795	49.6
Total	2 074 761	1 775 062	3 849 823	46.1

Source: MINEDUC, education statistics for Cameroon.

Article 11

34.Membership of trade unions

Trade union	Women	Men	Total number of members
Community	120	350	470
Agriculture	1 055	2 800	3 855
Forestry	475	2 500	2 975
Trade	120	350	470
Private education	200	400	600
Transport	515	15	530
Industry	184	1 586	1 770
Textiles and leather	70	30	100
Total	2 739	8 031	10 770

Article 12

35.Percentage of adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 years who have had children or reached reproductive age

	15 years (%)	16 years (%)	17 years (%)	18 years (%)	19 years (%)	Total (%)
Teenage mothers	3.5	9.5	19.9	34.2	47.3	22.7
Girls of reproductive age	6.8	15.2	24.6	42.8	53.1	28.4

Source: EDSC III (2004).

36.Percentage of men and women using condoms, by category of partner

Category of partner	Women (%)	Men (%)
Spouse or cohabiting partner	5.7	7.3
Non-cohabiting partner	40.5	53.9
Any category of partner	14.9	29.5

Source: EDSC III (2004).

37.Fertility rate, by age

Age (Years)	Urban areas	Rural areas	Total
15-19	104	184	137
20-24	186	303	236
25-29	201	267	232
30-34	166	221	192
35-39	102	161	131
40-44	41	60	51
45-49	11	21	16

Source: EDSC III (2004).

38.Overall fertility index (OFI),10 overall general fertility rate (OGFR)11 and crude birth rate (CBR),12 by residential area

	Urban areas	Rural areas	Total
OFI	4.1	6.1	5
OGFR (per 1,000)	142	217	176
CBR (per 1,000)	35	40.5	37.9

Source: EDSC III (2004).

10The overall fertility index (OFI) measures the average number of live children born to a woman during her reproductive years under current fertility conditions.

11Overall general fertility rate (OGFR): number of births divided by the number of women aged between 15 and 49, per 1,000 women.

12Crude birth rate (CBR) per 1,000 women.

39.Changes in the overall fertility index (OFI) since 1991

Survey	Overall fertility index
EDSC I (1991)	5.8
EDSC II (1996)	5.2
MICS (2000)	5.1
EDSC III (2004)	5

40.Access to the nearest health centre, by residential area

	Average distance (km)	Average time taken to reach the centre (minutes)	Percentage of households served (%)
Area
Urban	1.13	13	82.5
Rural	5.26	39.7	65.1
Douala/Yaoundé
Douala	0.99	12.1	72.1
Yaoundé	0.93	9.3	87.3
Total	3.86	30.6	69.3

Source: ECAM II, INS.

41.Percentage of married women using contraception by method currently used

Contraception method	Usage rate (%)
At least one method	26
A modern method	12.5
Modern method
Female sterilization	1.2
Pill	1.6
IUD	0.3
Injections	1.4
Implants	0.3
Condom	7.6
Female condom	—
Mousse/gel	—
A traditional method	13.5
Traditional method
LAM	0.6
Periodic abstinence	10.2
Withdrawal	2.1
Popular method	0.6
No method	74

Source: EDSC III (2004).

42.Percentage of women giving birth in health centres, by various socio‑demographic characteristics

Characteristics	Percentage of women attended by a health-care worker (%) 13	Percentage of women giving birth in a health centre (%)
Mother ’ s age (years)
Under 20	60.6	58.2
20-34	62.3	59.5
35 and over	60.6	57.4
Area
Urban	84.3	81.2
Rural	44.2	41.7
Douala/Yaoundé
Douala	97.2	95.3
Yaoundé	94	90.2
Province
Adamaoua	37.1	34.1
Centre	74.5	65.3
Est	47.6	40.5
Extrême-Nord	26.5	25.7
Littoral	93.7	92.2
Nord	22.3	20.9
Nord-Ouest	87.5	87.8
Ouest	93.2	89.7
Sud	70.6	63.4
Sud-Ouest	77.8	76.9
Educational level
No education	22.8	21.6
Primary	69.3	65.9
Secondary	91.6	88.2
Higher	98.6	96.4
Total	61.8	59

Source: EDSC III (2004).

13Health-care worker: Either a doctor, nurse, midwife or care assistant.

43.Percentage of men and women who have heard of AIDS, by various socio‑demographic characteristics

Characteristics	Percentage of women who have heard of HIV/AIDS (%)	Percentage of women who believe that HIV/AIDS can be avoided (%)	Percentage of men who have heard of HIV/AIDS (%)	Percentage of men who believe that HIV/AIDS can be avoided (%)
Age (years)
15-19	97.4	82.9	98.6	91.2
20-24	98.2	83.2	99.5	93.4
25-29	98.4	83.2	99.9	96.6
30-39	98.2	82.2	99.2	94.8
40-49	96.7	76.4	99.2	92.5
50-59	—	—	98.8	90.8
Area
Urban	99.4	89.4	99.4	94.8
Rural	95.9	72.8	98.9	91.4
Marital status
Single	97.6	88	98.3	94.3
Married or cohabiting	97.8	79.6	99.3	93.4
Divorced/separated/widowed	98.6	83.1	99	92.3
Douala/Yaoundé
Douala	99.8	92.5	99.4	95.9
Yaoundé	100	93	99.6	95.4
Province
Adamaoua	96.4	83.2	100	92.4
Centre	97.9	84.3	98.6	96.5
Est	93.8	75.2	98.3	93.4
Extrême-Nord	96	72	98.9	89.7
Littoral	99.2	85.8	98.6	92.8
Nord	93.1	52.6	99.2	83.1
Nord-Ouest	99.9	87.7	98.8	96.7
Ouest	98.4	83.9	100	95.1
Sud	99.4	91.9	99.2	95.4
Sud-Ouest	99.4	91.1	99.3	94.5
Educational level
No education	93.5	59.1	97.7	83.3
Primary	98.2	81.1	98.6	90
Secondary	100	95.6	99.9	97.8
Higher	100	98.8	100	99
Total	97.8	81.9	99.2	93.3

Source: EDSC III (2004).

44.Percentage of men and women using condoms, by category of partner

Category of partner	Women (%)	Men (%)
Spouse or cohabiting partner	5.7	7.3
Non-cohabiting partner	40.5	53.9
Any partner	14.9	29.5

Source: EDSC III (2004).

45.Percentage of women who used a condom during their most recent sexualcontact with their husband, cohabiting partner, or any partner, by various socio‑demographic characteristics

Characteristics	With spouse or cohabiting partner (%)	With non-cohabiting partner (%)	With any partner (%)
Age (years)
15-19	6.3	47.5	28.6
20-24	7.8	45.4	20.8
25-29	6.9	39.9	13.3
30-39	4.4	31.3	8.2
40-49	3.5	17.5	5.3
Area
Urban	9.1	47.1	22.8
Rural	6	23.6	5.9
Marital status
Single	—	49.9	49.8
Married or cohabiting	5.6	34.7	8.9
Divorced/separated/widowed	6	32.7	27.1
Douala/Yaoundé
Douala	9.6	47.7	25.5
Yaoundé	17.9	54.4	33.9
Province
Adamaoua	2.5	53.7	7.4
Centre	5	31.3	15.1
Est	5.4	25.3	11.6
Extrême-Nord	0.5	27.8	1.3
Littoral	12.2	40.7	23.7
Nord	0.8	44.7	2.1
Nord-Ouest	7.4	32.7	15.2
Ouest	8.7	50	20.2
Sud	9.5	36.1	19.1
Sud-Ouest	3.8	23.9	11.9
Educational level
No education	0.6	10.9	0.9
Primary	5.1	26.9	9.9
Secondary	12.3	47.9	28.4
Higher	13.1	64.3	41.1
Total	5.7	40.5	14.9

Source: EDSC III (2004).

46.Percentage of men who used a condom during their most recent sexual contact with their wife, cohabitating partner or any partner, by age, marital status, residence, province and level of education

Characteristics	With wife or cohabitating partner (%)	With non-cohabitating partner (%)	With any partner (%)
Age (years)
15-19	4.3	55.8	53.9
20-24	8.7	58.4	50.6
25-29	8.8	60.2	35.0
30-39	9.8	50.5	21.5
40-49	5.7	40.9	12.1
50-59	2.7	32.9	5.6
Area
Urban	10.1	62.2	39.2
Rural	4.6	37.6	16.4
Marital status
Single	—	57.1	57.1
Married or cohabitating	7.2	51.9	15.9
Divorced/separated/widowed	7.2	49.1	43.9
Douala/Yaoundé
Douala	8.9	65.8	43.1
Yaoundé	12.9	69.5	49.5
Province
Adamaoua	2.1	50.5	21.0
Centre	8.8	47.9	29.7
Est	6.0	42.7	25.4
Extrême-Nord	1.8	35.0	8.2
Littoral	12.5	52.7	35.9
Nord	3.4	43.0	12.4
Nord-Ouest	8.5	41.6	24.8
Ouest	14.2	66.7	41.0
Sud	7.4	49.6	30.3
Sud-Ouest	9.4	44.7	26.7
Level of education
No education	2.1	26.9	5.6
Primary	4.7	38.7	19.5
Secondary	11.4	62.6	42.0
Higher	15.1	69.8	40.8
Total	7.3	53.9	29.5

Source: EDSC III.

47.HIV prevalence rate in men and women aged 15 to 49 years, by age, place of residence and province

Characteristics	Men (%)	Women (%)	Total (%)
Age (years)
15-19	0.6	2.2	1.4
20-24	2.5	7.9	5.5
25-29	5.1	10.3	7.8
30-34	8.3	9.4	8.9
35-39	8.6	7.8	8.2
40-44	5.6	6.0	5.8
45-49	3.8	5.5	4.7
Area
Urban	4.9	8.4	6.7
Rural	3.0	4.8	4.0
Douala/Yaoundé
Douala	3.7	5.5	4.6
Yaoundé	6.0	10.7	8.3
Province
Adamaoua	4.1	9.8	6.9
Centre	2.2	6.8	4.7
Est	7.6	9.4	8.6
Extrême-Nord	1.7	2.2	2.0
Littoral	4.4	6.5	5.5
Nord	1.7	1.7	1.7
Nord-Ouest	5.2	11.9	8.7
Ouest	5.2	4.3	4.7
Sud	4.5	8.4	6.5
Sud-Ouest	5.1	11.0	8.0
Total	4.1	6.8	5.5

Source: EDSC III (2004).

Article 13

48.Participation rate14 as defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO), by province

Province	Men	Women	Total
Adamaoua	80.8	53.6	66.5
Centre	71.3	65.6	68.3
Est	77.6	64.9	70.9
Extrême-Nord	84.8	76.0	79.9
Littoral	72.1	64.4	68.0
Nord	83.8	72.5	77.8
Nord-Ouest	85.1	84.0	84.5
Ouest	74.5	75.6	75.1
Sud	77.2	66.0	71.4
Sud-Ouest	76.1	59.1	67.7
Total	77.5	66.9	71.9

Source: ECAM II (2001), INS.

14The participation rate provides information on the labour force. It is the ratio of the economically active population to the working age population, i.e. the number of people aged 15 to 64 years.

49.Participation rate as defined by ILO15 in Douala and Yaoundé and placesof residence

[Table missing.]

15As defined by ILO, an economically active person is any employed person or any unemployed person actively seeking work. Unlike the ILO definition of employment, in the broader sense employment includes discouraged unemployed workers.

50.Distribution of employed persons in socio-economic groups,16 by sex

Socio-economic group	Men (%)	Women (%)	Total (%)
Formal sector	25.8	8.7	17.4
Public sector managers and employers	4.2	1.5	2.8
Other public sector employees	5.5	2.3	3.9
Formal private sector managers and employers	6.5	2.7	4.7
Other formal private sector employees	9.6	2.2	5.9
Informal sector	74.2	91.3	82.6
Informal sector agricultural workers	48.4	66.3	57.2
Farmers	37.1	39.1	38.1
Informal sector agricultural dependent workers	11.2	27.2	19.1
Informal non-agricultural sector	25.9	24.9	25.4
Informal sector non-agricultural employers	1.1	0.8	0.9
Self-employed informal sector non-agricultural workers	12.6	18.8	15.7
Informal sector non-agricultural workers	12.2	5.4	8. 8

Source: ECAM II (2001), INS.

16The different socio-economic groups are as follows: public sector managers and employers, public sector employees, formal private sector managers and employers, other formal private sector employees, farmers, informal sector agricultural dependent workers, informal sector non-agricultural employers, self-employed informal sector non-agricultural workers and informal sector non-agricultural workers.

51.Distribution of economically active persons, by sector and sex

	Men (%)	Women (%)	Total (%)
Formal sector	25.8	8.7	17.4
Informal sector	74.2	91.3	82.6
Total	100	100	100

52.Unemployment rate

	Unemployment rate as defined by ILO	Broad unemployment rate 17
Urban	18.9	32.2
Rural	2.3	8.6
Douala/Yaoundé
Douala	25.6	38.3
Yaoundé	21.5	34.5
Total	7.9	17.1

17Unemployment is referred to as broad when discouraged unemployed workers are added to the ILO definition of unemployed workers.

Article 15

53.Distribution of judges, by grade and sex, in 2003

Grade	Men	Women	Total	Women (%)
Highest judicial office (first group)	14	3	17	17.6
Highest judicial office (second group)	29	1	30	3.3
Fourth grade	103	21	124	16.9
Third grade	173	46	219	21.0
Second grade	103	21	124	16.9
First grade	215	87	302	28.8
Total	637	179	816	21.9

Source: Ministry of Justice.

54.Distribution of judicial officials in 2003

	Men	Women	Total	Women (%)
Judges	637	179	816	21.9
Clerks of the court	877	519	1 396	37.2
Bailiffs	262	64	326	19.6
Notaries	25	18	43	41.9
Lawyers	1 081	255	1 336	19.1
Agents	29	—	29	0.0
Total	2 911	1 035	3 946	26.2

Source: MINPROFF/Division of Studies, Planning and Cooperation (DEPC)/(CEPSI), analysis using Ministry of Justice documents.

55.Distribution of prison staff, by sex and grade

Central Prisons: function	Men	Women	Total	Women (%)
Senior administrator	6	1	7	14.3
Prison administrator	29	1	30	3.3
Superintendent of Prisons	2	—	2	—
Senior prison governor	58	6	64	9.4
Prison governor	193	19	212	9.0
Chief warden	333	65	398	16.3
Senior prison guard	836	149	985	15.1
Prison officer	685	137	822	16.7
Prison guard	336	141	477	29.6
Not declared	152	60	212	28.3
Total	2 630	579	3 209	18.0

Source: MINADT, August 2000.

56.Distribution of judiciary staff in courts and tribunals, by sex

Jurisdiction	Function	Men	Women	Total
Supreme Court	President	1	0	1
	Public Prosecutor	1	0	1
	Advisers	20	2	22
	Lawyers and assistant trial attorneys	7	0	7
Court of Appeal	President	9	1	10
	Public Prosecutor	10	0	10
	Lawyers and assistant trial attorneys	56	13	69
Regional Courts (Tribunaux de grandes instances)	President	10	2	12
District Courts (Tribunaux de grandes instances)	President	52	3	55
	State Prosecutor	62	3	65

Source: Ministry of Justice.

57.Distribution of Ministry of Justice officials

Function	Men	Women	Total
Secretary-General	1	0	1
Inspector-General of Judicial Services	0	1	1
Advisers	0	2	2
Directors	5	0	5

Source: Ministry of Justice.