Human rights abuses linked to the Anglophone crisis persist. In late 2024, Anglophone-majority regions were still suffering from ad-hoc lockdowns, armed clashes, abductions, and reprisal attacks on civilians. Governmental security forces and separatist armed groups target civilians for killings and kidnappings for ransom. Journalists and human rights workers are at risk of arbitrary killings in Anglophone-majority regions.
The Anglophone crisis has caused over 900,000 people to flee internally and 60,000 people to flee abroad.
Northern areas of the country are also at risk of attacks by extremist militant groups, including Boko Haram Jama’atu Ahl as-Sunnah li-Da’awati wal-Jihad (JAS) and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP). Abductions carried out by these groups doubled from 2023 to 2024, increasing the risk of violence and displacement to vulnerable communities.
President Biya has been in power since 1982 and is one of the longest-serving leaders on the continent of Africa. Cameroon is “Not Free,” according to Freedom House, due to political corruption, a lack of civil liberties, and restrictions to freedom of assembly.
As of February 2025, more than 500,000 internally displaced people were in Anglophone-majority regions. Cameroon also hosts over 400,000 refugees and asylum seekers fleeing other neighboring security situations from the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Chad, and Niger. Over 3.3 million people are in need of humanitarian aid.