DOMESTIC VIOLENCE NOT RECOGNISED AS CRIME IN CAMEROON

Domestic violence is not recognised as a specific crime in Cameroon and we don't have a legal definition of domestic violence. Cameroon does not have specific legislation by which domestic violence can be prosecuted; the criminal law is notoriously silent and victims are left to [rely] on the general law of assault. Thus, acts of domestic violence can be prosecuted using the Cameroon's penal code under the following articles:

Article 275 which punishes murder
Article 276 which punishes capital murder
Article 277 which punishes grievous harm
Article 278 which punishes assault occasioning death
Article 279 which punishes assault occasioning grievous harm Article 280 which punishes simple harm. Article 282 which punishes failure to assist women who have been abandoned by their spouses
Article 338 which punishes assault on woman with child whose aim is to protect pregnant women from assault.

Two sources indicate that spousal rape is not criminalized (US 11 Mar. 2010, Sec. 6; IPS 4 Nov. 2009). According to the Executive Secretary of CAWOLED, who is cited in the CRI Project country fact sheet, spousal rape is "generally" not considered an offence under customary law; it is rather understood that a married woman "consents to sexual intercourse with her husband at any time" (Nov. 2008, 7). An Inter Press Service (IPS) article also notes the following: Cameroon's penal code states that "whoever by force or moral ascendancy compels any female, whether above or below the age of puberty, to have sexual intercourse with him shall be punished with imprisonment for from five to 10 years." It further makes it illegal for a man to have sex with a woman under 16 years of age even if she consents to such intercourse. Despite these laws, few perpetrators of rape are ever prosecuted in Cameroon. Section 297 of the penal code, for instance, prevents prosecution for rape when marriage has been freely consented to by the parties involved, as long as the woman assaulted is over the age of puberty at the time of the offence.

Haven said all that progress is taking place. Counselling and advice are available to victims throughout Cameroon at social service centres provided by the Ministry of Social Affairs; social welfare services are available from the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and the Family (Ministire de la Promotion de la Femme et de la Famille, MINPROFF), thus, Cameroon now has a call centers for abused women.