Human Rights, business enterprises and tenure security in Cameroon

Abstract

Securing land tenure rights is crucial for realizing fundamental human rights, including, among others, the rights to food, adequate housing, development, and self-determination. This chapter questions whether the legal framework in Cameroon can protect against the abuse of Indigenous peoples' right to own, use, develop, and occupy their traditional lands and territories. The analysis indicates that constitutional guarantees of indigenous peoples' rights are frail - Indigenous peoples are usufructuaries, holding use rights. Ownership of the lands that Indigenous peoples have traditionally used or occupied is vested in the State and can be expropriated for a public purpose, including allocating to transnational corporations without compensation. This has left indigenous peoples vulnerable to human rights abuses by business enterprises, especially in States with weak governance systems. Concrete steps, such as laws and policies to promote the integration of indigenous property rights in land into formal justice institutions, are needed to increase tenure security for indigenous peoples in Cameroon are required. Secure land tenure can, in turn, strengthen the human rights to food, housing, water, development, and self-determination of Indigenous peoples.