The Commission recalls also that hate speech is defined by the United Nations: as any communication in speech, writing or behaviour that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to someone’s religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender or other identity.

The Commission further recalls that Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted on 27 June 1981, ratified by Cameroon on 20 June 1989 and entered into force on 21 October 1989, forbids all forms of discrimination based on race, ethnic group, colour, sex, language, religion, political or any other opinion, national or social origin, fortune, birth or other status.

The Commission equally notes that Section 241-1 of Law No. 2019/020 of 24 December 2019 to amend and supplement some provisions of the Penal Code relating to contempt of tribe or ethnic group provides that whoever by any means makes hate speech against people or incites them to violence due to their tribal or ethnic origins shall be punished with imprisonment from one to two years and with fine of 300,000 (three hundred thousand) to 3,000,000 (three million) francs.

The Commission commends the publication by the National Communication Council (NCC) in its communiqué of 23 January 2024, where it reminds the entire national media community and the public that while preserving their freedom of expression, they remain bound by their role of education, information and social cohesion, in a spirit of objectivity, moderation and social responsibility, and calls on them to avoid potential divisive excesses.

The Commission strongly condemns all forms of ethnic, religious and political intolerance, attacks against minority communities, particularly during inter-community conflicts in some parts of the country, and the dissemination of ethnic supremacist messages in the media or during public or private meetings and demonstrations, disinformation, incitement to hatred on social media and the resurgence of violence in the home and society at large.

The Commission reiterates to the Government to practice zero tolerance for tribalism, including its most extreme form, ethnic supremacism, which, like the Holocaust, is based on the theory of a superior ethnic group.