Cameroon is an abolitionist de facto state, with the last execution taking place in 1997. However, the Criminal Code adopted in 2016 still upholds the death penalty, especially for terrorism-related offences.
Although no one was sentenced to death in 2018 and no execution was carried out, at least 220 individuals remain on death row. While Cameroon has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1984, it has yet to ratify its Second Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (ICCPR-OP2).
26 February – 1 March 2019: Hon. Marguerite Dissaké, Lawyer, Member of the National Assembly of Cameroun, Secretary of the Committee on Constitutional Laws, Human Rights and Liberties, Justice, Legislation, Regulation and Administration, PGA Member, attended the 7th World Congress against the Death Penalty, organized by Ensemble contre la peine de mort in Brussels (Belgium).
12-16 June 2017: PGA staff went on a small field mission to meet with Members and partners, to assess how to best proceed to promote abolition of the death penalty in the country.
19-20 December 2016: PGA’s partners Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) and the Federation of Actions of Christians for the Abolition of Torture (FIACAT) organised a workshop on the abolition of the death penalty in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), which was attended by Hon. William Mandio, PGA Member (Cameroon).