CED, Lawyers Offer Environmental Defenders Free Protection

On March 24, 2016, at the headquarters of the Cameroon Bar Council in Olezoa, Yaounde, the Centre for Environment and Development (CED) and the Cameroon Bar Council agreed to protect environmental defenders in the Congo Basin free of charge. Barrister Eteme Eteme signed on behalf of the Cameroon Bar Council, while Appolin Koagne Zouapet signed on behalf of CED.

By Anu Nkeze Paul

According to the partnership agreement, the Cameroon Bar Council will henceforth provide lawyers to CED to defend environment and land defenders in courts and in detention centres across the country for free.

The partnership intends to reinforce human rights protection and stem intimidations of individuals resulting from their defense of environment and land resources.

Statistics from CED shows that on many occasions,individualshave faced threats, confrontationsand legal actions from diverse quarters including some administrators forunjustified reasons and personal benefits.

This partnership falls in line with a five-year project launched in 2015 by CED and being financed by the European Union in the Congo Basin to protect environment and land resource defenders who are currently facing harassments, legal actions and intimidations.

The partnership will facilitate legal assistance from the Cameroon Bar Council and help to protect therights ofthose defenders of natural resources.

According Barrister Morfaw Evaristus, the terms of the partnership makes it possible for CED to have lawyers at any time to defend environment and land defenders without any fee.

Appolin Koagne Zouapet, project coordinator for CED environment and land resources,said the partnership is a very positive step in avoiding violation and abuse of the rights of those defending environment and land resources in the Congo Basin.

This will also ensure that environment and land laws are respected by everyone.

CED is an independent and non-political organization founded in 1994 in reaction to the forest management crisis in Cameroon in the early 1990s, during which the country saw a large increase in industrial logging, illegal development and exploitation of forests, poaching and the resultant ecological, social and economic problems.