# Human Rights Watch documents killings and arson in Anglophone regions by government forces and separatists

Date: 2018

## The fact

On 19 July 2018 Human Rights Watch published ‘These Killings Can Be Stopped,’ documenting government-force killings and arson and armed-separatist abuses in Cameroon’s North-West and South-West. OHCHR’s later 2019 mission recorded at least 1,800 killed without perpetrator attribution; that figure is not copied as Contribution.size.

## Context

He is commander-in-chief. Field units and armed separatists both executed. HRW wrote the report. Sharing the file with separatist crimes is not a rebate of government-force rows.

2017 shutdown; HRW 19 July 2018; OHCHR September 2019 mission. Keep dates. Keep Human Rights Watch documents killings and arson in Anglophone regions by government forces and separatists on 2018-07-19 separate from neighbouring [Biya](/people/paul-biya) instruments.

The president of Cameroon is head of state and commander-in-chief. He promulgates laws the [National Assembly](/organizations/national-assembly) has passed and is proclaimed by the Constitutional Council. He does not write Human Rights Watch reports, OHCHR mission annexes, Access Now filings, or AFP fact-checks.

## Evidence and sources

OHCHR carries the official instrument or communique. Human Rights Watch records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is the owned Anglophone-crisis driver: a completed HRW product plus an OHCHR unattributed range, not a unique Factrail death census.

## What is established and what is not

Established: HRW published the 19 July 2018 report. OHCHR later recorded at least 1,800 killed without perpetrator attribution.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

HRW and OHCHR wrote. Separatists also killed. This page does not invent an order.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Human Rights Watch documents killings and arson in Anglophone regions by government forces and separatists, not a later speech about Human Rights Watch documents killings and arson in Anglophone regions by government forces and separatists.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Human Rights Watch documents killings and arson in Anglophone regions by government forces and separatists on 2018-07-19 is not a licence to treat every later OHCHR communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Human Rights Watch documents killings and arson in Anglophone regions by government forces and separatists into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He commands the defence and security forces named in the report. HRW and OHCHR wrote. Separatists also killed. This page does not invent an order. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Paul Biya: https://factrail.ai/people/paul-biya

## Drivers

- Civic Space: https://factrail.ai/drivers/civic-space
- Biya Anglophone crisis and succession: https://factrail.ai/drivers/biya-anglophone-crisis-and-succession

## Sources

- https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/07/19/cameroon-killings-destruction-anglophone-regions
- https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2022-06/ANNEXE.%20Summary%20report%20final.November%202021.pdf

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/cm-hrw-anglophone-2018