Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Its coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea, and the Atlantic Ocean. Due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West Africa and Central Africa, it has been categorized as being in both camps. Cameroon's population of nearly 31 million people speak 250 native languages, in addition to the national tongues of English and French, or both. Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad and the Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest. Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões, which became Cameroon in English. Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate in the north in the 19th century, and various ethnic groups of the west and northwest established powerful chiefdoms and fondoms.
Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo is a Cameroonian politician who is the second president of Cameroon since 1982, having previously been the fifth prime minister from 1975 to 1982. As of 2025, he is the second-longest-ruling president in Africa and the longest consecutively serving current non-royal national leader in the world and the oldest head of state in the world.
The Southern Cameroons was the southern part of the British League of Nations mandate territory of the British Cameroons in West Africa. Since 1961, it has been part of the Republic of Cameroon, where it makes up the Northwest Region and Southwest Region. Since 1994, pressure groups in the territory claim there was no legal document in accordance to UNGA RES 1608(XV) paragraph 5, and are seeking to restore statehood and independence from the Republic. They renamed the British Southern Cameroons as Ambazonia.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Cameroon face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Cameroon and LGBT people face prevalent discrimination among the broader population. As of 2020, Cameroon "currently prosecutes consensual same sex conduct more aggressively than almost any country in the world".
Breast ironing, also known as breast flattening, is the pounding and massaging of a pubescent girl's breasts, using hard or heated objects, to try to make them stop developing or disappear. The practice is typically performed by a close female figure to the victim, traditionally fulfilled by a mother, grandmother, aunt, or female guardian who will say she is trying to protect the girl from sexual harassment and rape, to prevent early pregnancy that would tarnish the family name, to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS, or to allow the girl to pursue education rather than be forced into early marriage.
Alice Nkom is a Cameroonian lawyer, politician, and human rights activist known for her advocacy in defending the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals in Cameroon. She is the first woman in Central Africa to become a lawyer and is noted for her efforts in advocating for the decriminalization of homosexuality in the region.
Human rights in Cameroon are addressed in the constitution. However, the 2009 Human Rights Report by the United States Department of State noted concerns in regard to election irregularities, security forces torture and arbitrary arrests.
The International Women of Courage Award, also referred to as the U.S. Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award, is an American award presented annually by the United States Department of State to women around the world who have shown leadership, courage, resourcefulness, and willingness to sacrifice for others, especially in promoting women's rights.
Gabrielle Aboudi Onguéné is a Cameroonian footballer who plays for CSKA Moscow in the Russian Championship and the Cameroon national team. She previously played for Rossiyanka.
Edith Kahbang Walla, popularly known as Kah Walla, is a Cameroonian politician, entrepreneur and social activist. She went into politics in 2007 with the Social Democratic Front (SDF), the then main Cameroonian opposition party and was then elected into the municipal council of Douala I. In 2010, she resigned from SDF following a divergence over strategy and declared her intention to run for the 2011 presidential election on October 23, 2010. On April 30, 2011, she was elected as the president of the Cameroon People's Party (CPP) and party candidate for 2011 presidential election.
Florence Rita Arrey is a Cameroonian judge who was the first female chief justice of the Court of the Appeal. She has served on the Supreme Court of Cameroon, and is a vice president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. In 2014, she was appointed director of judicial professions in the Cameroonian Ministry of Justice.
The Anglophone Crisis, also known as the Ambazonia War, is an ongoing armed conflict in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, between the Cameroonian government and Ambazonian separatist groups, part of the long-standing Anglophone problem. Following the suppression of 2016–17 protests by Cameroonian authorities, separatists in the Anglophone regions launched a guerrilla campaign and later proclaimed independence. Within two months, the government of Cameroon declared war on the separatists and sent its army into the Anglophone regions.
The Major National Dialogue is the official name of a dialogue between the Government of Cameroon and various opposition parties, aimed at resolving the Anglophone Crisis. The event took place between September 30 and October 4, 2019.
The Ngarbuh massacre took place in northwestern Cameroon on 14 February 2020 during the Anglophone Crisis, and resulted in the murder of 21 civilians, including 13 children, by Cameroonian soldiers and armed Fulani militia.
Solange Yijika is a Cameroonian actress also much present in the Nigerian theatre and film producer, as well as an activist for women and children's rights. She is the most celebrated actress in the Central African sub-region and the main figure of the Cameroon International Film Festival (CAMIFF).
Anne Mireille Nzouankeu is a journalist living and working in Cameroon, located on the west coast of Africa.
Events in the year 2021 in Cameroon.
Maximilienne Chantal Ngo Mbe is a Cameroonian human-rights campaigner. She leads the Réseau des Défenseurs des Droits Humains en Afrique Centrale (REDHAC). She was given the International Women of Courage Award in 2021.
Marthe Wandou is a Cameroonian lawyer and women's rights activist.
Esther Omam Njomo is a Cameroonian human rights activist and the Executive director of Reach Out Cameroon, an NGO that promotes women's and children's rights in conflict-affected areas and ensures women's participation in the process of peacebuilding. She is the winner of the 2023 Global Centre for Pluralism Award, and the 2023 German Africa Prize.
