Babies Behind Bars: Rights Groups Denounce Shocking Detentions

 

Two babies, arrested at the tender ages of three and four months, have spent over seven months behind bars at the Bamenda Central Prison, in what civil society organisations have denounced as a flagrant violation of children’s rights and a shocking State scandal.

According to a declaration made public in Bafoussam on January 30, 2026, the babies were arrested alongside their mothers during security operations conducted on June 24, 2025, in Ndop and Bamessing, Ngoketunjia Division of the North West Region, without arrest warrants or prior judicial authorisation.
The infants, now over seven months into detention, have no legal charges pressed against them, a situation rights groups describe as unlawful, arbitrary, and contrary to both national and international legal standards.

 

Arrest Without Warrant

Reports indicate that defence and security forces carried out multiple arrests in Ndop and Bamessing, leading to the detention of two young mothers, Joycelyn Ndum, 22, and Blanche Yocnteh, also 22, together with their respective babies aged three and four months.
Civil society organisations argue that while judicial proceedings may concern the mothers, the continued incarceration of their infants has no legal justification, as no judicial file exists against the children.

Collective Punishment Strongly Condemned

According to the signatories, the infants are allegedly being detained due to presumed family ties to individuals suspected of involvement in armed separatist groups operating in the area.
They strongly condemn the act as collective punishment, prohibited under international humanitarian law and human rights conventions.
Cameroon, a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is bound to ensure special protection for minors, particularly infants, whose detention, they argue, grossly violates both domestic and international obligations.

Inhumane Detention Conditions Alleged

The mothers and their babies were initially held at the Ndop Gendarmerie Brigade under conditions described as inhuman and degrading, before being transferred to Bamenda Central Prison, where they have remained in pre-trial detention.
Rights groups maintain that no judicial order remanding the mothers in custody can legally justify the imprisonment of infants, stressing that children should never be deprived of liberty under such circumstances.

Institutional Silence Raises Concerns

Despite repeated appeals, legal motions and urgent requests for release, no corrective measures have reportedly been taken.
The declaration sharply criticises what it terms:
the passive attitude of the Cameroonian judicial system, and
the complicit silence of the Cameroon Human Rights Commission.
According to the signatories, the State risks incurring international responsibility for arbitrary detention of minors and for violations of conventions ratified by Cameroon, including the Convention Against Torture.

Civil Society Demands Immediate Action

Meeting under the coordination of the NGO Conscience Africaine, several national and international organisations are demanding:
The immediate and unconditional release of the two infants;
The establishment of alternative protection mechanisms ensuring their safety and wellbeing;
The opening of an independent and impartial investigation;
An end to all security practices involving the detention of infants.
“No baby should ever be behind bars,” the statement firmly concludes.

A Troubling Precedent

Beyond the immediate case, civil society actors warn that the incident raises serious concerns about respect for fundamental rights within the broader security context in Cameroon’s conflict-hit North West and South West Regions.
They caution that security imperatives must not override basic human rights, especially those of children, whose protection remains an absolute legal and moral obligation.

Broad Civil Society Mobilisation

The declaration is endorsed by a wide coalition of Cameroonian and international civil society organisations, including:
Conscience Africaine, Nouveaux Droits de l’Homme, Mandela Center International, Human is Right, Association des Amis du Droit, Platform of Civil Society for Democracy, MBOSCUDA, CODEHS, REWAC, Refugee Welfare Association, RENADH, All Women Together, Dr Hilaire Kamga, among several others.
Their collective mobilisation underscores growing national and international concern over the treatment of vulnerable groups in Cameroon’s ongoing security crisis.