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SCYLThe concept of human rights and fundamental freedomsIn my view and a broader spectrum of the world’s community, Human Rights are Godgiven and therefore natural free from human interference.After all, our great philosopher Jean Jacque Rousseau wrote in his book “TheSocial Contract” that ‘man is born free but everywhere he is in chains’Article 1 of the universal declaration of human rights does remind us on this “Allhuman beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. The are endowed withreason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit ofbrotherhood”This clearly reminds us that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedomset forth in the UN Declaration and accompanying charters without distinction asto race, color, sex, language, religion, political, and or other opinions.The paradox that man is born free but everywhere he/she is in chains is veryvisible of 21st century Cameroun vies a vies The Federal Democratic Republic ofThe Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia), and every attempt to seek a solution to theproblem within a purely secular framework has failed- Reasons for the creation ofthe Southern Cameroons defense force (SOCADEF). Totalitarianism, greed, anddespotism are today more firmly entrenched in La Republique Du Cameroon and theaging generation of Southern Cameroons leaders than they ever were in the past.The need to reappraise the foundation on which the whole concept of human rightshas therefore never been more pressing than it is today in Cameroun.The UN Declaration of Human Rights 1948 is a very important document (Article9,10,11 ) as they explain obligated sovereignty and it’s impact on individualfreedom. These articles though engrafted in the National Legislations of TheSouthern Cameroons occupiers ( la Republique du Cameroun ), is not to safeguardour inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms but for the Internationalcommunity as guarantee for loans.In the memorable words of the American Declaration of Independence by ThomasJefferson, he said “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men arecreated equal, they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights,that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to securethese rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powersfrom consent of the governed”In a nutshell, it means human rights are not given by the government. They are thestructures upon which governments are based and justified. Thomas Jefferson setforth a fundamental principle upon which democratic governments are founded.Governments in a democracy are created to protect those freedoms that everyindividual possesses by virtue of his/her existence.Our 17th century philosophers (John Locke, Rousseau) told us that inalienablerights are not destroyed when civil society is created and neither society norgovernment can remove or alienate them. These include- freedom of speech andexpression (article 19 UN Charter), freedom of conscience, the right of equalprotection before the law (article 7 UN Charter) and even la Republique duCameroun’s law no. 90/55 of 19th December 1990 on freedom of Assembly.If we have to ask ourselves the question on what human rights are, we will all sayis about the curtailment of the abstract and super state power. Better still, isabout the limitation of absolute power corrupting absolutely. It is based on theidea that all humankind is a rational aspiring creatures, equal in dignity andindividuality and firmly attached to the ideals of justice and compassion.
 
However, this writer knows many leaders and people in La Republique du Camerounand even within the oppressed people of The Southern Cameroons will consider thisnotion to be wholly absurd, ridiculous and a rhetorical nonsense.The UN holds that the denial of human rights and fundamental freedoms does notonly constitute individual and personal tragedy but also creates conditions ofsocial and political unrest by sowing seeds of violence and conflict within andbetween societies and nations. Yet this multi-billion dollar enterprise called theUnited Nations has failed in almost every aspect as the watch dog for peace in theworld either due to negligence or deliberate failure to act as the case of TheSouthern Cameroons. Is it not then hypocrisy when the first sentence of the UNCharter on Human Rights holds that the respect for human rights and human dignityis the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world?The occupiers of The Southern Cameroons –La Republique du Cameroon is a SIGNATORYto almost all of the UN Instruments and Declaration, yet Cameroun has not evolvedany respectable human rights standing. This was highlighted by the great Americanx-ambassador to Cameroun Harriet Isom( 1991-1993 ) at a Mbalmayo seminar forjurist that “ Too often, Cameroonians have been asked to settle for a democracy ofsmoke and mirror, for words that do not correspond to realities”. However, tobroader her meaning to this assertion, the breach of our fundamental rights andfreedoms does not rest solely on the CPDM Regime of Paul Biya, but also inside thedifferent restorationist movements in the Southern Cameroons promoting the coursefor self-determination.If we look into the present date human rights situation in the Southern Cameroons,we cannot avoid the conclusion that La Republique du Cameroun as anInternationally recognized geographical unit of Human community of diversecultures and history is fraught with uncertainty, born of conflict and ofpotential conflict ( the case of the Southern Cameroons ) engendered by wantonabuses of the fundamental rights of it’s constituent human member.It would not be incorrect to say that our march into civilization has not justbeen halted but has been savagely frustrated in both communities west and east ofthe Mungo with the restoration of a primitive society and then reversed to thepoint at which human beings are treated sometimes worse than animals. This isworst because the perpetrators are sometimes private persons, the judiciary andnon governmental human rights organizations and movements.Southern Cameroons today is looked upon as ‘ La Republique du Cameroun outrémungo’ and a policy of turning Southern Cameroonians into Francophobes isvigorously being applied ( the teaching of the French language as a compulsorysubject in our elementary schools ).All measures of torture be they physical or psychological are ‘justifiably’applied in the process of re-education on values. Those who accept the values arecompensated with jobs and assistant positions in la republique’s government andthose who stand firm to the ideals of an independent southern cameroons state haveto be re-educated through the brain washing process of northwest-southwest divideand the ‘come no go syndrome’ OR you are SCNC and he/ she is SCYL Or SCARM, SCAPO,AMBAZONIA, INTERIM GOVERNMENT.However, many Southern Cameroonians ( Ambazonians ) have continued to yearn insilence, looking foolish but waiting patiently for the right moment to take theirown destiny into their hands. And that moment will be the moment of truth whenpatriots will be separated from traitors. It would be a moment of state cleansingwhere detractors and co fusionists will be treated in equal standing as ouroppressors and our heroes though dead will be immortalized.Irrespective of the name, that Free State will be free and its people will open a
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