CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background Of The Study

Development in a broad sense is a process that creates growth, progress, and positive change. It is the addition of physical, economic, environmental, social and demographic components. Development could be looked at physically, intellectually, socially, emotionally, and morally. It is meant for individuals to enjoy basic human welfare such as clean water, accessible to health care facilities, education, infrastructure and employment.

The Right to Development was first proposed by a Senegalese jurist, Keba M’baye, in 1972 who argued that the lack of human security has adverse consequences on economic growth and poverty, thereby on development. He continued that lack of development or imbalanced development involves inequalities, which is an important cause of conflict . Evidence supporting these relationships is surveyed for developing countries.

Hence, Frances argue that for developing countries and to prevent global terrorism, it is essential to promote inclusive development . Conflict in developing countries reduces economic growth and usually worsens social development which is about investing in people, improving the well-being of every individual in society so they can reach their full potential.

The success of society is linked to the well-being of each and every citizen. This requires the removal of barriers so that all citizens can journey toward their dreams with confidence and dignity. The right to development was given legal recognition in the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and was later incorporated into the global human rights framework through the adoption in 1986 of the Declaration on the Right to Development by the United Nations General Assembly, Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the two International Human Rights Covenants, the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Program of Action, the 2000 Millennium Declaration, and most recently the Program of Action reaffirmed ‘the Right To Development as a universal and inalienable human right which every human is entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, so that all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized.

In 1969, the General Assembly, in its Resolution 2542, adopted the Declaration on Social Progress and Development, which states that “social progress and development shall aim at the continuous raising of the material and spiritual standards of living of all members of society, with respect for and in compliance with human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The Right to Development entails full sovereignty over natural resources, self-determination, popular participation in development, equality of opportunity, and the creation of favorable conditions for the enjoyment of other civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

Human Rights cannot be fully realized without addressing human needs. Therefore, there is a relationship between Human Rights and development. This fact is recognized by all the major international instruments, agreements and resolutions of the UN in particular the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Conventions on civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

These instruments became the basis of the Declaration on the Right to Development adopted in 1986 which establishes the right to development as a human right, equal and indivisible from all other human rights and fundamental freedoms. The consensus adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals contained in the 2030 Agenda in 2015 which rose hopes for the full possibility to realize the right to development. Since the 2030 Agenda is grounded in human right instruments including the right to development and seeks to pursue the same development goals as these instruments, it provides a road map for implementing the right to development, hence the close relationship between the right to development and the Sustainable Development Goals . To coordinate development and the environment, countries take the path of sustainable development and realize environmental protection and ecological balance while promoting economic growth .

The human person is identified as the beneficiary of the right to development, as of all human rights. Human development is the process characterized by the conditions that influence the possibilities of satisfying needs and desires and to explore and realize the physical, biological, cultural, individual and social potentials of each person.

It also seeks to understand how and why the people of all ages and circumstances change or remain the same over time . It involves studies of the human condition with its core being the capability approach. Human Development Index is used as a way of measuring actual progress in human development by the United Nations. It is an approach focusing on human and economic growth and on social justice as a way of understanding progress.

The United Nations Development Program defines human development as “the process of enlarging people’s choices, allowing them to lead a long and healthy life; to be educated, to enjoy a decent standard of living, as well as freedoms, other guaranteed human rights and various ingredients of self-respect” .

Development concerns expanding the choices people have, to lead lives that they value, and improving the human condition so that people have the chance to lead full lives . Thus, human development is about much more than economic growth, which is only a means of enlarging people’s choices . Fundamental to enlarging these choices is building human capabilities the range of things that people can do or be in life. Capabilities are “the substantive freedoms a person enjoys to lead the kind of life they have reason to value”.  Development embodies Human development which disperses the concentration of the distribution of goods and services underprivileged people need and center its ideas on human decisions. Investing in people enables growth and empowerment of people to pursue many different life paths, thus developing human capabilities.

The most basic capabilities for human development are to lead long and healthy lives, be knowledgeable (educated), have access to resources and social services needed for a decent standard of living, and be able to participate in the life of the community. Without these, many choices are not available, and many opportunities in life remain inaccessible.

Armed conflicts appear to be major obstacles to sustainable development and specifically an impediment to human development. In spite of  concentrated  efforts  of  a  large  number  of  individuals  and  institutions  to  end conflicts,  armed  violence does not seem to have been eradicated . This explains the rationale behind this thesis and the current conflict in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon. It is poignant or a pity that, “world courts or world assemblies of national delegates have not proven sufficient as a defensive wall against the use of unregulated warfare as a conflict resolution mechanism” .

A conflict is a clash of interest that may be personal, racial, class, political and international. Conflict in groups often follows a specific course and could be triggered by beliefs of Superiority, Injustice, Vulnerability and Helplessness. The types of conflicts that are recognized by international humanitarian law are: international armed conflict and non-international armed conflict (internal). International armed conflicts involve sovereign states. In contrast, non-international armed conflicts involve states and organized armed groups . However, the main concern of this thesis is how the non-international armed conflicts affect the economic conditions and acts as an impediment to human development, case study in Cameroon.

 1.2 Statement Of The Problem

From 2016 to 2020, several atrocities occurred in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon. The level of insecurity and untimely deaths especially, is at an alarming rate. In this regard, the full enjoyment of the right to human development in these regions has been a fiction.

In critical analysis we realize that the conflict causes or provokes an avalanche of problems generally on the right to economic, social, cultural and environmental development thus, negatively affects the growth of the country as a whole. This raised the problem of actors who are supposed to be involved in the financing and implementation of human development projects to shy away or flee for their lives. Meanwhile, these projects could serve as employment for individuals in these regions to acquire an adequate standard of living.

It has Hampered agricultural and businesses activities causing a great degradation in economic growth. The labor force and youths massively reduced due the lives lost and displacement of thousands of people fleeing for their lives. There is lack of health facilities and health care caused by the fact that some hospitals were burnt down and people fled away from such environments into the bushes and other areas for their own security and safety.

There has been an increase in diseases and persons with disabilities, increase in deviant behaviors like; rape, juvenile delinquency, increase in the death rate of youths and children which reduces a long and healthy Life expectancy, and limited access to adequate education because most schools have been halted and parents get scared to send their children to school for their own safety. There is also a problem with Environmental factors like burning down of houses, destruction of roads and bridge.

1.3 Research Questions

From the problem identified above, this study seeks to answer the following questions.

1.3.1 Main Question

To what extent has the Anglophone crisis affected human development in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon?

1.3.2 Specific Questions

1. What are the concepts of human development and conflict?
2. What are the legal and institutional frameworks for the Protection and implementation of human development?
3. How has the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon impeded human development in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon
4. What are the strategies/measures taken by the government, NGOs, CSOs and non-state actors to mitigate the problem?
5. What policy recommendations can be proposed to curb the effects of the conflict on human development in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon?

Check Out: Law Project Topics with Materials