Issues in Women's Land Rights in Cameroon

Issues in Women's Land Rights in Cameroon

Author: Lotsmart N. Fonjong

Publisher: African Books Collective

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 9956726834

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This book explores the customary, social, economic political and rights issues surrounding access, ownership and control over land from a gender perspective. It combines theory and practice from researchers, lawyers and judges, each with track records of working on women and rights concerns. The nexus between the reluctance to recognize and materialize women's right to land, and the increasing feminization of poverty is undeniable. The problem assumes special acuity in an essentially agrarian context like Cameroon, where the problem is not so much the law as its manner of application. That this book delves into investigating the principal sources and reasons for this prevalent injustice is particularly welcome. As some of the analyses reveal, denying women their right to land acquisition or inheritance is sometimes contrary to established judicial precedents and even in total dissonance with the country's constitution. Traditional and cultural shibboleths associated with land acquisition and ownership that tend to stymie women's development and fulfilment, must be quickly shirked, for such retrograde excuses can no longer find comfort in the law, morality nor in "modern" traditional thinking. The trend, albeit timid, of appointing women to Land Consultative Boards and even as traditional authorities, can only be salutary. These are some positive practical steps that can translate the notion of equal rights into "equal power" over land for both sexes; otherwise "equality" in this context will remain an unattractive slogan.


Issues in Women's Land Rights in Cameroon

Issues in Women's Land Rights in Cameroon

Author: N. Fonjong

Publisher: African Books Collective

Published: 2012-02-29

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 9956727016

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This book explores the customary, social, economic political and rights issues surrounding access, ownership and control over land from a gender perspective. It combines theory and practice from researchers, lawyers and judges, each with track records of working on women and rights concerns. The nexus between the reluctance to recognize and materialize womens right to land, and the increasing feminization of poverty is undeniable. The problem assumes special acuity in an essentially agrarian context like Cameroon, where the problem is not so much the law as its manner of application. That this book delves into investigating the principal sources and reasons for this prevalent injustice is particularly welcome. As some of the analyses reveal, denying women their right to land acquisition or inheritance is sometimes contrary to established judicial precedents and even in total dissonance with the countrys constitution. Traditional and cultural shibboleths associated with land acquisition and ownership that tend to stymie womens development and fulfilment, must be quickly shirked, for such retrograde excuses can no longer find comfort in the law, morality nor in modern traditional thinking. The trend, albeit timid, of appointing women to Land Consultative Boards and even as traditional authorities, can only be salutary. These are some positive practical steps that can translate the notion of equal rights into equal power over land for both sexes; otherwise equality in this context will remain an unattractive slogan.


Natural Resource Endowment and the Fallacy of Development in Cameroon

Natural Resource Endowment and the Fallacy of Development in Cameroon

Author: Lotsmart Fonjong

Publisher: African Books Collective

Published: 2019-11-06

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 995655197X

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Cameroon is rich in petroleum, minerals, tropical forests, wildlife, water systems, fertile lands, and much more. Paradoxically however, most citizens live in abject poverty and without jobs, potable water, electricity, good healthcare and roads. This book is a thoughtful interrogation of some of the structural factors driving persistent poverty in Cameroon in the midst of natural resource abundance. It engages in a multidimensional critical analysis of the impact of natural resources on basic development indicators and concludes that good resource governance and sound management are the missing link. Natural resources alone will not create socio-economic prosperity void of good management with a clear development vision and strategy in Cameroon. The book assembles a wide diversity of analysis, views, perspectives and recommendations from economists, development experts, social and political scientists, on Cameroons current development inertia. What emerges in the end is a coherent interdisciplinary analysis of the natural resource-development paradox as it plays out in an African setting. Theories and good practices from Africa and beyond are systematically applied to identify and critique present policy and management approaches while providing alternative options that can unlock Cameroons natural resource wealth for national prosperity.


Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon

Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon

Author: Mark Dike DeLancey

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-06-15

Total Pages: 831

ISBN-13: 1538119684

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Cameroon is a land of much promise, but a land of unfulfilled promises. It has the potential to be an economically developed and democratic society but the struggle to live up to its potential has not gone well. Since independence there have been only two presidents of Cameroon; the current one has been in office since 1982. Endowed with a variety of climates and agricultural environments, numerous minerals and substantial forests, and a dynamic population, this is a country that should be a leader of Africa. Instead, we find a country almost paralyzed by corruption and poor management, a country with a low life expectancy and serious health problems, and a country from which the most talented and highly educated members of the population are emigrating in large numbers. To all of this is recently added a serious terrorism problem, Boko Haram, in the north, a separatist movement in the Anglophone west, refugee influxes in the north and east, and bandits from the Central African Republic attacking eastern villages. This fifth edition of Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Republic of Cameroon.


Gender and Law

Gender and Law

Author: Lorenzo Cotula

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 9789251055632

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Women constitute a large portion of the economically active population engaged in agriculture. International instruments on human rights, the environment and sustainable development reaffirm the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of sex or gender. Yet women often face gendered obstacles in realizing their rights and feeding their families. The right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, may thus not be fulfilled. These obstacles may stem from directly or indirectly discriminatory norms or from entrenched socio-cultural practices, or both. This study analyses the gender dimension of agriculture-related legislation in a selection of different countries around the world, examining the legal status of women in three key areas: rights to land and other natural resources; rights of women agricultural workers; and rights concerning women's agricultural self-employment activities, ranging from women's status in rural cooperatives to their access to credit, training and extension services.


World Report 2019

World Report 2019

Author: Human Rights Watch

Publisher: Seven Stories Press

Published: 2019-02-05

Total Pages: 847

ISBN-13: 1609808851

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The best country-by-country assessment of human rights. The human rights records of more than ninety countries and territories are put into perspective in Human Rights Watch's signature yearly report. Reflecting extensive investigative work undertaken by Human Rights Watch staff, in close partnership with domestic human rights activists, the annual World Report is an invaluable resource for journalists, diplomats, and citizens, and is a must-read for anyone interested in the fight to protect human rights in every corner of the globe.


Gender Justice and Development: Local and Global

Gender Justice and Development: Local and Global

Author: Christine Koggel

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-10-02

Total Pages: 125

ISBN-13: 1317527895

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It is now generally accepted by development theorists and policy-makers that the popular policies of reducing or eliminating social welfare programs over the past several decades have increased inequalities and injustices throughout the world. The authors in this collection focus on the gendered aspects of these inequalities and injustices. They do so by exploring the ethics, values, and principles central to understanding and alleviating real-world problems resulting from a lack of gender justice locally and globally. Some of the authors offer new theoretical and conceptual frameworks in order to analyze connections between gender norms and inequalities, to devise strategies to empower women and strengthen communities, to challenge mainstream understandings of justice and responsibility, to promote caring and just relationships among people within and across borders, or to shape more adequate accounts of development and global ethics. Other authors apply new theories and concepts in order to explore gender justice in the context of issues such as climate change, land ownership rights in Cameroon, or empowerment strategies in places such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ghana, Columbia, and Indonesia. This book was originally published as a special issue of Ethics and Social Welfare.


Neoliberal Bandwagonism. Civil society and the politics of belonging in Anglophone Cameroon

Neoliberal Bandwagonism. Civil society and the politics of belonging in Anglophone Cameroon

Author: Piet Konings

Publisher: African Books Collective

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9956558230

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While neoliberals typically view civil society organizations as vital channels for the implementation of economic and political reforms, they are also inclined to blame the politics of belonging for the poor record of these reforms. Piet Konings rejects such notions and argues that the relationship between civil society and the politics of belonging is more complex in Africa than Western donors and scholars are inclined to admit. He argues that ethno-regional associations and movements are more significant constituents of civil society in Africa than the conventional organizations that are often uncritically imposed or endorsed. He shows how the politics of belonging, so pervasive in Cameroon, and indeed much of Africa, during the current neoliberal economic and political reforms, has tended to penetrate the entire range of associational life, and he calls for a critical re-appraisal of prevalent notions and assumptions about civil society in the interest of African reality.