Make Every Woman Count - Promoting the Empowerment of Women and Girls in Africa

The Republic of Cameroon has an estimated population of 19.9 million (UN, 2010). The capital is Yaounde. Cameroun has an area of 475,442 sq km (183,568 sq miles). The main languages are French, English, Bantu, Semi-Bantu and Sudanic groups.

The Republic of Cameroon was created in 1961 with the merge of the former French Cameroon and British Cameroon. Cameroon is considered to be one of the more stable countries in Sub-Sahara Africa.

The percentage of women in the political institutions of the country remains significantly low, only few women are represented in the government. Violence against women is widespread in Cameroon; an estimated 53% of women experience physical violence, in most of the cases the husbands are the perpetrators.

•  Cameroon signed the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples'  Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (The Maputo Protocol) on the 25th of July 2006.
  
• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was ratified by Cameroon on the 23rd of August 1994.
  
• Cameroon has not yet adopted a National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325).
• There are no current or former UN peacekeeping mandates in Cameroon.

Source:BBC, AlertNet, CIA, UN, SIGI,