Cameroon
Practice Relating to Rule 118. Provision of Basic Necessities to Persons Deprived of Their Liberty
Cameroon’s Disciplinary Regulations (1975) states that prisoners shall be authorized to receive parcels by the intermediary of the ICRC.
Cameroon’s Instructor’s Manual (1992) provides that captured enemy combatants shall be cared for, fed and protected when necessary.
Cameroon’s Instructor’s Manual (2006) states that, with regard to prisoners of war, there is an obligation to “safeguard their lives, to protect their health, to secure their medical care and good food, to provide them decent detention conditions, to protect them physically, to protect their place of detention, [and] to provide them with sports and cultural leisure opportunities …”.
The manual, under the heading “Land, Maritime and Air Battles”, states with respect to prisoners of war: “They have the right to protection, medical care, clothing, food and drink.”
The manual also provides that prisoners of war “must be cared for, fed and protected when necessary … Such treatment applies only to combatants who refrain from any hostile acts.”
The manual, under the heading “Responsibility for Acts or Omissions of which Subordinates Are Accused”, states with regard to prisoners of war that a commander may be held responsible for any act resulting in “the lack of medical care [or] insufficient food” committed by his subordinates.
Cameroon’s Disciplinary Regulations (2007) states with regard to the treatment of prisoners of war: “They are authorized to send and receive mail, effects and foodstuffs by the intermediary of the International Committee of the Red Cross.”