Ottawa, Ontario – Statement by President Marie-Claude Boisvert concerning the arrest and detention of Professor Maurice Kamto in Cameroon
The Canadian Council on International Law expresses its deepest concern over the continued incarceration of international legal colleague Professor Maurice Kamto, a distinguished professor and dean of law, and his colleagues who were arrested and jailed in January 2019 apparently because they were members of an opposition political party. Professor Kamto is known world wide for his legal scholarship, his advocacy before the International Court of Justice, representing Cameroon in its highly successful litigation regarding land and maritime boundaries, as well as for his work on the United Nations International Law Commission, of which he was Chairman, on the topic of the Expulsion of Aliens.
The Canadian Council on International Law, while recognizing the sovereign right of Cameroon to manage its own domestic affairs, calls on the President and Government of Cameroon to treat Professor Kamto in accordance with relevant international standards, including the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the New York Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.