DOI: 10.11648/j.ijls.20260903.17 ISSN: 2640-1908

A Critical Look at the Protection of Women in Cameroonian Criminal Law

Kamgoui Victorine
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Despite Cameroon’s ratification of key international instruments such as CEDAW and the Maputo Protocol, coupled with the legislative advances introduced under the 2016 Penal Code, the criminal law protection afforded to Cameroonian women remains largely ineffective in practice. Empirical and statistical data on violations of women’s physical integrity, dignity, and moral autonomy continue to present an alarming picture. Reports of domestic violence, sexual assault, harmful traditional practices, and other forms of gender-based violence have not only persisted but have resurged in both intensity and complexity in recent years. In light of this multifaceted and escalating phenomenon of violence against women, there is an urgent need for a profound reform of criminal law to bring it into alignment with contemporary social realities. The current legal framework lacks a dedicated feminist legislative approach and contains no specific provision that directly criminalizes violence against women as a distinct category of offense. This legislative gap limits the capacity of the justice system to prevent, punish, and deter such violations effectively. The central objective of this article is therefore to provoke critical scholarly reflection on the inadequacies of positive law in Cameroon regarding the protection of women. By exposing these normative deficiencies, the study seeks to propose concrete and context-appropriate reforms aimed at strengthening the criminal protection of women and ensuring substantive rather than merely formal equality before the law. To obtain our result, the doctrinal/legal analyses method will be used.

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