Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
HALLE, Caution That Any Serious Fight Aimed At Ending Violence Against Women, And Femicide, Must Start By Tackling The Root Causes. At A Workshop Of Civil Society Groups That Constitute The Cameroon Multi-Stakeholder Engagement And Action For Ending Femicide (CAM – SAFE Project), Which Held In Douala On October 15, 2026, The Take Home Message Was: “Prevention Must Begin, Before Violence Becomes Fatal”, And “The Rule Of Love To End Femicide”.
The renowned International Peace Crusader and Human Rights Advocate, Sir Dr Barrister Ntumfor Nico Halle, who is also engaged in the Fight against Corruption (including embezzlement) and Hate Speech, has said that women are special gifts from God, and are supposed to be treated as such by men, and that men who beat their wives, not to talk of killing them, are meant for the zoos. That is, those men that beat their wives, that Halle rightly terms as heartless fellows, are supposed to be living in zoos with other animals, and not in the society or community of civilized or well cultured human beings.
Sir Dr Barrister Ntumfor Nico Halle, was speaking in Douala on Thursday, October 15, 2026, while addressing representatives of a civil society consortium, the Cameroon Multi –Stakeholder Engagement and Action for Ending Femicide (CAM – SAFE Project), at a workshop which held at the conference room of the NICO HALLE & CO LAW FIRM. To be more precise, the event was hosted by Nico Halle.
The event was also meant to formally present to the International Peace Crusader and Human Rights Advocate, Sir Dr Barrister Nico Halle, the CAM – SAFE Project or Initiative, led by BOTFON Human Rights Watch, which has a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mundoh Walter. Participants at the workshop came from Bamenda, LImbe, Yaounde , Buea, Douala and Tiko.
Root Causes Of Femicide
Meanwhile, Sir Dr Barrister Ntumfor Nico Halle who strongly condemned violence against women (gender based violence) and femicide, cautioned that any serious fight aimed at ending gender based violence and femicide, must start with tracing the root causes of these ills – gender based violence and femicide. He asserted that tackling gender base violence or femicide from the roots is the best way to kill or illuminate the evil, because the problem will stay on if it is instead tackled from the surface level, leaving out the root cause or causes.
Halle also stressed the need for civil society organizations to strive to go beyond advocacy or denunciations in the fight against gender based violence and femicide, by working to ensure the implementations of measures that can curb or end these evil acts, as well as work to ensure that those who perpetrate these vicious acts, are sanctioned accordingly.
Absence Of Genuine Love
Nico Halle noted that Femicide is part of the moral decadence into which society has plunged itself. A society or a world, where as he says, the Rule of Law has failed, and the only way out, is for people to embrace the Rule of Love. Halle pointed out that it is the absence of love in the society and the world at large that, has led the society to become, the society of moral decadence, in which we find ourselves today. “We are God’s children, but doing Satan’s work”, he remarked with deep concern. He asserted that if genuine love existed amongst God’s children, there would be no femicide.
Call For Rule Of Love
Launching a strong call for people to strive to embrace the Rule of Love, Halle asserted that if people love themselves, there will be nothing like violence against women and femicide, as well as other aspects or forms of moral decadence in the society, and the world at large.
Sir Dr Nico Halle, who is a highly committed Christian, explained that the Rule of Love is about embracing core moral values, whose foundation is based on Love. Still talking on the importance of Love to man, Halle asserted that the greatest commandment in the Bible is on Love – Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and Love your neighbour as yourself. He said if people love each other, they will not commit evil against others, or try to hurt others. Halle said the take home message to end femicide, is supposed to be: “The Rule of Love to End Femicide”.
Halle also urged parents to strive to bring up their children in the fear of the Lord, by inculcating good morals in their minds, and also living exemplary lives for the children to emulate. He stated that many children take after their parents, and so male children who grew up watching their fathers beat their mothers, are likely also to be violent on their wives, when they grow up and get married.
Nico Halle congratulated the CEO of BOTFON Human Rights Watch, Mundoh Walter, for caring about the rights of human beings, and doing so without discrimination.
Interesting Presentations, Discussions, Debates
In a presentation at the workshop, the representative of the Association for the Welfare of Albinos, Madam Ngom Marceline Anwi, presented official statistics which shows that femicide has unfortunately been on a steady rise in Cameroon since 2023. Explaining that femicide is the killing of women and girls, she said statistics also show that most women and girls are killed by persons who know them, like their partners, neigbours, friends, and some other family members. Such a situation also thus means that the killings are a betrayal of the confidence that these women and girls, had in the men.
Madam Ngom also remarked that most cases of femicide registered in Cameroon, are preceded by domestic or gender based violence, but unfortunately no measures are taken to stop the situation from degenerating to femicide.
No Special Attention To Cases Of Albinos
The representative of the Association for the Welfare of Albinos, Ngom Marceline Anwi, complained that the tendency in Cameroon is, that when people are talking about violence against women, and femicide, all the victims are lumped together, and so the reasons for gender based violence, sexual violence (rape), or femicide, are generalized. She said no mention is ever made, as to whether the cause or reason for the sexual violence against an Albino, or a femicide in which an Albino is victim, is linked to the fact that the victim is an Albino, and not necessarily because she is a woman or girl. She said most Albinos that face sexual violence and femicide, are targeted for reasons associated with albinism. She presented Albinos as falling in the category of people in the society with disabilities.
Madam Ngom stated that many female Albinos face sexual violence, or rape to be specific, because there is a belief in many African communities that albinism cures HIV/AIDS. She said there is thus the belief that if a man who has HIV or AIDS and has sex with an Albino, he would be cured, and this has made female Albinos to be become a target of rape in many African communities. She said she knows quite a number of Albinos in Cameroon, who are victims of sexual violence or rape.
As regard femiicide, the representative of the Association for the Welfare of Albinos, Ngom Marceline, said there are also communities in Africa where people believe that some parts of the body of an Albino , can be used to make ‘black magic’, that makes a man to become wealthy. And so some people target Albinos to kill, in order to take the body parts to witch doctors, to perform rituals, which thy believe will make them rich.
Prevention Against Femicide Does Not Start In Court
Meanwhile, Madam Ngom Marceline, the representative of the Association for the Welfare of Albinos, announced that that a bill on femicide is being awaited at the upcoming November / December Session of Parliament. She however stressed that the prevention of femicide does not have to start in court, but rather at home, in schools, and in Churches, through sensitization.
Legal Framework
A female lawyer from FIDA, as well as a number of other female lawyers from a number of other civil society groups who attended the workshop, talked about the legal framework in the fight against gender based violence and femicide, in Cameroon. They noted that in Cameroon, the Law and Politics overlap, meaning thus that there can be no effective implementation of the Law, without political will.
As regard the rising cases of gender based violence and femicide, the female lawyers said there is a need for tough Laws that will act as a deterrent to those evil men that beat women, and above all commit femicide. They complained that the police often downplay cases of rape reported to them, causing a lot of frustration to victims, and discouraging some victims from reporting rape cases to the police. They called for a change of mentality by the police, to take rape cases as a serious crime, and not instead ask provocative questions to victims of rape, who filed complaints, like by asking them if they were virgins by the time they were raped.
The lawyers also called for a corruption free judiciary, to be able to sanction rape. They noted that there are cases of some ‘big people’ in the society who rape young girls, and when complaints are filed against them, they use money to block the case from coming up in court, causing a lot of frustration to victims.
The lawyers also talked of the need for Cameroon to respect international conventions it signs on protecting the rights of women, as well as the respect by all, of the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights.
Victims Of Gender Based Violence, Who Don’t Even Realize That They Are Victims
Representatives of some civil society groups that try to help victims of domestic violence, or gender based violence, talked of the difficulties or frustration, they a times face in trying to assist some victims to seek justice against their perpetrators. They said there are cases where the family of a woman who suffers from gender based violence, or a girl who is victim of sexual violence (rape), intervenes to tell a civil society group that takes up the matter, to stay out of it, and that they will handle the mater within the family. This is because some families tend to think that, to drag a family member to court for sexual violence or gender based violence, will instead tarnish the image of the family.
The civil society groups said there are even cases of women who are victims of domestic violence, but who don’t even realize they are victims, as they have a culture which makes them think that it is normal for a man to beat the wife. And so when a civil society group tries to assist such a victim, she refuses to collaborate, and instead tells them to mind their business and leave her alone.
The civil society groups also identified economic dependence on men by several women, as the reason that several women suffer from repeated domestic violence, but prefer to hide it, or to hang on, despite the threat to their lives. There are cases where even the families of some married women, depend on the husbands of those women for survival. And because of that, some of those men tend to treat their women as worthless creatures, knowing that it would be difficult for them to leave the marriage, considering the situation of their families.
There are also women who are victims of repeated cases of domestic violence, but would not be prepared to leave or to seek legal action against their husbands, in the name of their children. They say they are prepared to hang on, despite the torture, for the sake of their children, even though they run the risk of being killed. But then if the woman or mother ends up dying in the course of the domestic violence, she will leave those children behind without a mother, which is worse.
“Prevention Must Begin, Before Violence Becomes Fatal”
Despite all the odds, the Programme Director of BUTFON Human Rights Watch, stressed on the importance for the civil society groups or members of the consortium, not to relent their efforts in working hard to protect victims of domestic or gender based violence, as well as victims of sexual violence (rape). He said they all have the responsibility to try to recognize signs to femicide, which include domestic or gender based violence and sexual violence (rape).
He said when the civil society groups recognize warning signs and take appropriate measures to protect the potential victims, whether they like it or not, at the end of day, femicide is prevented and human life is save. He said there can be nothing as bad as a woman being killed, and a human rights activist having a guilty conscience, that he or she could have taken measures that would have saved the woman’s life.
The Director of Programme of BOTFON Human Rights Watch, also agreed with Sir Dr Barrister Ntumfor Nico Halle, that civil society groups in the fight against gender based violence, sexual violence, and femicide, should go beyond advocacy, and work for the implementation of measures to stop femicide. He said BOTFON Human Rights Watch’s take home message for participants at the workshop, is: “Prevention Must Begin, Before Violence Becomes Fatal”.
