CIVITAS Cameroon has launched a renewed campaign to advance the land rights of women, calling for urgent action to dismantle patriarchal practices that continue to deny women equal access to land ownership, inheritance and justice despite strong legal protections under Cameroonian and international law.
The call was made during an awareness workshop held Thursday 16 July 2026 in Bamenda under the theme "no woman left behind: advancing women's participation in land Management and justice in Cameroon." The workshop brought together women's organisations, grassroots women leaders, female traditional leaders, traditional rulers, religious leaders, legal practitioners, government officials, researchers, youth representatives, human rights advocates and development partners to examine practical ways of securing land justice for women.
Opening the workshop, the National Coordinator of CIVITAS Cameroon, Barrister Nsen Abeng, described land as one of the most important natural resources in the country and said empowering women to own and control land is fundamental to sustainable development.
"Land is a vital natural resource and women play an important role in its use, especially in agriculture and other livelihood activities," she said, describing women as "the nurturers of the universe" whose contribution to families and communities remains indispensable.
She stressed that although women contribute significantly to agricultural production and economic development, many continue to face discrimination rooted in customary practices that prevent them from owning or inheriting land.
The workshop, she explained, seeks to promote the participation of women in land governance while increasing public awareness of the legal protections available to women seeking justice in land matters.
A major concern raised during the discussions was the limited representation of women on land consultative boards, the bodies that play a critical role in determining land ownership and resolving disputes. Participants urged government authorities to ensure women are adequately represented on these boards while calling on traditional rulers to uphold rather than undermine the constitutional rights of women.
The workshop also encouraged women to stop waiting for society to voluntarily recognise their rights.
Participants urged them to stand up, demand fair treatment and insist that their rights to own land, inherit property and obtain land certificates are respected.
Delivering a presentation on women's rights under national and customary laws, Justice Manghe Nee Asafor Joan, Judge of the Administrative Court of the North West Region, said Cameroon's legal framework provides equal rights to women and men to acquire, own, manage and dispose of land.
"Our national laws and international instruments that Cameroon has ratified are all non-discriminatory. Any woman has the right to acquire, own, manage and dispose of land the way she wants," she said.
According to the judge, the greatest obstacle is not the law itself but customary practices that continue to treat women as secondary beneficiaries of family property.
"The problem always comes when a woman is divorced, when the husband dies, or when an unmarried woman wants to inherit property left by her father. That is where the problem comes in," she observed.
Justice Joan Asafor lamented that despite widespread violations of women's land rights, very few women seek legal redress through the Administrative Court.
"Very few women have come to find out what they can do when they discover that land they have worked on for decades has been registered in somebody else's name. Most of the people who come for advice are men," she noted.
She encouraged women not to remain silent whenever their rights are violated.
"Women, we don't have to sit and cross our arms. We have to access justice," she declared.
The judge further advised women to challenge fraudulent land certificates immediately after discovering them.
"If somebody obtains a land certificate on your land, attack it. It is not a typical fight. It is your right, and you don't negotiate rights," she said.
Justice Joan Asafor explained that although challenging a land certificate involves strict legal procedures and timelines, women who have pursued legitimate claims have successfully recovered their rights.
Also speaking during the workshop, human rights lawyer Barrister Tamon Olivia, Founder of Crystal Law Chambers, argued that the legal instruments protecting women's land rights already exist, but their implementation remains weak.
She noted that 2026 has been designated the International Year of the Woman Farmer, making the conversation on access to land by women particularly timely given the central role of women in agriculture.
Quoting the Food and Agriculture Organization, she said women account for between 40 and 41 percent of the global agri-food workforce yet continue to face unequal access to land, finance, education and other productive resources.
"Women in rural and urban communities have a major stake in land management. Rural women, in particular, come into contact with land on a daily basis, yet they are left behind," Barrister Olivia said.
She reminded participants that the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Maputo Protocol, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and Cameroon's Constitution all guarantee women's right to property without discrimination.
"Without women's access to land, you cannot realise sustainable development," she stressed.
Barrister Tamon Olivia cited the case of a woman denied access to her late father's compound simply because she was female and married, describing such practices as incompatible with both national legislation and international human rights commitments.
"Nobody should stop you from inheriting your parents' property if you want it. You have the right," she told participants.
Throughout the workshop, speakers maintained that achieving land justice requires more than legal reforms. They called for changes in attitudes within families, communities and traditional institutions while encouraging women to become more informed about their rights and available legal remedies.
The awareness workshop is bringing together participants from women's organisations, grassroots women's groups, female traditional leaders, traditional rulers and customary authorities, religious leaders, representatives of MINPROFF, MINDCAF and other government ministries, researchers, legal practitioners, youth representatives, human rights advocates and representatives of United Nations agencies.
By placing women's access to land at the centre of the conversation, CIVITAS Cameroon hopes to bridge the gap between legal protections and everyday realities, ensuring that no woman is excluded from the right to own, inherit and defend the land on which her livelihood and dignity depend.
By Bakah Derick for Hilltopvoices Web
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