A/HRC/25/56/Add.1 I. Introduction 1. The Independent Expert conducted an official visit to Cameroon from 2 to 11 September 2013. She thanks the Government for its invitation and for its cooperation in the preparation and conduct of her visit. She thanks the senior governmental representatives, including the Ministers for External Relations, for Land Tenure, for Social Affairs, for Basic Education, for Arts and Culture, for Justice and for Territorial Administration and Decentralization, whom she met for their time and the information provided. She also thanks the numerous non-governmental organizations and others working in the field of minority issues who provided valuable information and assistance. 2. Cameroon has a great diversity of ethnic, religious and linguistic groups throughout the country. More than 250 ethnic groups and additional subgroups exist, with almost as many different languages spoken. According to the population and housing census conducted in November 2005, the total population was 17,463,836; official projections published in 2010, however, projected that the population would increase to 19,406,100 as at 1 January 2010. 3. In its report submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 1997,1 Cameroon stated that the population comprised ethnic groups defined on the basis of dialect, in five major groups: the Bantu, in the South, Littoral, South-West, Centre and South-East provinces (now regions), comprising the Beti, Bassa, Douala, Yambassa, Maka, Kaka, Bakweri, Bali and others; the semi-Bantu, in the West and North-West, including the Bamileke, Bamoun, Tikar and Bali; the Sudanese, in the Adamawa, North and Far North, including the Mundang, Toupouri, Kotoko, Kapsiki, Mandara, Haoussa, Matakam, Bornouam and Massa; the Peulh, inhabiting the same regions as the Sudanese; and the Choa Arab people in the Lake Chad basin. Several ethnic and linguistic groups spread across neighbouring countries and therefore bring a regional dimension to the country’s diversity. 4. Forest hunter-gatherer peoples (commonly referred to as Pygmies) include the Baka and Bakola in the East and the South and Bagyeli and Bedzam on the Tikar plain. Estimates suggest that Pygmies constitute about 0.4 per cent of the population. Montagnards, also referred to as “Highlanders” or “Kirdi” (“pagan” in Fulfulde), are made up of various ethnic groups; their exact numbers are unknown. They commonly practice forms of animism and ancestor worship, and have historically been socially, educationally and economically disadvantaged when compared with the more dominant Muslim Fulani population in the three northern provinces.2 5. Although the Constitution uses both the terms “indigenous” and “minorities”, it is unclear to whom they are applied. In the above-mentioned report, the Pygmy population was referred to as “authentic indigenous inhabitants”. A number of other groups, however, self-identify as indigenous or indigenous minorities, including the Mbororo pastoralists. According to the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, the questions over indigenous status prompted the Ministry of External Relations to conduct a study in 2009 to identify and characterize indigenous peoples and their problems. The study, completed in 2011, proposed that the groups to be considered indigenous include the Mbororo pastoralists and the hunter-gatherers (Pygmies).3 Cameroon officially celebrates the annual 1 2 3 4 CERD/C/298/Add.3. See www.cidcm.umd.edu/mar/assessment.asp?groupId=47101. See www.iwgia.org/regions/africa/cameroon/855-update-2011-cameroon.