President Donald Trump will end trade benefits for Cameroon over “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights,” the White House announced on Thursday.
Trump said in a message to Congress that he will remove Cameroon as a beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, effective January 1.
“I have determined that the Government of Cameroon currently engages in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, contravening the eligibility requirements of section 104 of the AGOA,” Trump said in a statement.
“Despite intensive engagement between the United States and the Government of Cameroon, Cameroon has failed to address concerns regarding persistent human rights violations being committed by Cameroonian security forces. These violations include extrajudicial killings, arbitrary and unlawful detention, and torture.”
The president added, “I will continue to assess whether the Government of Cameroon engages in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, in accordance with the AGOA eligibility requirements.”
The Trump administration previously cut $17 million in security aid to Cameroon, which their government used to combat militant groups like Boko Haram, last February.
"We continue to urge the Cameroonian government to take all credible allegations of gross violations of human rights seriously, investigate those allegations thoroughly, hold accountable the perpetrators of such abuses, and disclose the outcome of the investigations to the people of Cameroon," a State Department official told The Hill at the time.
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