The more than month-long internet shutdown in Cameroon’s Yaounde and Bamende regions has seen businesses lose R1.39 million dollars.

The Cameroonian government cut off access in the two Anglophone regions on 18th January following language-related protests by teachers and lawyers

In a letter written to MTN Cameroon CEO, Philisiwe Sibiya, NextTel CEO Nguyen Duc Quang, and Orange Cameroon CEO Elisabeth Medou Badang, Access Now, a coalition of rights groups monitoring the situation, said R1.39 million is a conservative estimate which doesn’t take into account the long-term effects such as the disruption of supply chains and the significant amount of remittances that Cameroonians living abroad sent to the affected regions.

“As Cameroon’s leading telecommunications providers, you enable Cameroon citizens to exercise their rights and enjoy the economic, social, and cultural benefits of the global internet. Without internet access, entire communities are left more isolated, vulnerable, and at risk. We implore you to help turn internet back on,” the letter reads.

Access Now added that the internet shutdown imposed in anglophone territories of Cameroon damages the burgeoning digital economy, which is blossoming in Cameroon’s Silicon Mountain, Buea, and also thwarts the ability of journalists and the media to provide vital information to the citizenry, interfering with their right to receive and impart information.

“A growing body of jurisprudence declares shutdowns to violate international law. The United Nations Human Rights Council has spoken out strongly against internet shutdowns. In July 2016, the Council passed by consensus a resolution on freedom of expression and the internet that “condemns unequivocally” intentional disruptions to access or dissemination of information online.”

“Businesses, too, have the responsibility to respect human rights, and mitigate or remedy harms they cause or contribute to. Under the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights, which the Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed and African Union officials have pledged to support, business enterprises, ‘should avoid infringing on the human rights of others and should address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved.'”

Access Now recommended that the telecoms companies publicly denounce the shutdown and the harm it has caused to customers and the companies’ economic and reputational interests, detail the geographic scope and technical implementation of the blocking, reveal the demand from the government that required the blockade and any gag order or other pressure to conceal the demand, and jointly push back against the government demand, through all legal and policy tools at your disposal, in order to restore internet access.

“Intentionally blocking Cameroon’s anglophone communities is bad for business. The Cameroon shutdown does not further your economic interests, yet you are nonetheless involved in the blocking…We ask that you publicly identify the steps you are taking to restore access to the internet in Cameroon,” the group said.

[Source – All Africa. Image – Nicolas Raymond]