Populations déplacées internes et violences basées sur le genre à l’extrême-nord du Cameroun Contribution à l’anthropologie du développement

Abstract

This research project, entitled ‘Internally displaced persons and gender-based violence in the Far North of Cameroon’, is a PhD thesis in development anthropology that attempts to analyse the phenomenon of gender-based violence (GBV) as a factor in the vulnerability of survivors. In crisis situations, governments and humanitarian organisations take charge of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in order to combat GBV and limit the vulnerability of those affected. However, despite this humanitarian action, many women and girls in IDP settlements continue to be survivors of this scourge. Hence the main question: what is the cultural basis for the persistence of GBV? Specifically, what is the origin of the social imbalance that leads to the establishment of IDPs? What is the psychosocial and cultural profile of survivors? What type of GBV do these survivors face? What are the causes and the actors involved? How do IDPs perceive this phenomenon? Finally, what endogenous and exogenous strategies have been put in place to eradicate this scourge? The central hypothesis is that GBV in IDP settlements is rooted in the need to preserve the cultural identity that has been built up over generations and that is now being altered by the socio-cultural imbalance. Specifically, since 2014, when the Cameroonian army went to war against Boko Haram, a number of people have been forced to leave border localities in Nigeria for the hinterland. Most of the survivors are housewives. As a result, they have to endure a range of forms of violence, including physical, sexual and psychological. Because of certain social representations, the scourge is growing. The main perpetrators are Boko Haram, spouses, family members and the women themselves. However, GBV among IDPs appears to be a new phenomenon and therefore receives little attention. Exogenously, survivors benefit from the support of local and international players and endogenously, they are involved in IGAs and women's associations. Methodologically, the data were collected in the Far North region, and more specifically in the IDP settlement sites, using a qualitative method. Content analysis enabled us to study the data, and for interpretation we drew on three theories: functionalism, constructivism and dynamist anthropo- sociology. The main results show that the phenomenon of gender-based violence in the sites where internally displaced people settle is rooted in the need to preserve cultural practices such as the act of covenanting, certain economic activities such as agriculture, livestock rearing and trade, which have long sustained the economy of this region, and above all to preserve the cultural identity carried by the various religions through which each individual recognises his or her place. All this, not forgetting the Boko Haram security crisis, climate change and inter-community conflicts. However, in addition to the initiatives already undertaken, there is a need to: encourage the establishment of collective fields, enhance the combination of social status and educational and vocational training for women and girls, review the age of first marriage, combat the rural exodus, improve intergenerational dialogue and promote inter-community and inter-faith marriages.