Case History: Tilder Kumichi Ndichia
As of 9 April 2015, human rights defender Ms Tilder Kumichi Ndichia has been receiving anonymous threatening phone calls. The threats began following her return to Yaoundé from Isaibal, a village located in the North West Region of Cameroon, where she was following up on a case of domestic violence against a woman.
Tilder Kumichi Ndichia is a women's rights defender and Program Coordinator of Gender Empowerment and Development – GeED, a human rights organisation dedicated to improving the lives of women and youths through advocacy, education, training and empowerment programs. For many years, Tilder Kumichi Ndichia has been monitoring and reporting on cases of violence against women, and providing psychological support to victims of such violence.
As of 9 April 2015, human rights defender Ms Tilder Kumichi Ndichia has been receiving anonymous threatening phone calls. The threats began following her return to Yaoundé from Isaibal, a village located in the North West Region of Cameroon, where she was following up on a case of domestic violence against a woman.
Since her return to Yaoundé, Tilder Kumichi Ndichia has received four threatening calls, each from a different number. When she has attempted to call the numbers back she has been unable to connect. Reportedly, the callers have ordered her to cease handling any cases of domestic violence against women, and warned that she will soon face serious consequences if she continues to do investigate such cases. In the most recent call, the speaker ordered her to remove any information she had published, on the internet or elsewhere, concerning the case she had been investigating in Isaibal. Tilder Kumichi Ndichia immediately reported the anonymous threats to the police.
On 7 April 2015, while Tilder Kumichi Ndichia was in Isaibal documenting the case of domestic violence, she was assaulted by unknown persons, who stole her laptop bag and hand bag, which contained all the documents concerning the case. Two days before the assault, the human rights defender reported being verbally threatened on two occasions, on 5 and 6 April 2015, by three unknown men. After enquiring about them in the village, Tilder Kumichi Ndichia was informed that two of the men are known as perpetrators of violence in the community and the third person is allegedly a relative of the man responsible for the recent violation that the human rights defender was investigating. Allegedly, some men in the community labelled her a bad example and accused her of trying to disturb the workings of their families, where women are the property of men and should be beaten whenever necessary.
Tilder Kumichi Ndichia was previously assaulted in front of her house in Yaoudé, in March 2014, by two unknown men, armed with guns, as she was returning from work. During the assault, the aggressors stole all her belongings, including her laptop, phones, and tablet, containing information on cases of human rights abuses she had documented. At the time, the human rights defender was particularly focused on a case of domestic violence against a woman by her husband, and the husband's rape of their 11 year old daughter.
