Michel Biem Tong
Michel Biem Tong is a journalist and human rights defender working in the Anglophone region in Cameroon. He is the director of Hurinews.com, a Cameroonian news site focusing on human rights issues. Since the beginning of the crisis in the Anglophone region in 2016, Michel Biem Tong has been researching and reporting on human rights violations committed by all parties involved in the turmoil. In his reporting, he has called on the government to find a solution to the crisis to mitigate the suffering of citizens in the region. Most recently, he was working in the Anglophone region to report on human rights violations committed during the election period; the presidential election took place on 7 October 2018.
In Cameroon, human rights defenders and journalists critical of the government are particularly targeted and often face harassment. Security forces have tortured, beaten, harassed, and abused citizens, journalists, detainees and human rights defenders. In the context of the government’s response to the Anglophone crisis which began at the end of 2016, unnecessary and excessive force was increasingly used by security forces to police assemblies, and peaceful protesters were subjected to arbitrary detention. Access to the internet and social media was also blocked to prevent peaceful protests and authorities have banned news outlets deemed sympathetic to Anglophone protesters.
