00:01Omene Franka was just 21 years old when she was raped in Boya, located in Cameroon's southwest region.
00:08Blind since the age of six, she recalls the attack which occurred in 2018 at the height of the Anglophone
00:15crisis.
00:15Most of her neighbors had fled the area for safety, leaving her isolated and exposed.
00:23Many people ran away, many people were not there, and I could not run because of my disability.
00:30I would not have anywhere to go. That is why you see that I found myself in that area.
00:36And they called the site, they called Malabu, I found myself in that area, living alone, wished there was nobody.
00:43The neighbor was not there. Yeah, I ran away because of the crisis. So it wasn't easy, it was not
00:48easy with me.
00:49Franka's experience is not an isolated case.
00:53In Ikona, another community in the southwest region, Joy Fevokili, a visually impaired person, also survived sexual harassment.
01:03In 2024, an assailant attempted to rape her, but she managed to fight back with the help of a passerby.
01:10They came and attacked me in the house. I cannot say if it's this boy or the military, but they
01:17attempted to rape me.
01:19It's still one of them that have to save me after when they have wound my hand already.
01:24It was midnight, so when they attempted to rape me, I have to scream because I was alone in the
01:32house that time.
01:33So I can say it's just God that has to save me.
01:37The attack left Joy with both physical injuries and emotional trauma.
01:42Losing her mother to the Anglophone conflict in 2023 has only deepened her pain.
01:48Now in its second decade, the conflict in Cameroon's Anglophone regions has exposed children, women and especially vulnerable groups, including
01:58people with disabilities, to numerous forms of abuse.
02:02Although comprehensive and reliable data remains scarce, activists say many women with disabilities are increasingly coming forward to share their
02:13experiences.
02:15During this crisis, we don't get plenty cases then, where they don't rape women.
02:25Like when they thought that they were wrong, when they thought that they were calm, we want to go hide
02:28by some side.
02:30So one day if you go to the carriage, you go for some bush.
02:33Say, we want to go take shelter for the bush.
02:36We will go meet all some people then.
02:39And when you meet other people, you need to see.
02:41You need to know the kind of people then.
02:43You want to see for night.
02:45You want to see that we can put a long commode.
02:47So one man, so if he get wicked hurt, as they used to get hurt, he can't catch you.
02:52He sleep with you by force.
02:54With that crisis, be strong plenty.
02:57Cameroon's government continues to face criticism for its perceived inaction in addressing this abuses.
03:04Officials from the Ministry of Social Affairs insist they are working to support survivors and strengthen accountability.
03:14We are getting more and more of those institutions that are concerned with fighting against such vices get engaged in
03:23working with us.
03:24Like the police, like the gendarmeries, like the courts.
03:27They are there, the administration, to see that when cases like that are reported, the perpetrators are brought to book.
03:35But do not also forget that there are many of such cases that are not reported without coming to report
03:40to the authorities.
03:41And in such situations, it becomes difficult for us to do a follow-up.
03:44Thank you very much.
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