ACADEMIA Letters THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROTECTION OF LIBERTY IN CAMEROON AYUK NKWA PASCAL, University of Buea, Cameroon 1. INTRODUCTION Liberty according to the Black’s Law Dictionary [1] means “freedom from arbitrary or undue external restraint, especially by a government. It equally means a right, privilege, or immu- nity enjoyed by prescription or by grant or the absence of a legal duty imposed on a person; for example the liberties protected by the Constitution.” In Cameroon several laws have been put in place to protect the liberty of persons. Cameroon, like many other countries, has ratifed a number of human rights instruments, which engage the responsibility of the State to protect and promote the human rights guaranteed in them including the liberty of persons. Some of these treaties include: the Charter of the United Nations , the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights[2], International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Inter- national Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In terms of legislation, the Constitution of Cameroon recognizes and guarantees the right to liberty. This right is provided in its Preamble. The Constitution of Cameroon is comple- mented by other legislations, including the Criminal Procedure Code, the Penal Code, the 1990 Law on Press Freedom, the 1990 Law on Freedom of Association, the 1990 Law relat- ing to political parties, the 1999 Law to govern Non-Governmental Organization, the 1990 Academia Letters, January 2022 Corresponding Author: AYUK NKWA PASCAL, ankwapas982@gmail.com Citation: Pascal, A.N. (2022). THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROTECTION OF LIBERTY IN CAMEROON. Academia Letters, Article 4730. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL4730. 1 ©2022 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0