On November 2, 2024, a local militant group abducted eleven Saint-Lawrence University Institute students and staff members while they were on a university sanctioned trip.

The university announced that the students and staff members were kidnapped while traveling to Babessi, a small village roughly 40 minutes west from the campus, for an education outreach program aimed at encouraging parents to send their children back to school despite the insecurity in the region. The university accused the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF) of being responsible.

The group of students and staff were released nearly two weeks later.

This incident appears to fit a pattern of attacks and kidnappings targeting schools and universities in Cameroon. A recent UN report documented four separate attacks on educational institutions, including public schools, religious institutions, and secular private schools, in September alone.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about the abduction of higher education students. State authorities should take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of scholars, students, and staff, including by investigating and holding perpetrators of such acts responsible, in line with international human rights standards. In addition to the harm to the immediate victim, kidnappings that target members of the higher education community undermine the conditions needed for the meaningful exercise of the right to education and academic freedom.

Sources:
*SAR identified this incident in data made publicly available by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
https://www.cameroonintelligencereport.com/southern-cameroons-crisis-11-students-and-staff-kidnapped-in-northwest/
https://mimimefoinfos.com/11-students-staff-freed-after-14-days-in-separatist-captivity/
https://x.com/fabienoff/status/1857057921856676201