Protecting Displaced Workers Through Pro Bono Justice

Posted on January 8th, 2025

Across Cameroon, displaced persons find themselves rebuilding their lives in unfamiliar towns and cities. Many turn to informal work—selling food in local markets, working as domestic helpers, riding moto-taxis, and running small tailoring shops. While these activities sustain families, they leave workers vulnerable to harassment, exploitation, and legal uncertainty.

For a woman who fled conflict in the North West and now sells vegetables in Yaoundé, the threat means daily fines from council agents for lacking a stall license. For a moto-taxi rider in Buea, it would be arbitrary arrests and bribes. For a displaced domestic worker in Douala, it would be months of unpaid wages with no contract to prove employment. These are not isolated problems—they are systemic.

The WIHD Law Program is designed to tackle these realities head-on. By providing pro bono legal aid, training, and grassroots advocacy, these programs help displaced workers understand their rights, access justice, and push for reforms that make informal work safer and fairer.

The starting point is awareness. Many displaced workers simply do not know what protections exist under Cameroonian law. WIHD organizes “Know Your Rights” workshops in accessible spaces—markets, community halls, and IDP camps—where lawyers and trained paralegals explain:

• How to report workplace abuse or wage theft.
• What to do if local authorities confiscate goods or impose illegal fines.
• How to apply for identity documents needed to access formal services.

These sessions are often conducted in Pidgin English, French, and local dialects, to ensure that language does not become a barrier to justice.

Connecting Communities to Pro Bono Legal Services

Through partnerships with lawyers from the Cameroon Bar Association and university law faculties in Yaoundé and Buea, WIHD links displaced persons to volunteer lawyers who provide free representation.

Examples of work done inclue:

• Domestic workers in Douala filing claims for unpaid wages.
• Market vendors in Yaoundé challenging repeated confiscations of their goods by municipal agents.
• Displaced youth in Buea obtaining birth certificates and national IDs to secure apprenticeships or vocational training.

By working with local law firms and NGOs, WIHD ensures displaced workers don’t face legal struggles alone.

But beyond individual cases, the program builds community capacity by training displaced persons themselves to become community representative. These representatives act as the first point of contact in markets and neighborhoods, helping others draft complaints, prepare documents, and access legal support.

For example, in a Buea, neighborhood, a trained representative —herself a displaced mother of three—now helps other women vendors resolve disputes with local authorities without paying bribes.

Advocating for Systemic Change

Individual victories must lead to policy reform. WIHD works with municipal councils and labor authorities to highlight common abuses faced by displaced workers.

Recent advocacy priorities include:

• Calling for reduced licensing fees for displaced street vendors in Yaoundé.
• Engaging in dialogues with councils in members to stop arbitrary market evictions.
• Pushing for inclusion of displaced workers in national labor protection frameworks through consultations.

Legal empowerment in Cameroon is not about charity—it is about justice and dignity. When a displaced seamstress in Yaoundé secures her business license, or when a domestic worker in Douala wins a wage recovery case, it sends a clear message: displaced workers are not invisible, and their rights matter.

Through pro bono legal services, grassroots training, and sustained advocacy, WIHD works to build a movement where displaced workers can stand tall, defend their rights, and influence the policies that will shape the futures.

And this is how community-driven justice becomes a tool for resilience and social change in Cameroon.