- Updated January 15, 2026
Years Listed
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Years Listed
Each shaded box corresponds to a year the country appeared on the CSPA list and what types of waivers it received, if any.
Cameroon appeared on the CSPA list in 2020 and 2024. The U.S president fully waived CSPA prohibitions against the provision of U.S. arms sales and military assistance to Cameroon in 2020 and partially waived CSPA prohibitions in 2024, resulting in the provision of $1.3 million in International Military Education and Training in FY2021 and FY 2025.
According to the U.S. State Department, Cameroonian government security forces allegedly recruited and used a child in 2019 to gather intelligence in the country’s Anglophone regions, where government forces and separatists have been fighting a civil war since 2017.1Government of the United States, U.S. Department of State. “Cameroon,” in Trafficking in Persons Report 2020, pp. 143, https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020-TIP-Report-Complete-062420-FINAL.pdf (https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-trafficking-in-persons-report/cameroon/). Following these allegations, Cameroon appeared on the 2020 CSPA list. Cameroonian authorities did not report investigating the incident as of March 2021.2Government of the United States, U.S. Department of State. “Cameroon,” in Trafficking in Persons Report 2021, pp. 161-162, https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/TIPR-GPA-upload-07222021.pdf (https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/cameroon/). The U.S. State Department did not indicate it received any additional reports of child soldier recruitment or use by government forces between April 2020 and March 2021, and Cameroon was subsequently removed from the CSPA list.3Government of the United States, U.S. Department of State. “Cameroon,” in Trafficking in Persons Report 2021, https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/cameroon/ (https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/TIPR-GPA-upload-07222021.pdf).
In 2024, the U.S. State Department identified the recruitment and use of child soldiers, including children younger than the age of 15, in support roles by the Cameroonian Armed Forces.4Government of the United States, U.S. Department of State. “Cameroon,” in Trafficking in Persons Report 2024, https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report/cameroon/. Certain community neighborhood watch groups, known as vigilance committees, may have also used and recruit children in operations against Boko Haram and other non-state armed groups. Over the course of the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report period (1 April 2023 through 31 March 2024), the government of Cameroon, in partnership with the UN, made some progress on a handover protocol for the transfer of child soldiers to protection actors and trained security forces on child soldier-related issues and reporting procedures.5Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. “Action Plans,” https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/tools-for-action/action-plans/.; Government of the United States, U.S. Department of State. “Cameroon,” in Trafficking in Persons Report 2024, https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report/cameroon/.; The 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report covers government efforts undertaken from April 1, 2023 through March 31, 2024, to the extent concurrent reporting data is available.
Since 2021, U.S. presidents have been required to include justifications for CSPA waivers that were issued during the previous year in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report. Cameroon’s 2020 waiver justification maintained that “[t]he U.S. government’s current military assistance goals with Cameroon are to increase: 1) military professionalization, 2) maritime security capabilities, and 3) counterterrorism capabilities. The limited U.S. military assistance to Cameroon plays a role in its ability to support regional stability and security, including in the strategically important Gulf of Guinea, and to address the threat in the Lake Chad region from Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa.”6Government of the United States, U.S. Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report 2021, pp. 629, https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/TIPR-GPA-upload-07222021.pdf (https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/cameroon/).
For more information, see the U.S. State Department’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report and 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. More information on the situation in Cameroon can also be found in the UN Secretary-General’s 2024 annual report on Children and Armed Conflict.
Total Waived and Prohibited
Since the CSPA took effect.
Explore the Data
Country- and program-level data on the number and type of national interest waivers granted, as well as the amount of arms sales and military assistance waived.
