- Updated August 19, 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 $810,000 in Section 1206/333 assistance in FY2025.1These calculations are based upon publicly available data. See the ‘Methodology’ page for an in-depth review of the Tracker’s methodology and sources.
Total Waived and Prohibited
Since the CSPA took effect.
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 2017.2Government 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 2021.3Government 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.4Government 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.5Government 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.6Office 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. The 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report found no new reports of recruitment or use by the armed forces since the Cameroon Human Rights Commission (CHRC) “carried out an investigation and sent letters in February 2024 to the Minister Delegate in charge of Defense and the Delegate General for National Security asking them to take the necessary measures to put an end to these practices.”7Government of the United States, U.S. Department of State. “Cameroon,” in Trafficking in Persons Report 2025, https://www.state.gov/reports/2025-trafficking-in-persons-report/cameroon/. The 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report covers government efforts undertaken from April 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025, 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.”8Government 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/). Besides noting the efforts undertaken by the Cameroonian government to prevent child soldiers, Cameroon’s 2024 waiver justification stated that the country is “a valued and critical partner in counterterrorism, anti-trafficking, and regional security,” and that the waived programs allow “the United States to invest in Cameroonian military personnel”, foster “relationships between current and future leaders within the Cameroon military and the United States military”, “increase Cameroon’s capabilities to respond to terrorist threats in the region”, and “allow for U.S. government assistance to build the Cameroonian military’s capacity to conduct effective, sustained counterterrorism operations against Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa and help reinforce U.S. values, including those related to preventing and ending the unlawful recruitment or use of child soldiers.”9Government of the United States, U.S. Department of State. “Annual Report to Congress on the Use of Child Soldiers under Section 405(c) of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008,” in Trafficking in Persons Report 2025, https://www.state.gov/reports/2025-trafficking-in-persons-report/.
For more information, see the U.S. State Department’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report and 2024 Country Report on Human Rights Practices. Further information on the situation in Cameroon can also be found in the UN Secretary-General’s 2025 Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict.
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.
