The indigeneity of new arrivals in North Cameroon: The ILO's objective and subjective criteria/El carácter autóctono de los recién llegados al norte de Camerún a través de los criterios objetivos y subjetivos de la OIT/L'autochtonie des primo-arrivants du Nord-Cameroun à travers le prisme des critères objectifs et subjectifs de l'OIT

Indigenous peoples in Africa face many challenges ranging from marginalization and non-recognition by governments and other ethnic groups to poverty and illiteracy. Since 1992, some of Africa's Indigenous Peoples have entered the international arena to fight for their recognition, lands, languages, and cultures. In Cameroon, where the state considers only the Baka, Bakola and Bagieli hunter-gatherers and the Mbororo nomads as "Indigenous Peoples", the road is still long. It is especially long for ethnic groups that have experienced, in turn, the Islamo-speaking conquests, the German and French colonization, and marginalization in the post-colonial state. This study examines the indigeneity of newcomers to North Cameroon in light of the conditions for recognition of Indigenous identity established by ILO Convention 169. Our analysis of the historical and contemporary realities of the peoples of North Cameroon reveals that the ILO's objective and subjective criteria of indigeneity are observed in many of them. Therefore, it is high time that the State of Cameroon and the international community broaden their spectrum of recognition of Indigenous Peoples to include newcomers who endogenously express this wish. Moreover, because of the heated controversy surrounding the debates on the recognition of indigeneity, self-identification is the least contradictory option.