Fongum Gorji Dinka is a Cameroonian attorney, political activist, and Fon of the

Widikum Widikum is a town and capital of the Widikum-Boffe district in Cameroon. It also serves as the Ambazonian capital of Midland State. Home to the Widikum Tribe, it is located in Momo County in northwestern Cameroon . Within the district ...

in northwestern Cameroon.

Biography

Gorji Dinka was born on June 22, 1930. He was active in the

Anglophone Crisis The Anglophone Crisis (), also known as the Ambazonia War or the Cameroonian Civil War, is an ongoing civil war in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, part of the long-standing Anglophone problem. Following the suppression of the 2 ...

and advocated for more rights for

Anglophone Cameroonian Anglophone Cameroonians are the people of various cultural backgrounds, most of who hail from the English-speaking regions of Cameroon (Northwest and Southwest Regions). These regions were formerly known as the British Southern Cameroons, being p ...

s and against the

Francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

government. He was the first president of the Cameroon Bar Association, and is also the named party of the ''Fongum Gorji Dinka v. Cameroon'' which was tried at the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...

and

United Nations Human Rights Committee The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a treaty body composed of 18 experts, established by a 1966 human rights treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee meets for three four-week sessions per y ...

. Gorji Dinka also coined the place name

Ambazonia Ambazonia, officially the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, also referred to as Amba Land, is an unrecognised breakaway state in West Africa which claims the Northwest Region and Southwest Region of Cameroon, though it currently controls almost ...

, which he first used in 1984. Along with

Bernard Fonlon Bernard Nsokika Fonlon (19 November 1924 – 27 August 1986) was a Cameroonian politician and educationist who worked on the development of bilingualism in Cameroon. Early life and education Bernard was born on 19 November 1924 at Kumbo N ...

and Carlson Anyangwe he authored 'The New Social Order' which claimed that the English-Speaking regions of Cameroons had the right to secede from Cameroon. He was arrested in May 1985 for his protests against the government and was detained until February 1986. After his release, he escaped to Nigeria. In a 2005 judgment of the

United Nations Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...

ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) Tribunal Communication 1134/2002, the United Nations Human Rights Tribunal ruled in favor of compensation for Fon Gorji-Dinka for

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

abuses to his person and for assurances of the enjoyment of his

civil and political rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorji Dinka, Fongum 1930 births Living people Widikum people Cameroonian traditional rulers Southern Cameroons Cameroonian lawyers Cameroonian activists 21st-century Cameroonian people 20th-century Cameroonian people Cameroonian expatriates in Nigeria