Cameroon

Cameroon faces a complex humanitarian crisis driven by multiple overlapping factors:

• persistent attacks by non-state armed groups in the Lake Chad Basin
• conflict in the North-West and South-West regions
• the presence of over 288,000 Central African Republic (CAR) refugees in the East, Adamawa and North
• intercommunal clashes over scarce natural resources in the Far North.

These factors have triggered both internal displacement and refugee outflows to Chad.

By 30 June 2025, the number of displaced people in Cameroon had reached 2.1 million, including 969,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), 699,500 IDP returnees, and 431,000 refugees and asylum-seekers. Despite ongoing displacement, UNHCR has supported the voluntary return of over 18,600 CAR refugees since 2019, including 3,500 during the first quarter 2025.

In the face of insecurity and worsening climate shocks, UNHCR is working with the Government and partners to address urgent needs and support sustainable solutions. Its 2022–2026 Multi-Year, Multi-Partner Strategy promotes protection, coordination, and durable solutions such as voluntary return, local integration, and support for IDPs and stateless persons – anchored in a humanitarian-development-peace nexus.

UNHCR requires $134.4 million in 2025 to meet the needs of displaced populations under its Cameroon Multi-Country Office, but a severe and ongoing funding shortfall continues to widen the gap between rising needs and available resources. Opportunities however remain to strengthen the protection environment. Notably community-based protection, government capacity-building and resilience focused programming.

The Cameroon multi-country office covers activities in Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo and Gabon. It also covers, without a presence, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe.