Victims of domestic abuse have little recourse for protection in Cameroon since there is no domestic violence law providing women with an order for protection against abusers.

However, several international codes and conventions are intended to give some scope of protection to the victims and certain articles of the Cameroonian Penal Code can be applied to domestic violence.

International level

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948
• The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Violence and Discrimination Against Woman adopted by the United Nations in 1979
• Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action of the World Conference on Human Rights of June 1993 (A/Conf.157/25) and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in Resolution 48/104 of 20 December 1993
• Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995)
• African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights with special emphasis on the rights of women adopted in Maputo in 2003

National level

• Ministry for the Protection of the Family and the Woman, created in 2004
• Cameroonian Penal Code
• a family code was drafted in 1997 to address issues of domestic violence but it has still not been adopted

There is no available case law in Cameroon regarding domestic violence. However, the codes and conventions mentioned in Section 1.1 and the Ministry for the Protection of the Family and the Woman ensure that "all acts of violence and discrimination against women are reported and that the police force receives support in caring for and assisting in the reintegration of women victims of violence into society and their families." The reality is that domestic violence in Cameroon is still considered a private matter and the law enforcement officers do not consider it a serious issue; therefore, victims are reluctant to report abuse. Furthermore, the Cameroonian judicial system usually applies customary rules that discriminate against women (it is considered that a man has "disciplinary rights" over his wife) and judges are usually reluctant to apply international legal instruments ratified by Cameroon.

As there is no special law regulating domestic violence, victims may file a complaint under the assault provisions of the Cameroonian Penal Code. Therefore, the criminal courts will judge this type of violence.

As previously mentioned in Section 1.3, domestic violence issues will be treated as criminal proceedings.