A/HRC/22/50/Add.2 19. If appropriate measures are not taken to protect their rights, development projects such as forest exploitation and large-scale plantations will further marginalize the Pygmies, instead of improving their situation. Therefore, particularly when it comes to regulating protection for users of the land, account must be taken of the fact that Pygmies have a nomadic existence and do not practise agriculture. Thus, they cannot prove that they rely on a given zone. As for the distribution of forest royalties, it must be borne in mind that the sedentary Bantu communities do not represent the interests of all the local communities that may be affected by exploitation activities. The interests of the Pygmies deserve and require specific representation. Refugees 20. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are currently some 110,000 refugees in Cameroon, primarily from the Central African Republic (approximately 85,000). Levels of malnutrition and food insecurity are particularly high among this refugee population. According to a recent study, 55 per cent of Central African households in Cameroon are food insecure.13 III. Legal framework 21. The preamble of the Constitution of Cameroon, which was adopted in 1996 and amended most recently in 2008, refers to the right to development and to a commitment to harnessing the country’s natural resources so as to ensure the well-being of all citizens without discrimination. The text affirms the right of all persons to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, in terms similar to those used in article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 25). The Constitution also states that international treaties that have entered into force for Cameroon take precedence over domestic laws (art. 45). 22. In principle, these provisions should help the Cameroonian courts to safeguard the right to food, as they can draw, inter alia, on the interpretation of the Covenant by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and on the interpretation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. With the exception of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, however, the Cameroonian courts do not invoke the international human rights treaties ratified by the Republic of Cameroon. Progress could be made on this front, if better information were provided to members of the judiciary about these possibilities and about the continuing education programmes available to them at the National School of the Judiciary. 23. The Special Rapporteur recalls that if the right to food is to be realized, the rights which allow people to invoke it, such as freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly and the right of access to an independent and impartial justice system, must also be guaranteed. He is concerned by reports about a number of incidents in which attempts were allegedly made to dissuade defenders of the right to food from carrying out their work and from applying to the courts to order protection measures. This is a particular issue in cases where complainants file suits against decisions to cede land under conditions that threaten 13 GE.12-18864 Republic of Cameroon, UNHCR, WFP, Évaluation approfondie du programme d’assistance aux réfugiés tchadiens de Langui (Nord) et centrafricains dans les régions de l’est et de l’Adamaoua du Cameroun (In-depth evaluation of the assistance programme for Chadian refugees in Langui (North) and Central African refugees in the eastern and Adamaoua regions of Cameroon), Final report, May 2012, p. 5. 7