The Human Rights Committee (HRC) found that the Cameroonian Government had violated, among other rights, the right to freedom of expression of Albert Mukong, a writer, journalist and opponent of the one-party system in Cameroon. The HRC found that the state's need to safeguard national unity could not justify Mukong's arrest, detention and subjection to inhumane and degrading treatment, and that protecting and strengthening national unity cannot be achieved by muzzling advocacy for multi-party democracy and human rights.