Criminalizing Identities: Rights Abuses in Cameroon based on Sexual Orientation

"Lesbian, gays, and bisexuals in Cameroon are considered lower than dogs," said Sébastien Mandeng of l'Association pour la défense des droits des homosexuels. "They face great injustice because of homophobia."

In Cameroon, prejudice against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people is both very personal and very public.
 

The Cameroon Penal Code punishes “sexual relations with a person of the same sex” with a prison term and a fine. The relevant article, 347 bis, became law in 1972, and until five years ago, there was little information publicly available on its enforcement.

But on May 21, 2005, police arrested 32 people at a nightclub in the first of a series of high-profile arrests and prosecutions continuing to the present. Beyond arrest, gay, lesbian, and bisexual Cameroonians are at higher risk for other problems. Police and prison officers routinely abuse detainees they suspect of same-sex sexual relationships. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people may be more vulnerable to violent attacks inside and outside the home, as they often avoid reporting a crime for fear of being arrested, in turn, for homosexuality. Lesbian women can lose custody of their children and be ostracized by their families. Those who are at risk for HIV/AIDS infection or who are HIV positive have difficulty obtaining medical and legal services. A general climate of fear means that rigid gender codes are strictly enforced and people live out their lives in secrecy.

In “Criminalizing Identities,” L’Association pour la Défense des Droits des Homosexuels, L’Association pour la Liberté, la Tolérance, l’Expression et le Respect de Personnes de Nature Indigente et Victimes D’Exclusion Sociale au Cameroun, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and Human Rights Watch document the unique brand of abuses that people suffer on the grounds of their perceived or real sexual orientation or gender identity.

The report shows that despite pleas by national organizations and recommendations from international bodies, Cameroon continues to implement a retrograde law that undermines basic human rights for a group of vulnerable and marginalized Cameroonians.

Click here to download the complete 68-page report in PDF format (2.12mb)

Comments

[Tita Mofor]

Good that people are writing about these kind of discrimination in Cameroon. Hope that more ordinary Cameroonians realise that discrimination against women, homosexuals and other minorities are just as horrible as the oppression of ordinary Cameroonians by the regime in power.

Government officials are embezzling millions that could be use to build schools,hospitals and roads; security forces and the military torture and kill innocent people and go free; and so on. These are the real problems that are causing suffering but unfortunately people turn a blind eye to these people who are responsible for the sufferings of Cameroonians and instead waste their energy by directing it against innocent women or homosexuals. Common, I'm a very religious person but I think that if two adult decides to engage in homosexuality that should be their problem and God alone will decides what todo with them not me.

[Sangoh Angoh]

Say what you can say. It is evil and Cameroonians would continue to detest acts that in the face of God, are considered evil. Living in the West, and pretending to buy into all these acts, with the intention of selling them to Cameroonians as fair, is in no way helpful.

[Oyez]

God has eyes? And you can see through them?
Please, do not hate in God's name. You do not have to like what they do, but practicing persecution is not right