Cameroon

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class="limiter clear-block"> <div id="section-title"> <a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/africa/cameroon" title="Cameroon" class="active">Cameroon</a> </div> <div class="subnav"><ul class="links"> <li class="first"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/by-issue/news-filter/89">News Releases</a></li> <li class=""><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/by-issue/publications/89">Reports</a></li> <li class=""><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/by-issue/commentaries/89">Commentaries</a></li> <li class=""><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/by-issue/letters/89">Letters</a></li> <li class=""><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/by-issue/multimedia/89">Multimedia</a></li> <li class=""><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/by-issue/experts/89">Experts</a></li> <li class="last"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/rss/taxonomy/89">RSS</a></li> </ul></div> </div> </div> <div id="page"> <div class="limiter 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At least 28 people have been prosecuted for same-sex conduct in Cameroon since 2010. Most cases are marked by grave human rights violations, including torture, forced confessions, denial of access to legal counsel, and discriminatory treatment by law enforcement and judicial officials.</div> </div> </li> <li class="views-row views-row-2 views-row-even views-row-last"> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/02/12/cameroon-stop-turning-blind-eye-death-threats">Cameroon: Stop Turning Blind Eye to Death Threats</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-created"> <span class="field-content">Feb 13, 2013</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-news-teaser-value"> <div class="field-content">The government of Cameroon should immediately take action against a series of death threats made over the last four months to two lawyers who represent clients accused of homosexual conduct, Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter to President Paul Biya. Alice Nkom and Michel Togué, Cameroonian human rights lawyers, began receiving death threats in October 2012, in the form of emails and text messages, assailing the lawyers for their work defending clients charged with homosexuality. Consensual same-sex conduct is criminalized under the Cameroonian penal code’s article 347 bis, and at least 28 people have been prosecuted under the law since 2010. Nkom and Togué are among the only lawyers courageous enough to take up these cases in a country where homophobia is pervasive.</div> </div> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="more-link"> <a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news-filter/89">More news »</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="panel-region-separator"></div><div class="panel-pane pane-views-panes pane-taxonomy-landing-page-panel-pane-2 pane-taxonomy-reports"> <h2 class="pane-title">Reports</h2> <div class="pane-content"> <div class="view view-taxonomy-landing-page view-id-taxonomy_landing_page view-display-id-panel_pane_2 view-taxonomy-reports view-dom-id-3"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="item-list"> <ul> <li class="views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first"> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/reports/2013/03/21/guilty-association">Guilty by Association</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-reportsynopsis-subtitle-value"> <span class="field-content">Human Rights Violations in the Enforcement of Cameroon’s Anti-Homosexuality Law</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-reportsynopsis-cover-fid"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/reports/2013/03/21/guilty-association" class="imagecache imagecache-scale-crop-200w-133h imagecache-linked imagecache-scale-crop-200w-133h_linked"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130512231021im_/http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale-crop-200w-133h/media/images/report-covers/cameroon0313_reportcover_0.jpg" class="imagecache imagecache-scale-crop-200w-133h"/></a></span> </div> </li> <li class="views-row views-row-2 views-row-even"> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/reports/2010/11/04/criminalizing-identities-0">Criminalizing Identities</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-reportsynopsis-subtitle-value"> <span class="field-content">Rights Abuses in Cameroon based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-reportsynopsis-cover-fid"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/reports/2010/11/04/criminalizing-identities-0" class="imagecache imagecache-scale-crop-200w-133h imagecache-linked imagecache-scale-crop-200w-133h_linked"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130512231021im_/http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale-crop-200w-133h/media/images/report-covers/cameroon1010_reportcover.jpg" class="imagecache imagecache-scale-crop-200w-133h"/></a></span> </div> </li> <li class="views-row views-row-3 views-row-odd views-row-last"> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/12/01/policy-paralysis">Policy Paralysis</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-reportsynopsis-subtitle-value"> <span class="field-content">A Call for Action on HIV/AIDS-Related Human Rights Abuses Against Women and Girls in Africa</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-reportsynopsis-cover-fid"> <span class="field-content"></span> </div> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="view-footer"> <a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/by-issue/publications/89">More >></a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="panel-region-separator"></div><div class="panel-pane pane-views-panes pane-taxonomy-landing-page-panel-pane-4 pane-taxonomy-news-listing"> <h2 class="pane-title">Cameroon</h2> <div class="pane-content"> <div class="view view-taxonomy-landing-page view-id-taxonomy_landing_page view-display-id-panel_pane_4 view-taxonomy-news-listings view-dom-id-4"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="item-list"> <ul> <li class="views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first"> <div class="views-field-field-imagefile-fid"> <span class="field-content"></span> </div> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/18/universal-periodic-review-joint-hrw-submission-cameroon-affirmative-action-alternati">Universal Periodic Review: Joint HRW submission on Cameroon with Affirmative Action, Alternatives Cameroun, ADEFHO, Camfaids, Evolve, Humanity First, IGLHRC</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-created"> <span class="field-content">Apr 18, 2013</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-news-teaser-value"> <div class="field-content">This submission, by Affirmative Action, Alternatives-Cameroun, the Association for the Defense of Gay and Lesbian Rights (ADEFHO), Cameroonian Foundation for AIDS (CAMFAIDS), Evolve, Human Rights Watch, Humanity First Cameroon, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), highlights shortcomings in Cameroon’s human rights record related to its treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. It is based on research conducted in Cameroon in 2009 and 2010 by ADEFHO, Alternatives-Cameroun, Human Rights Watch, and IGLHRC and published in our 2010 report Criminalizing Identities: Rights Abuses in Cameroon based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, and on follow-up investigations conducted between 2010 and 2012.</div> </div> </li> <li class="views-row views-row-2 views-row-even"> <div class="views-field-field-imagefile-fid"> <span class="field-content"></span> </div> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/09/waiting-minds-change-cameroon">Waiting for Minds to Change in Cameroon</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-created"> <span class="field-content">Apr 9, 2013</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-news-teaser-value"> <div class="field-content">“There’s no reason to despair,” Cameroonian president Paul Biya told journalists in January 2013. They had questioned him, at a Paris news conference, on Cameroon’s startling level of arrests and prosecutions for same-sex conduct – by some accounts, the highest number of “homosexuality” prosecutions in the world. “Minds are changing,” Biya reassured the journalists. He mentioned a recent case appeals court ruling overturning the conviction of two transgender people, Jonas K. and Franky D., who had been sentenced to five years in prison.</div> </div> </li> <li class="views-row views-row-3 views-row-odd"> <div class="views-field-field-imagefile-fid"> <span class="field-content"></span> </div> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/03/21/cameroon-rights-abuses-homosexuality-prosecutions">Cameroon: Rights Abuses in ‘Homosexuality’ Prosecutions</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-created"> <span class="field-content">Mar 21, 2013</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-news-teaser-value"> <div class="field-content">Cameroon prosecutes people for consensual same-sex conduct more aggressively than almost any country in the world, four human rights organizations said in a report released today. At least 28 people have been prosecuted for same-sex conduct in Cameroon since 2010. Most cases are marked by grave human rights violations, including torture, forced confessions, denial of access to legal counsel, and discriminatory treatment by law enforcement and judicial officials.</div> </div> </li> <li class="views-row views-row-4 views-row-even"> <div class="views-field-field-imagefile-fid"> <span class="field-content"></span> </div> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/02/28/cameroon-three-years-prison-love-impunity-hate">Cameroon: Three Years in Prison for Love... Impunity for Hate</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-created"> <span class="field-content">Feb 28, 2013</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-news-teaser-value"> <div class="field-content">"This will be bloody." So reads a text message received by a Cameroonian lawyer in October 2012. "Tell your accomplice that nowhere in this country will [his children] have peace." Over the last four months, two Cameroonian lawyers have received a series of death threats by email and SMS. The messages have become increasingly vitriolic, with threats to kill the lawyers, their children, and their clients.</div> </div> </li> <li class="views-row views-row-5 views-row-odd"> <div class="views-field-field-imagefile-fid"> <span class="field-content"></span> </div> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/02/13/letter-paul-biya-president-republic-cameroon">Letter to Paul Biya, president of the Republic of Cameroon</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-created"> <span class="field-content">Feb 13, 2013</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-news-teaser-value"> <div class="field-content">We are writing to call your attention to a series of death threats received in the last four months by Alice Nkom and Michel Togué, two Cameroonian human rights lawyers who defend clients charged with homosexuality under Cameroon’s article 347 bis. We are deeply concerned by the apparent lack of state action in response to these serious threats.</div> </div> </li> <li class="views-row views-row-6 views-row-even"> <div class="views-field-field-imagefile-fid"> <span class="field-content"></span> </div> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/02/12/cameroon-stop-turning-blind-eye-death-threats">Cameroon: Stop Turning Blind Eye to Death Threats</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-created"> <span class="field-content">Feb 13, 2013</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-news-teaser-value"> <div class="field-content">The government of Cameroon should immediately take action against a series of death threats made over the last four months to two lawyers who represent clients accused of homosexual conduct, Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter to President Paul Biya. Alice Nkom and Michel Togué, Cameroonian human rights lawyers, began receiving death threats in October 2012, in the form of emails and text messages, assailing the lawyers for their work defending clients charged with homosexuality. Consensual same-sex conduct is criminalized under the Cameroonian penal code’s article 347 bis, and at least 28 people have been prosecuted under the law since 2010. Nkom and Togué are among the only lawyers courageous enough to take up these cases in a country where homophobia is pervasive.</div> </div> </li> <li class="views-row views-row-7 views-row-odd"> <div class="views-field-field-imagefile-fid"> <span class="field-content"></span> </div> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/12/18/cameroon-court-upholds-unjust-homosexuality-conviction">Cameroon: Court Upholds Unjust ‘Homosexuality’ Conviction</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-created"> <span class="field-content">Dec 18, 2012</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-news-teaser-value"> <div class="field-content">A Cameroonian appeals court decision on December 17, 2012, upholding a criminal conviction for homosexuality demonstrates that basic human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are under assault in Cameroon. The court upheld the conviction and three-year prison sentence for Roger Jean-Claude Mbede, a university student charged with homosexuality, and ordered his arrest.</div> </div> </li> <li class="views-row views-row-8 views-row-even"> <div class="views-field-field-imagefile-fid"> <span class="field-content"></span> </div> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/10/24/cameroon-investigate-threats-against-rights-lawyers">Cameroon: Investigate Threats Against Rights Lawyers</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-created"> <span class="field-content">Oct 24, 2012</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-news-teaser-value"> <div class="field-content">Authorities in Cameroon should promptly investigate threats against two prominent lawyers who are representing clients accused of homosexuality. The government should publicly denounce the threats against the defense lawyers and ensure that they receive necessary protection.</div> </div> </li> <li class="views-row views-row-9 views-row-odd"> <div class="views-field-field-imagefile-fid"> <span class="field-content"></span> </div> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/04/05/cameroon-lgbt-rights-workshop-shut-down">Cameroon: LGBT Rights Workshop Shut Down</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-created"> <span class="field-content">Apr 5, 2012</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-news-teaser-value"> <div class="field-content">Cameroonian authorities on March 27, 2012, illegally shut down a human rights workshop in Yaoundé that was to include discussion of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and arrested one of the workshop organizers. The action violated rights to freedom of assembly and expression under both Cameroonian and international law.</div> </div> </li> <li class="views-row views-row-10 views-row-even views-row-last"> <div class="views-field-field-imagefile-fid"> <span class="field-content"></span> </div> <div class="views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/22/cameroon-letter-minister-justice-regarding-article-354">Cameroon: Letter to the Minister of Justice Regarding Article 354</a></span> </div> <div class="views-field-created"> <span class="field-content">Dec 22, 2011</span> </div> <div class="views-field-field-news-teaser-value"> <div class="field-content"></div> </div> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="more-link"> <a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news-all/89">more documents on this topic »</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="footer"> <div class="limiter clear-block"> <div class="clear-block"><a href="#header" class="back-to-top">Back to top</a></div> <div class="nav"> <a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/rss" class="rss-link">RSS</a> <div class="pipe-links"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/home">Home</a> <span class="pipe">|</span> <a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/our-work">Our Work</a> <span class="pipe">|</span> <a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/news">News</a> <span class="pipe">|</span> <a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/publications">Publications</a> <span class="pipe">|</span> <a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/multimedia">Multimedia</a> <span class="pipe">|</span> <a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/about">About Us</a> <span class="pipe">|</span> <a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/contact-us">Contact Us</a> <span class="pipe">|</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130512231021/http://ff.hrw.org/">Film Festival</a> <span class="pipe">|</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130512231021/https://secure.hrw.org/site/c.nlIWIgN2JwE/b.8585041/k.3E50/Donate_to_Defend_Human_RIghts/apps/ka/sd/donorcustom.asp?msource=n">Donate</a></div> </div> <div class="footer-blocks clear-block"> <div id="block-views-hrw_footer-block_1" class="clear-block block block-views"> <div class="bcontent"><div class="view view-hrw-footer view-id-hrw_footer view-display-id-block_1 view-dom-id-6"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first views-row-last"> <div class="views-field-body"> <div class="field-content">Human Rights Watch<br/> 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor<br/> New York, NY 10118-3299<br/> USA<br/> Tel: 1-(212) 290-4700<br/> <br/> <strong><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/en/contact-us">Contact Us - Global Offices</a></strong><br/> <strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130512231021/http://ff.hrw.org/">Film Festival</a></strong><br/> <strong><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/en/about/jobs">Employment</a></strong></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="block-tic-5" class="clear-block block block-tic"> <div class="bcontent"><div class="col-left clear-block"><strong class="vocab-header"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/regions">Browse by Region</a></strong><div class="item-list"><ul><li class="first first"><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/africa">Africa</a></li> <li class=""><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/americas">Americas</a></li> <li class=""><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/asia">Asia</a></li> <li class=""><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/europe/central-asia">Europe/Central Asia</a></li> <li class=""><a href="/web/20130512231021/http://www.hrw.org/middle-east/n-africa">Middle East/N. 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