Cameroon rejects UN Human Rights Council’s gay rights recommendations
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Human Rights Watch has described Cameroon's position as 'shameful'
Cameroon has rejected the United Nations Human Rights Council’s recommendation that it decriminalise homosexuality.
During its Universal Periodic Review with the Council, Cameroon rejected nearly all proposals that involved tackling homophobic discrimination, abuse and violence in the country.
The country has one of the highest prosecution rates for consensual same-sex sexual relations in the world.
Cameroon rejected the Council’s call to end its policy of arbitrary arrests for same-sex conduct, as well as Uruguay’s proposal to tackle harassment and violence based on sexual orientation, and Germany’s proposal to protect LGBT people from violence.
Human Rights Watch said that Cameroon’s reaction to the proposals was “shameful,” adding that the country had “distanced itself from a growing consensus, voiced by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the UN Human Rights Council, that discrimination and violence on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are never acceptable.
Cameroon did however accept Belgium’s recommendation to investigate police violence against people on the basis of their sexual orientation. A report by Human Rights Watch in March had found that the country’s security forces routinely torture people to make them confess to having same-sex relations.
An Amnesty International report submitted in preparation for Cameroon’s Universal Periodic Review stated: “Violence, arbitrary arrests and detention of men and women because of their real or perceived sexual orientation are commonplace in Cameroon and have been on the increase since the mid-2000s. Some have been beaten by members of the security forces or by members of the community largely motivated by homophobia.
Human Rights Watch said: “Cameroon’s anti-homosexuality law violates its own Constitution, as well as international law. Cameroon’s claim that the law targets people who have sex in public is patently false.
“In 2013, at least six people have been convicted for homosexuality; not a single one was caught having sex. One man was convicted in 2011 for sending a romantic text message.”
Under section 347 of the penal code, those found guilty of same-sex sexual acts in Cameroon face up to five years imprisonment.
In July, prominent Cameroonian gay rights and HIV campaigner Eric Ohena Lembembe was brutally murdered in his home, just days after speaking out against increasing violence against the country’s LGBT community.
One of his friends reported that his neck and feet had been broken, and that he had been burnt with an iron.
This article contains many live links within the text in the original post.
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Andre and Jeremy, All Out
Eric Lembembe
Dear Michael,
Eric Lembembe worked to help gay people in Cameroon. But he was recently murdered – his neck broken, his feet smashed and his face burned with an iron.
It’s not an isolated incident. Cameroon's gay people are living in terror as mob attacks, beatings and anti-gay arrests increase. And finally the government is starting to respond to international pressure.
They've just said they will investigate police officers accused of attacking gay people. But they are still refusing to stop the anti-gay mobs and "kill the faggots" protests. Can you help build the pressure on Cameroon's President Biya to go further and help stop the attacks?
If 100,000 of us sign the petition in the next 72 hours, we'll send it directly to the Presidential Palace:
https://www.allout.org/cameroon-attacksPresident Biya is sensitive to the growing international scandal about Cameroon's treatment of gay people. That's because he likes to spend his millions travelling to luxury resorts, meeting influential people, and making even more money from international business deals.
But it's much harder to mingle in international circles if the country you run is seen as a place where gay people are tortured, killed and imprisoned.
President Biya may hope he has now defused the situation by saying Cameroon will investigate police violence. But we can show him the risk to his reputation and lifestyle hasn't gone away.
Will you urge President Biya to help stop anti-gay attacks, end the law that makes it a crime to be gay, and free all people in jail because of who they love?
Sign here to help get to 100,000 names:
https://www.allout.org/cameroon-attacksRemember Roger from Cameroon? He was jailed for texting another man to say "I'm very much in love with you". Last year, more than 130,000 All Out members heard his plea and helped bring a global spotlight to his case, getting President Biya to break his silence and announce that "minds in the country are evolving" about this issue. Now's our chance to get him to act.
All Out members also donated more than 5,000 dollars to help lawyer Alice N'Kom defend two women threatened with prison. Whether it's attacks and arrests in Cameroon, anti-gay laws in Russia or helping people escape anti-gay death squads in Iraq, we're so powerful when we work together.
Stop the attacks and arrests in Cameroon. If we get 100,000 names in 72 hours we'll send it to the Presidential Palace, and Cameroon embassies in London, Washington DC and Paris:
https://www.allout.org/cameroon-attacksThanks for going All Out,
Andre, Guillaume, Leandro, Marie, Hayley, Joe, Kate, Sara and the rest of the All Out team.
PS: "Kill the faggots. They don’t deserve to live." – This was the message on posters and leaflets at a "Day Against Homosexuality" march, held 3 weeks ago in Cameroon. Sign the petition to President Biya now: https://www.allout.org/cameroon-attacks
Please take the time to sign this petition!!!!
