The lawyer is risking everything to defend LGBT rights

Despite being publicly humiliated, bullied and humiliated, veteran Cameroonian lawyer Alice Nkom is determined to uphold the rights of gay people. In his country.

RedHack, a human rights NGO she runs, was recently suspended by the government and is scheduled to appear before investigators to answer charges of money laundering and funding terrorist groups – which she denies. Is.

The 80-year-old woman says authorities are hindering her work and believes she is being targeted because of her legal advocacy with the LGBT community.

“I will always defend homosexuals because they risk their freedom every day and are jailed like dogs,” she tells the BBC in a stern tone in her office in the city of Douala.

“My job is to defend people. I don’t understand why I would say I’m defending everybody except gays.”

Dressed in a black gown, Ms Nkom delivers her clear message in a measured voice that reflects years of thoughtful legal reasoning.

According to the country’s penal code, both men and women found guilty of gay sex can be jailed for up to five years and have to pay a fine. Members of the LGBT community also face ostracization by their families and wider society.

As a result, Ms. Nkom has been seen as a surrogate parent for some in her country who have been open about their sexuality with their family.

The legal expert has children of his own, but hundreds, perhaps thousands, of others look to him as their mentor after his more than two decades of work defending those accused of homosexuality.

“She’s like our father and our mother. She’s the mother we find when our families have abandoned us,” says Sebastian, an LGBT activist who doesn’t give his real name.

Committed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrined in Cameroon’s Constitution, Ms. Nkom argues that freedom from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation should be viewed as a fundamental right that supersedes the penal code.

She says, “You should not imprison fundamental rights, you should not suppress them – you should protect them.”

It is a struggle that has left Ms Nkom in difficulties.

She says she has been physically threatened on the street several times, and explains that when she first started in this area of ​​law, she hired bodyguards to help protect her.

But her journey to becoming one of Cameroon’s most outspoken legal figures began long before that.

In 1969, at the age of 24, after studying in both France – the former colonial power – and Cameroon, she became the country’s first black female lawyer.

She says she was encouraged to continue her studies by her then-boyfriend, who later became her husband.

Her first legal work involved representing the less affluent and disadvantaged, but a chance encounter in 2003 led her to join the fight to decriminalize homosexuality.

She was in the public prosecutor’s office in Douala when she saw a group of young men, handcuffed in pairs, who did not have the courage to look up.

She says, “When I checked the court, I realized he was being prosecuted for homosexuality.”

This hurt his sense of human rights and he was clear that sexual minorities should be included among those whose rights are protected by the Constitution.

“I decided to fight to ensure that this fundamental right to freedom is respected,” says Ms Nkom.

He founded the Association for the Defense of Homosexuality (Adefo) in 2003.

Since then she has been involved in dozens of cases. One of the most high-profile in recent years was the rescue of transgender celebrity Shakiro and a friend, Patricia, in 2021.

Both were arrested while eating at a restaurant and then charged with “attempted homosexuality”.

He was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for violating the penal code and outraging public decency.

Ms Nkom was quoted as saying at the time, “This is a big blow. This is the maximum period mentioned in the law. The message is clear: there is no place for homosexuals in Cameroon.”

Shakiro, along with Patricia, were later released pending appeal and have since fled the country.

The situation of LGBT people has not improved since then. LGBT activist Sebastian, who runs a charity to support families with gay children, thinks things have gotten worse recently.

Last year, a song based on the popular Mbole rhythm was released with titles and lyrics that encouraged people to target and kill homosexuals. It is still widely shared, and is played regularly at the trendiest venues in the country’s major cities.

“People attack us because of this song, which glorifies crime,” says Sebastian.

LGBT people have to hide their sexual identity but “some people lay traps to come close to us and attack us or report us to the police”, he says.

Ms Nkom says when President Paul Biya’s daughter Brenda Biya came out publicly last year to say she was gay, she thought it might help change the law.

Ms Biya – who spends most of her time outside Cameroon – has been He was quoted as saying that he hoped his openness could change things at home,

Ms Nkom sensed an opportunity. She says, “I’m using the Brenda case as an example. Now I have a case on which I can challenge the president.”

The lawyer also asked Ms Biya to do more for the cause of the LGBT community in Cameroon.

“Brenda has not yet responded to me since I made my media statement, but I know she will.”

However, she will continue her legal work for now.

She sees the latest attempt to restrict her efforts as just another hurdle – certainly not enough. She should stop the fight she has been fighting since 2003.