By Akang
Jerome
Human
rights activists in Cameron have intensified calls for the government to decriminalize
homosexuality.
The
activists are pressing the Biya government to temper the country's
notoriously harsh anti-gay laws.
This
is more so given the fact that the Cameroon government recently introduced a
bill to the National Assembly that would give formal, political backing to
section 347 of the country's penal code that criminalizes consensual sex
between adults of the same gender.
Cameroon
is one of African countries where homosexuality is illegal and where alleged
gays have been or stigmatized, persecuted and jailed.
Homosexuality is
punishable under Cameroonian law by a sentence of between six months and five
years.
A
case in point is that of Jonas Singa Kumie and Franky Djome who are
currently serving a five year prison sentence after a judge last year found
them guilty of ‘homosexual behavior’.
His
decision was based on their speech, clothes and drink preferences. They reportedly
consumed Baileys, an Irish whiskey and cream liqueur.
The
pair was arrested in July 2011 in a car outside a nightclub in Yaoundé.
Speaking
of their case, the United States ambassador to Cameroon, Robert P Jackson,
said: “Gays and lesbians] are human beings, and I refer to this issue because
it is a human rights issue. Cameroon is the only CEMAC (Economic and Monetary
Community of Central Africa) country that outlaws homosexual acts”.
But
the two’s lawyers, including Barrister Alice Nkom insisted that the court
relied on subjective assumptions that would not pass as evidence in most courts
of law.
“They
were found guilty not because of what they did, but because of how they
dressed”, Barrister Kom said.
Another
glaring case of a homosexual, who has been under persecution is that of 28
years old Felix Titakang. The young man was reportedly initiated into
homosexuality way back in secondary school by some senior students. Though he
resisted their advances, he was finally bullied into submission.
He finally became a homosexual after obtaining
his GCE Advanced Level certificate. While hawking second hand clothes, he
is said to have had a male partner.
But
one day while in a sexual encounter with his male partner in his father’s
compound, He was reportedly caught red-handed in his father’s residence with
his male-lover by a tenant. The tenant raised an alarm and a crowd gathered,
threatening to burn them alive. Felix Titakang and his partner narrowly escaped
being lynched .The former is said to have later fled the country for fear of
his life.
Human
rights group Amnesty International has severally condemned what it terms the
“systematic discrimination against perceived homosexuals in the country."
It
would be recalled that in December 2012, a Cameroonian appeals court refused to
quash a three-year sentence against one Roger Mbede, a university student, for
homosexuality. Roger was arrested after he sent a male pal a text message
saying: "I'm very much in love with you."
A
gay rights lobby, AllOut.org has been urging the Biya regime to free those
imprisoned under the country’s homophobic laws and more than 100,000 people
have signed the campaign group’s petition to overturn the conviction of Mbede and
others and suspend enforcement of Section 347a of the country’s constitution.
Another
letter to Biya, endorsed by gay-friendly Cameroon attorney Alice Nkom and
signed by 74,680 people, also seeks the repeal of Section 347a.
Meanwhile,
international gay rights campaigner, Omar Kuddus, had instigated an online
petition asking for President Paul Biya, Minister of Justice Laurent Esso, and
UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, to intervene and free jailed homosexuals in
Cameroon. The petition also demands an end to their persecution in Cameroon.
The
European Union’s delegation to Cameroon sometime ago said: “The Delegation of
the European Union to Cameroon is fully engaged in favor of the full respect of
human rights in Cameroon, among others the decriminalization of homosexuality.”
But
Cameroonian gay rights lawyer, Alice Nkom, says the anti-gay laws in Cameroon
are getting worst.
“These
laws are illegal – the declaration of human rights is part of our constitution
– but the judges still apply them. It's very difficult to prove you have had
sex. Under the procedural code you cannot be put in jail unless caught in
delecto flagrante” she says.
“But
they always put people accused of homosexuality in jail straight away. People
are targeted because they wear makeup or look effeminate. One client was given
a three-year sentence because he wrote a text message. It's a very corrupt
environment and people get paid for informing on others.”
No
one knows the true numbers of those detained for alleged homosexuality. Detainees
are sometimes tortured in police stations until they confess, Nkom maintains;
victims are beaten on the soles of their feet.
Scores
of people are imprisoned every year in Cameroon under the regulations.
Conditions inside prisons are miserable. The main jail in the capital, Yaounde,
was built for 600 but now contains 4,000 inmates.
"Unless
you buy food from the guards," Nkom says, "you starve. For those
whose are homosexual their life is made worse."
Life
for gay people in Cameroon became more difficult after 2005 when a Catholic
Archbishop made homosexuality part of his Christmas homily, blaming it for
youth unemployment. High-profile Cameroonians, he alleged, gave jobs to those
who favored same-sex activities.
