Hon. Minister of Justice Laurent Esso
Ministry of Justice
BP 466, Yaoundé
Cameroon
Via facsimile: +237 2 223 55 59
December 22, 2011
Your Excellency Laurent Esso,
Last year in November 2010 I was honored to meet with your predecessor, Amadou Ali, at his office while I was accompanied by representatives of two Cameroonian organizations, Alternatives Cameroun and ADEPHO. We presented to him our report “Criminalizing Identities, Rights Abuses in Cameroon Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity”.
In our report we detailed how the government uses article 347 bis of the Penal Code to deny basic rights to people perceived to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). The report describes arrests and abuse meted out by the police, abuses suffered in prison, and the government’s failure to adequately protect real and perceived gay individuals from assaults by members of Cameroonian society.
In our meeting we urged him and the Cameroonian government to address this injustice by decriminalizing same sex sexual relations between consenting adults, thereby ensuring that all Cameroonians, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, can enjoy their full range of human rights. We asked him to put into effect the recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, made public on July 29, 2010, to bring Cameroon’s law into conformity with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Since our meeting in November 2010, the situation for LGBT people in Cameroon has deteriorated. In 2011 there have been more than ten arrests of men who were charged with homosexual conduct. On November 22, 2011, three of these men were sentenced to imprisonment for five years. On November 23, 2011, two new arrests took place and these men are awaiting prosecution.
Human Rights Watch learned that the Cameroonian legislature started the parliamentary process of revising the Penal Code. This is an excellent opportunity to decriminalize same sex sexual behavior between consenting adults. We noted that the government introduced new prison sentences and fines for same-sex sexual relations with a child, which differ from the introduced prison sentence and fines for having different sex sexual relations with a child. Human Rights Watch supports that Cameroonian lawmakers criminalize non-consensual sexual relations including between adults and children; however, we do not see any justification for a different treatment in the case of acts between two persons of the same sex. When homosexual people commit a crime, they should face the same punishment as heterosexual people, no more and no less.
In this public letter we urge you and those who have the power to do so, to release, and drop charges against, all individuals currently detained under Article 347 (a) or detained solely because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity; to end arrests, detention, prosecution, and other forms of persecution and discrimination against people suspected or known to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender; repeal all legislation criminalizing consensual same sex- sexual acts between adults; withdraw proposals for new legislation that would increase the penalties for consensual same sex acts and modify proposals which treat same-sex sexual acts with children differently from different-sex sexual acts.
We look forward to receiving your response.
Yours sincerely,
Boris O. Dittrich
Advocacy Director
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program
Human Rights Watch
Yves Yomb
Executive Director
Alternatives-Cameroun
Alice Nkomb
President
L’association pour la défense de l’homosexualité (ADEFHO)
