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UN Body
Condemns Cameroon
Imprisonment Of Gay Men
by
365Gay.com from the Web, October 12, 2006
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New York City, Oct.11 --
International pressure is mounting on the government of Cameroon to release
nearly a dozen men sentenced to prison earlier this year on charges of being
gay.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on Wednesday declared
that the detentions on the basis of their presumed sexual orientation
constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of liberty contrary to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The UN human rights body further called on the government of Cameroon to adopt
necessary measures to remedy the situation, including the possible repeal of the
offending law.
The men were detained for more than one year on anti-homosexuality offenses
rising from Cameroon’s Penal Code.
Eleven men wee arrested during a June 2005 raid on a gay bar. This year
two of the men were later convicted and two others released. In June the
remaining seven were sentenced to prison for ten months.
While in prison, the detainees faced harsh conditions and homophobic attacks
from fellow prisoners. At their trial in June 2006, nine of the men were
found guilty of “sodomy” and sentenced to ten-month jail terms. One of the
men, Alim Mongoche, died of AIDS-related complications shortly after his
conviction, exacerbated by the harsh conditions of detention.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention took up the issue following a
complaint brought by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)
and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) on behalf of the men.
“I hope this decision will bring justice for gay people and will prevent cases
like that of Alim, who died needlessly,” said Marc Lambert, one of the 11 former
detainees.
“The opinion reinforces the fact that laws which criminalize and discriminate
based on sexual orientation are contrary to international human rights law,”
said Philip Dayle, Legal Officer at the ICJ.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has declared that sodomy laws are
inconsistent with countries’ obligations to protect the right of
non-discrimination under the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights.
At its 39th Session in Banjul, Gambia in March 2006, the African Commission on
Human and Peoples’ Rights also questioned the Cameroonian government about its
continued detention of the men.
Wednesday's decision by the Working Group marks one of only two occasions that
this particular UN human rights body has publicly issued an opinion impugning
detentions based on anti-homosexuality laws.
It is being hailed by IGLHRC, ICJ, and Alternatives-Cameroun — three groups that
have worked internationally and locally on behalf of the men since their arrest
in May 2005 — as a major human rights victory for same-gender loving people in
Africa.
“Perhaps the Working Group’s decision will help stop other people from being
arrested and possibly dying simply because of their sexual orientation,” stated
Joel Gustave Nana, Human Rights Researcher for Alternatives-Cameroun.
On June 7, 2006, four women were also convicted of sodomy and sentenced to 3
years probation and threatened with 6 months imprisonment “if they continue
their lesbianism.”
At least four other men are still being detained in Kondengui Central Prison
because of their homosexuality, some without formal charge or trial.
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