Denying gays of HIV care is Human Rights violation - Nkom

Cameroonian lawyer and gay activist Alice Nkom says her country will never get on top of its HIV epidemic if it continues to prevent gay citizens from accessing healthcare through repressive laws.

She told PinkNews that it was a “key issue” in Cameroon stressing that, “you violate the human rights of people if you deny them access to health, medicines and treatment”.

“When you consider the situation of gay people in Cameroon where HIV is still increasing,” Ms Nkom continued. “Even doctors are tempted to denounce people who (are gay)”.

The country’s homophobic laws “are very very dangerous for the gay community,” Ms Nkom warned.

“You end up turning people into bisexuals in the sense that, you have gay people who try to hide their orientation by trying to get a girlfriend, or trying to bear children to be accepted in their communities which is not a good thing.”

Antiretroviral treatment (ART) coverage among men who have sex with men (MSM) and female sex workers (FSW) in Cameroon is extremely low. Only 25 percent of MSM living with HIV are on treatment.

When asked why several countries in Africa had strengthened their laws against homosexuality in recent years, Ms Nkom replied, “I think we don’t do enough in terms of educating and informing people. You see, countries like mine are just coming out of dictatorship where we had only one party. We had no choice of an alternative”.

“We must try to increase the universality of human rights,” she said. “Everybody gets protections from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Charter can’t allow a leader of a country to supress human rights. “You can’t be a member of the UN and violate human rights in your country. It is not normal.”

Ms Nkom concluded, “We must use the mass media to spread love to universal values. The most important law is that which is universal.”

It should be noted that the Cameroonian lawyer Alice Nkom has faced death threats for her support for gay rights in Cameroon.

The 70-year-old lawyer became the first black woman to be called to the bar in Cameroon in 1969.

She has vowed to continue her work despite death threats and warnings from government officials that she could face imprisonment.

Same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Cameroon with custodial sentences of up to five years imprisonment.

According to Human Rights Watch, at least 28 people in Cameroon have been charged under the country’s anti-gay laws in the past four years – more than any other African nation.