Alice Nkom (born January 14, 1945) is a

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

ian

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

, well known for her advocacy towards decriminalization of

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

in Cameroon. She studied law in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

and has been a lawyer in

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Ai ...

since 1969. At the age of 24, she was the first black French-speaking woman called to the bar in

. Her work involved the defence in a variety of situations, including young victims of police violence, but she became best known for her defence of people accused of homosexuality (criminalized in Cameroon). In 2003 she founded ADEFHO: the Association for the Defence of Homosexuality. For her achievements in the fight against an "anti-gay crackdown", she was listed number two in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'''s "The Eight Most Fascinating Africans of 2012" ranking. Nkom's most famous case was in 2005 when she defended a group of men who were arrested during a raid of a gay bar in the Cameroon capital city. The men were in prison for a year however in 2006 the UN's working group on Arbitrary Detention reviewed the case and criticized

for arresting the men because of their sexuality. As well the UN labeled the anti-sexuality offenses in Cameroon's Penal Code as a violation of the international human rights laws. In January 2011, she was threatened with arrest by a representative of Cameroon's Ministry of Communication after ADEFHO was awarded a €300,000 grant by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. Later that year, she represented Jean-Claude Roger Mbede, a man imprisoned for three years for "homosexuality and attempted homosexuality" following a series of SMS messages to a male acquaintance, and who was named a prisoner of conscience by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

. In 2006 and 2013, she was a keynote speaker at the Human Rights conferences that took place in conjunction with the OutGames, in

Montréal, Canada Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

and

Antwerp, Belgium Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, respectively.BIO Speakers at the Human Rights Conference in Antwerp, 2013 In March 2014, Alice Nkom was awarded with the "7. Menschenrechtspreis" (7th Human Rights Award) by the German section of Amnesty International.

References

External links

Q&A with IPA AfricaProfile in ''The Advocate''
1940s births Living people Cameroonian lawyers Cameroonian LGBT rights activists Women lawyers {{Cameroon-bio-stub

See also

References

External links