The first female lawyer in Cameroon, Alice Nkom, has made it her life’s work to fight for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in a country where LGBTQ people face up to five years in prison. She hopes that France and the rest of the world will support her fight.
Nkom’s cane is the only thing that betrays the age of this great lady, whom her young clients call “Mama”. At 76, Nkom may be Cameroon’s oldest female lawyer and defender of LGBTQ rights, but she has no intentions of retiring any day soon. “I have no reason to stop, I have one last fight to wage: to get homosexuality decriminalised in my country.”
Dressed in traditional clothes with a rainbow-coloured badge, she has just completed a tour of LGBTQ associations in France. Her visit was timed to happen directly before an Africa-France summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday. She wanted LGBTQ rights to be high on the agenda.
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First woman lawyer
In 1969, Nkom was the first woman ever to be appointed to the bar in Douala, the largest city in Cameroon, at a time when the profession was mainly practiced by white men from France. Aged 24 at the time, she says she “did it for love”, inspired by a husband who believed in her.
Nkom worked as a business lawyer before devoting herself to the defence of LGBTQ people. A tireless worker, she feared that becoming a Cameroonian state prosecutor would have been too comfortable a position. “They plead for a conviction and often win. I had the crazy idea of actually defending human rights,” she explains.
In a country where homosexuality is forbidden, Nkom witnessed young homosexuals facing up to five years in prison in the correctional courts in the early 2000s. “During my hearings, I saw these poor young people being systematically sentenced for their sexuality and who…
Source : france24
