Cameroon says French ambassador for LGBT rights isn't welcome

Cameroon's government is seeking to block France's LGBT+ rights ambassador from travelling to the country, saying the visit would breach its anti-gay laws.

A victim of anti-LGBT violence in Douala, Cameroon, on August 29, 2018. © Reuters

Jean-Marc Berthon, who represents the French government on the rights of LGBT+ people worldwide, is scheduled to visit Cameroon from 27 June to 1 July for an event hosted by the French Institute in the capital, Yaounde.

He is due to chair a conference on gender and sexual identity.

But the Cameroonian authorities say that the topics proposed for discussion would breach the country's anti-homosexuality legislation.

Cameroon's government sent a diplomatic notice to the French ambassador in Cameroon to signal its opposition to Berthon's visit. 

The notice, sent on Monday and seen by the press on Wednesday, informed the French embassy that the government is opposed to all of Berthon's planned activities, including the conference.

Cameroon's foreign minister, Lejeune Mbella Mbella, said that homosexuality “qualified as a crime of common law” in Cameroon.

The French embassy has not commented publicly on the matter.

Rising homophobia

A senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since the 1990s, Jean-Marc Berthon was appointed France's first ever LGBT+ rights ambassador in October 2022.

#LGBT+| France expresses its deepest concern about the anti-homosexuality act passed in #Uganda. It calls on the Ugandan authorities to renounce this law and expresses its support for all #LGBT+ persons.

➡️ https://t.co/oVe1TtW2LW pic.twitter.com/B2cU2we50T https://t.co/Z6kXTnMvZk

— Jean-Marc Berthon (@BerthonJeanMarc) May 30, 2023

Only 22 out of 54 African countries allow homosexuality. In Cameroon, same-sex relations can lead to prison terms of up to five years.

According to Human Rights Watch, abuse directed at the country's LGBT+ community is on the rise in the country, including violent attacks and arbitrary arrests.

Cameroon's National Communication Council also recently warned the media against promoting homosexual content.

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Berthon's planned trip to Cameroon comes weeks after Uganda enacted one of the world's strictest anti-LGBTQ bills, which allows judges to impose long prison sentences and even the death penalty for same-sex activity.

Meanwhile, Cameroon's president, Paul Biya, is expected in France on Thursday for French President Emmanuel Macron's Summit for a New Global Financing Pact. He hasn't visited since 2019. 

(with Reuters)