Cameroon: LGBT Rights Workshop Shut Down
Government Interference Denies Freedom of Assembly, Expression
NAIROBI - April 5 - Cameroonian authorities on March 27, 2012, illegally shut down a human rights workshop in Yaoundé that was to include discussion of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and arrested one of the workshop organizers, Human Rights Watch said today. The action violated rights to freedom of assembly and expression under both Cameroonian and international law, Human Rights Watch said.
The workshop, scheduled to be held at a Yaoundé hotel, had been authorized by the local sub-prefect, an administrative official, in accordance with Cameroonian law. But the sub-prefect revoked his authorization as the event was beginning, upon realizing that the “human rights” to be discussed included the rights of sexual minorities. Police arrested Stéphane Koche, an activist working with the convening organizations, and detained him for three hours before releasing him without charge.
“Cameroonians have the right to freedom of assembly and expression, even if their viewpoints are not popular in the eyes of the authorities,” said Boris Dittrich, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Shutting down a workshop and detaining an activist is no way for Yaoundé authorities to treat people who have come together to talk about human rights.”
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2012/04/05-2/
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