Cameroon

LGBTIQ people’s enjoyment of human rights in Cameroon is extremely limited. Article 347-1 of the penal code punishes same-sex relations with up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine. Police actively enforce the law. In recent years, there have been several documented cases of law enforcement officials and security forces verbally assaulting and torturing people detained for same-sex relations or gender nonconformity.

In September 2024, police raided the organization Alternatives Cameroun and arrested 13 people. Four of them were reportedly subjected to forced anal examinations, a form of torture. One was sentenced to five years in prison for same-sex relations with a 17-year-old. Under the penal code, adults who engage in consensual sexual relations with minors between 16 and 21 years of a different sex face no criminal penalties.

Also in 2024, the president of the anti-rights group Mouvement Debout contre la Dépénalisation de l’’Homosexualité dans notre Pays (Movement Standing up Against the Decriminalization of Homosexuality in Our Country) filed a criminal complaint against Brenda Biya, the daughter of Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, at the Yaoundé Administrative Center Court of First Instance. The complaint accused her of “promoting and practicing homosexuality” after she announced on social media that she was in a relationship with another woman. A new opposition political party also took up the call for her arrest.

Following the October 2025 elections in Cameroon, in which Biya was elected to his eighth consecutive term as president, there were reports of arbitrary arrests targeting transgender individuals and human rights defenders on charges such as “disturbing public order,” “suspicious behaviour,” or failure to conform to prescribed dress codes.

Civil society efforts to defend LGBTIQ people’s rights are severely constrained, and LGBTIQ organizations cannot formally register. LGBTIQ people have also been subjected to arrests and extortion, and lawyers who provide legal services to people of queer experience have faced direct threats. Violence is prevalent, and two men accused of homosexual conduct were reportedly killed by a lynch mob in 2024. The combination of punitive laws, societal stigma, and periodic outbreaks of violence means that sexual and gender minorities in Cameroon continue to face profound legal and social exclusion.