ALICE Nkom

Cameroon

Alice Nkom is a lawyer and human rights defender from Cameroon, and she was awarded the central Africa Shield Award 2015 for her work as an advocate for the rights of sexual and gender minorities in Cameroon.

Alice was the first woman to become part of the Bar Association in Cameroon in 1969, and in 2003 she founded the first organisation in the country for the promotion and protection of the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and other sexual and gender minorities (LGBT+) people. She has worked against the imprisonment of LGBT+ people, and has led legal action on major cases in the country to to challenge anti-gay laws.

Alice was victim of several threats as a consequence of her activism, including shaming campaigns by fellow lawyers, threats of arrest by authorities, and even death threats. This, however, has not discouraged her to fight for LGBT+ rights in Cameroon.