Despite death threats, Alice Nkom is taking on Cameroon’s repressive law in the supreme court and says her campaign is part of a wider struggle for human rights.

Alice Nkom knows she might not be alive today were it not for international support for her battle to defend homosexuals in Cameroon. But now she wants the world to do more to breathe life into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and make it tangible for all, including gay people in Africa.

Nkom, a lawyer, has been in London to drum up support – both financially and morally – for her decade-long fight for homosexual rights in Cameroon, one of 38 African countries in which homosexuality is a criminal offence.

Under Article 347 of its penal code, Cameroon prosecutes, sentences and jails “inordinately large numbers of persons” for consensual sexual relations between persons of the same sex, according to a February report by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

The report found out that threats to people identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex activists had risen sharply since 2010.

With two cases before the supreme court, Nkom is challenging the constitutionality of the article, which punishes same-sex relations with up to five years in jail and a hefty fine.

“If we unite our efforts and our resources, we will get the supreme court to join the other supreme courts in the world to firmly condemn the use of Article 347 as a basis for legal action or verdicts,” she said.

“I need everyone because right now, I am a little isolated,” said Nkom, who founded the Association for the Defence of Homosexuals (ADEFHO) in 2003. “It’s on occasions like this that we must show we are one, united, universal in this fight.”

The cases Nkom is fighting were spotlighted by the UN in 2012, when it expressed concern over reports of people in Cameroon being harassed, intimidated, arrested and imprisoned because they were suspected of being lesbian or gay.

One involves Roger Jean-Claude Mbédé, who was convicted in 2011 of suspected homosexual conduct after he sent a text message to another man that read “I am very much in love with you.” His conviction was upheld by the court of appeal, but Nkom has appealed to the supreme court. Mbédé died last year, but the case is still pending.

The second case involves two men who were convicted in 2012 “on the basis of their appearance, which was perceived as effeminate, and the fact that they had been seen drinking Bailey’s Irish Cream”, according to the UN.

Their convictions were overturned by the court of appeal, but the government has appealed that ruling to the supreme court.

I am a little isolated, but it’s on occasions like this that we must show we are one, united, universal in this fight

Alice Nkom Despite death threats from critics who call her “the devil’s lawyer”, fierce opposition from institutions like the Catholic church, and the herculean nature of her self-assigned mission to change entrenched views, Nkom’s passion for the law remains undimmed, nearly 50 years after she became the first woman to be called to the bar in Cameroon aged 24.

With an energy that belies her seven decades, Nkom explains that Article 347 bis was not in Cameroon’s original 1965 penal code but was signed into law in 197 by the country’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, using his executive powers. This, she says, violated the principle of separation of powers.

Advertisement “Even in Europe, when we look at the countries that penalise homosexuality today, and I am thinking of Russia, we see that the problem is an absence of democracy. The two are linked,” she said.

In July 2013, a leading activist and journalist, Eric Ohena Lembembe, was found dead at his home in Yaounde. His neck and feet were broken, there were signs of torture and his death brought international condemnation.

The FIDH report said the police and the justice department used Article 347 bis. to convict people on the basis of their real or alleged homosexuality, “which is deduced from their appearance, their hair style, their attitude, the company they keep and even what they are drinking at the time of their arrest”.

As the world prepares a new global agenda to drive development policies for the next 15 years with the stated aim of “leaving no one behind”, Nkom says it is time to make human rights truly universal.

“This is a fight for human rights. Its does not pit African traditions against western traditions or the colonised against colonisers. Africa has the same universal values and belongs to humanity. It is not separate, and neither is Cameroon,” she said.

Nkom, who is calling for a global coalition to bring minority rights into the mainstream, continued: “We have to teach African heads of state to take on the responsibilities of heads of state, and that means someone who is a guarantor of the lives, happiness and security of all citizens.”

She added that support from outside was vital. “Diplomacy has a very important role to play because ... if I did not have the backing of United Nations member states ... I would possibly have been killed,” she said.

Nkom needs funds to fight on: she lives in Douala on Cameroon’s coast, but the supreme court is in the capital Yaoundé. She produces documents to educate the legal fraternity and works with the community to dispel ideas that homosexuality is a form of witchcraft or linked to evil sects.

“My number one enemy is ignorance,” she said, adding that without a push to change attitudes among the public, she fears any favourable supreme court ruling will have little real effect.

However, there are some positive signs of change. Pope Francis’ reference to gays – “who am I to judge” – helped Nkom redefine her discussions with the Catholic church in Cameroon. Some members of the judiciary occasionally send her discreet messages of support, grateful for her willingness to say what they feel they cannot.

“We must push the promotion of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in its universality, which has been proclaimed in speeches and studies for too long but which has never become a reality on the ground,” she said.

“We must firmly call at UN-level for all countries to honour the commitments they have made, or I don’t know what they are all doing at the UN.”