Cameroon President Paul Biya must stop ignoring LGBTI youth
Queer youth have a role to play in building Cameroon’s future
COMMENTARY
For several decades, President Paul Biya has placed youth and women at the heart of his inauguration speeches and New Year’s addresses. He regularly emphasizes their driving role in building the Cameroon of tomorrow, portraying them as essential actors in national development and stability.
In his inauguration speeches, Paul Biya reiterates that youth constitute the “vital force of the nation” and that women are pillars of Cameroonian society.
In his New Year’s addresses, he places particular emphasis on education, employment, and the socio-economic integration of youth, while simultaneously calling for their civic and political engagement.
These declarations reflect an avowed commitment to granting youth a privileged position within public policy.
Projects Aimed at Youth
Several initiatives have been launched to foster youth empowerment:
- The Youth Employment Support Program and other vocational training schemes.
- A Special Fund for Youth Integration, aimed at supporting entrepreneurship and innovation.
- Agricultural and digital projects designed to encourage youth participation in strategic sectors.
However, when analyzing the position of LGBTI youth, a disconnect emerges between the general rhetoric and lived reality.
LGBTI youth are rarely explicitly mentioned in public policy. They face social and institutional discrimination that limits their access to the opportunities available to youth in general. And within the framework of presidential projects, their participation remains marginalized, despite the overarching call for the inclusion of youth and women.
President Paul Biya’s policies undeniably place youth and women at the very center of his mandate. However, for this vision to be fully inclusive, it is essential that LGBTI youth be recognized as an integral part of Cameroon’s youth population.
Their civic and political participation, as well as their access to employment and training programs, must be guaranteed so that presidential rhetoric finds concrete expression in the lives of all young people, without distinction.
