Steave Nemande: Doctor & Activist Receives 2010 Alison Des Forges Award

(November 12, 2010) - Human Rights Watch's Alison Des Forges Award celebrates the valor of individuals who put their lives on the line to protect the dignity and rights of others. Human Rights Watch collaborates with these courageous activists to create a world in which people live free of violence, discrimination, and oppression.Steave Nemande, president of the human rights organization Alternatives-Cameroun, speaks out against laws criminalizing homosexuality. In Africa, an overwhelming majority of countries still consider homosexuality an offence punishable by lengthy jail sentences and, in some cases, the death penalty. Nemande advocates at great personal risk, both in his native Cameroon and internationally, for the decriminalization of homosexuality and for the removal of barriers to accessing health care for this vulnerable community.