Human Rights Needed for LGBT People in Africa

A recent report by Cary Alan Johnson, an RPCV (Zaire, 83-85) and current employee of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), documents the paucity of programs and research on same-sex practicing men and women in Africa. The author spent one year interviewing leaders of African organizations, African individuals, international aid officials, HIV/AIDS project managers, and health care providers in nine countries and reviewed available secondary data. He partly blames the problem on denial of the existence of same-sex behaviors and homophobia within Africa as a legacy of colonialism and on the international community’s lack of pressure to address the human rights of men who have sex with men (MSM), women who have sex with women (WSW), and all who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). The impact, says the author, is many lives lost to AIDS because such persons do not have access to HIV prevention counseling, testing, and care.

While all 54 African countries have signed the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, these international treaties have not generally translated into human rights protections for MSM, WSW, or LGBT persons. With the exception of South Africa that includes legal protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in its Constitution and now allows same-sex marriage, and Namibia’s labor code that prohibits anti-gay discrimination, laws criminalizing same-sex behavior exist in more than half of African countries, and additional countries (Botswana, Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe) criminalize sex between men. Following the movement against same-sex marriage in the United States, several African countries have also criminalized such marriages (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda) also in some cases, complicit clergy (Zimbabwe). In some countries, simply being out is considered a crime when no legal basis for criminality exists, with police using public indecency, debauchery, or vagrancy laws to detain or imprison persons. Statements by some African heads of state further enforce state-sponsored homophobia. For example, President Obasanjo of Nigeria stated in 2004 that homosexuality “is clearly un-Biblical, un-natural, and definitely un-African.” Moreover, the media sometimes have been complicit in promoting homophobia: “In September 2006, the Ugandan tabloid Red Pepper published lists of nearly 50 men and women they claimed to be homosexuals and invited readers to ‘send in names of these deviants so that we publish and shame them, rid our motherland of this deadly vice.’”

According to the author, pervasive prejudice and discrimination are the experiences of most MSM and WSW in Africa, resulting in “extortion; loss of employment, housing, and educational opportunities; reduced access to health care; verbal and physical attacks; arbitrary arrest and detention; and in the most extreme cases, both judicial or extra-judicial execution. Those who remain closeted are forced to lead lives characterized by secrecy and alienation from self and community.”

To understand the impact on the health of African MSM and WSW, the author reviewed a fairly comprehensive look at existing studies in non-Western settings that took place in 2005, finding 224 studies in Latin America, 235 in Asia, and only 8 in Africa. The author states that such paucity of research in Africa is due to denial of the prevalence of same-sex behavior in Africa and misconceptions that WSW face no significant HIV risk, unwillingness among researchers to study same-sex behaviors, resistance of review boards to approve such studies, fear of stigma attached to researchers in same-sex studies, and fear by MSM and WSW of participating in such studies. Once studies are completed, other obstacles, such as the review of findings by government officials, need to be overcome to publish them. Among the few published studies are those from Botswana, Senegal, and South Africa. The Internet has provided another venue for some studies (e.g., from Zambia) to become disseminated. The study by Wade in Senegal found an HIV prevalence rate of 21.5% among 442 MSM in five cities in 2005, compared with 0.2% among males in general and 27.1% among female sex workers. HIV prevalence among MSM in Kenya is estimated at 40% or more compared with 6.1% among all males, from unpublished data of the HIV/AIDS Vaccine Initiative. There is some evidence to suggest that MSM also engage in sex with women at high rates. Again from unpublished data, 20% of MSM in Nairobi, Kenya had engaged in vaginal sex with a woman in the last month. Project data from the International HIV/AIDS Alliance documents misunderstanding of HIV transmission, including that HIV cannot be transmitted by anal sex or by sex between men and that washing after sex can prevent HIV transmission. Sex for money or other economic commodity appears, from two data sources, to occur approximately one-quarter to one-half the time.

Programs focusing HIV prevention on MSM are currently operating in many Asian countries (including Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam) and in Latin America since the early 1990s. However, according to the author, the lack of HIV seroprevalence data has been crucial in blocking effective advocacy for such programs throughout Africa. Only Senegal and Morocco fund HIV/AIDS prevention programs for same-sex practicing persons. Estimates from UNAIDS suggest that possibly $353 million will be needed for HIV prevention among MSM in Africa for 2006-2008. Little to no funding needs have been estimated for WSW.

African human rights organizations have been reluctant to address human rights violations of LGBT persons. And, at the United Nations, 13 of 14 African members (with South Africa abstaining) of the Human Rights Commission voted against a 2003 resolution by Brazil to “pay due attention to violations of human rights on the grounds of sexual orientation” and to protect rights of all people “regardless of their sexual orientation.” Moreover, most African governments have voted against resolutions to condemn executions of LGBT persons, with Nigeria even describing death by stoning as appropriate and just for same-sex conduct. Some exceptions, however, have been human rights groups in Nigeria fighting same-sex marriage prohibition, and those in Mozambique and Botswana, where they are helping LGBT groups gain official recognition.

The formal existence and activities of African LGBT groups are greatly affected by prohibitions on freedom of association of LGBT persons that exist in some countries and on the criminalization of same-sex practices. However, the following groups in various countries are active: Arc-en-Ciel (Cote d’Ivoire); Alternatives-Cameroun (Cameroon); CEPEHRG (Ghana); Ishtar (Kenya); the Rainbow Project (Namibia); Andilegey, Adama, Yeewu-Yeete (Senegal); and Frank and Candy in Uganda. The following groups are active in South Africa: the Durban Lesbian/Gay Health and Community Center, Forum for Empowerment of Women, OUT Health and Well-being, and the Triangle Project. The Coalition of African Lesbians provides regional research, training, and technical assistance. Behind the Mask is another regional organization serving as a source of information through its website.

The author concludes with a series of recommendations for African governments, the U.S. and other governments, and private voluntary and AIDS service organizations. The full report is available for free at: http://www.iglhrc.org/site/iglhrc/content.php?type=1&id=150