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Senegal’s anti-LGBTQ witch hunt racks up more than 100 arrests
Presidential advisor Matar Ndiaga Seck was arrested May 15 on homosexuality charges. (Photo courtesy of Seneweb)
The status of human rights in Senegal is “grave and rapidly deteriorating”, says the LGBTQ rights organization Pan Africa ILGA (PAI)
Abuses of LGBTQ citizens’ human rights have piled up since March 31, when President Bassirou Diomaye Faye signed into law an amendment to Article 319 of the Penal Code, doubling the maximum prison sentence for same-sex relations from five to ten years and introducing sentences of between three and seven years for the “promotion” or “financing” of homosexuality.
This provision is widely understood as a direct assault on Senegalese civil society and advocacy organizations working on the rights of sexual and gender minorities, PAI said.
According to reports from PAI, The African Tribune, Reuters, Le Monde , DakarActu and Seneweb:
To date, authorities in Senegal have arrested more than 100 individuals on allegations of “acts against nature”. At least 80 people are in detention on homosexuality charges. Several are prominent citizens:
Members of the LGBTQ community who remain in Senegal are living in fear. Many have fled abroad.
Dakar, the capital, has emerged as the epicenter of the repression, according to Le Monde. But arrests have been ongoing for months throughout the country.
The social and political climate, amplified by organised conservative pressure groups and a hostile media environment, has made open existence increasingly impossible for sexual and gender minorities in Senegal, PAI said.
Anti-LGBTQ legislator Diaraye Bâ promised that Senegal’s harsh new anti-gay law would leave no room for homosexuals to breathe in Senegal. (Photo courtesy of Vie-Publique Sénégal)
For homophobes, it’s an achievement that was promised before the country’s harsher anti-gay law was enacted. If the anti-gay bill is enacted, “homosexuals will no longer breathe in this country”, said Diaraye Bâ, a member of parliament from the ruling PASTEF party (African Patriots of Senegal for Labor, Ethics and Fraternity), during debate on the bill in March.
Leaders of the LGBTQ community are being forced into hiding or have fled abroad,
Many lawyers are shunning allegedly gay defendants, fearing potential reprisals against themselves or their loved ones, Le Monde reported.
The consequences extend beyond individual persecution.
HIV patients are skipping treatment, fearing arrest, Reuters reported. That response to Senegals anti-gay panic began even before the law was changed. A survey of HIV/AIDS treatment centers found a 25.6 percent drop in patient visits from 2,425 in January to 1,803 in February.
PAI added: “The disclosure of HIV status is being weaponised as a tool of persecution, and this is already undermining the country’s HIV programme. A public health crisis is being manufactured by this legislation. One that will affect the broader Senegalese population.”
The continent’s human rights watchdog — the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights — has taken note of the crisis.
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At its session in the Gambia in late April to early May, Commissioner Salma Sassi-Safer formally acknowledged the situation and reminded the Senegalese state of its obligations under the African Charter — to guarantee dignity, respect for privacy, physical and moral integrity, and the protection of all persons against violence, stigmatisation and discriminatory treatment. She urged Senegalese authorities to ensure that national legislative provisions remain consistent with regional and international human rights obligations.
“We echo that call”, PAI said. “We urge the government of Senegal to listen. … Pan Africa ILGA recognises the deep courage of communities and organisations continuing their work under these conditions. We stand with them.”
