Regional legal and policy instruments for addressing LGBT exclusion in Africa

Abstract

The vulnerability of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons in Africa to public health and other risks is heightened by their exclusion from socioeconomic opportunities and services. We analysed existing regional-level legal and policy instruments and treaties for the opportunities they offer to tackle the exclusion of LGBT persons in Africa. We identified seven key living legal and policy instruments, formulated and adopted between 1981 and 2018, by the African Union (AU) or its precursor, the Organization of African Unity. These treaties and instruments do not only highlight the region's challenges related to inclusion, most of them are binding and enforceable, and all enshrine the responsibility of AU member-states to safeguard and ensure the inclusion and protection of citizens, their gender or sexual orientation notwithstanding. The instruments set forth strong and ambitious agendas of inclusion and recognise and affirm the rights of the region's citizens to sexual and reproductive health (SRH), equality, freedom and opportunities, regardless of their sexual orientation. Their language is generally universalist and their rejection of discrimination, criminalisation, and denial of socioeconomic opportunities and services to the region's sexual minorities is forthright. However, the instruments do not explicitly mention LGBT persons and lack clear and effective mechanisms for answerability among member-states. Accountability and commitment among member-states towards these instruments and policies will improve national legal and policy environments and propel forward the agenda of LGBT inclusion, SRH and wellbeing in the region.

Female Same-Sex Legal Status and Its Implications to Women Who have Sex with Women’s Health and Well-being in Tanzania: A Public Health Lens

“…All of our study participants were aware that their same-sex behaviors and practices are illegal in this country and if known (to law reinforcing machinery) could be arrested, prosecuted, and penalized as per the Tanzania Constitutions and the Laws. Consequently, receiving death threats and persecutions is normal for LGBT individuals living in countries across Africa [11], making it a matter of survival to keep their homosexuality hidden and rarely reported on [12,13]. Violence, rape, social exclusion (denial, rejection, stigma, and isolation), and discrimination characterize the daily life of individuals engaged in same-sex relationships in countries where same-sex marriages/relationships are unwarranted [12,13].…”

“…Consequently, receiving death threats and persecutions is normal for LGBT individuals living in countries across Africa [11], making it a matter of survival to keep their homosexuality hidden and rarely reported on [12,13]. Violence, rape, social exclusion (denial, rejection, stigma, and isolation), and discrimination characterize the daily life of individuals engaged in same-sex relationships in countries where same-sex marriages/relationships are unwarranted [12,13]. In Tanzania, for example, despite the existing anti-same-sex relationships controls (The Sexual Offenses Special Provisions Act of 1998, in particular), in March 2014, a Member of the Parliament (Tanzania) proposed tougher criminal restrictions on the "promotion" of homosexuality.…”

“…The then Minister for Foreign Affairs specified that "homosexuality is not part of our [Tanzanian/African] culture and we will never legalize it … [and] … The country is willing to lose foreign aid in order to retain [our] anti-LGBT laws" [11]. In June, 2017, the Tanzanian government threatened to arrest and expel activists as well as deregister all (national and international) non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that campaign for gay rights [12].…”

Health systems recovery from COVID-19: a window of opportunity for (in)fertility care

“…7 Sociocultural, legal and/or ideological factors linked to social identifiers such as race, class, ability, marital status, sexual orientation or identity may also result in some groups being explicitly or implicitly excluded from access to fertility care. Heteronormative and gender binary notions of parenthood 9 and restrictive definitions of suitability for motherhood or what a family should look like, could mean that LGBTQIA+ people face barriers, as is the case in various European countries where access is legally restricted to heterosexual couples. 7 Implicit barriers can also limit the access of certain populations to fertility services.…”

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identities (Sogi) Law and Social Change

“…39 The retention of colonial laws are deliberate, as they largely reflect prevailing attitudes of discrimination and prejudice toward LGBTQIA+ persons, with possibility of social stigma being described as one of the worst fears for those in the community. 40 In addition, the effects of the preservation of these laws have attributed to queer-phobic narratives that are at times used by African politicians in asserting that same sex relations and gender variance are from a western origin despite historical evidence demonstrating otherwise. 41 The shift from societies once accepting and celebrating queer persons to defending and, at times, advocating for violence toward LGBTQIA+ people and allies demonstrates the existence of a close relationship between legal and social change, even if it took place over a long period of time.…”