From a rise in arrests to online attacks, Senegal has been under an intensified crackdown on same-sex relations in recent weeks, prompting outcry from human rights groups and driving some in the LGBTQ+ community to consider exile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Amplifying the repression, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko on Tuesday unveiled legislation that would double the maximum penalty for same-sex relations, making them punishable by up to 10 years in prison.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Homosexuality has long been a hot-button issue in the Muslim majority and deeply religious West African nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But in early February, a dozen men were arrested, including two local celebrities, accused of “acts against nature” — a term used to describe same-sex relations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That spurred a wave of arrests, at least 30 people according to local press, based on accusations and phone searches reported almost daily — and the names of those detained have been made public.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Even in Senegal, this is unprecedented. What they are doing is public lynching,” a human rights defender told AFP on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
Some of those detained have faced accusations of deliberately transmitting HIV, fuelling further fierce debate about same-sex relations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The highly publicised arrests — spawning headlines like “Big homo clean-up” and “Bisexuals, walking dangers” — prompted Senegal’s media ethics regulator CORED to call for respect for human dignity and individuals’ privacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On social media, it has also stirred up already charged language and videos — which AFP could not verify — showing people being assaulted over suspicion of their sexual orientation are circulating.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The LGBTQ+ community has been “traumatised”, the human rights defender said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“People are hiding — they are going into seclusion much more than before.”<\/p>\n
– ‘Dramatic situation’ –<\/p>\n
It is within this context that Sonko’s draft bill was developed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition to doubling prison terms for those found guilty of same-sex relations, it would also punish those who advocate for LGBTQ+ people with prison sentences of three to seven years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Making good on a longstanding promise by the ruling party, the repression of same-sex relations is politically advantageous in a country where it is widely regarded as deviant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For years, influential religious groups have called for its “criminalisation”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The climate of regular discrimination has become unbearable for the LGBTQ+ community in the country, activists contacted by AFP said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We are still helping people get to Gambia”, the neighbouring country, the rights activist said, denouncing the “dramatic situation”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The scale of departures is difficult to quantify given their secretive nature, but the association STOP Homophobia said it received 18 requests for help to leave Senegal in recent days.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Paris-based group regularly supports Senegalese victims of discrimination and has noted an increase in requests for assistance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Some mention violence, threats and expulsion from their families. All are afraid of being arrested and many fear for privacy violations,” said Terrence Khatchadourian, STOP’s secretary general.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Using details related to HIV status as evidence has serious consequences for public health by discouraging testing and access to care,” he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
– Defending ‘norms’ –<\/p>\n
Few groups have denounced the situation in Senegal, where defending the rights of same-sex relations is viewed as a Western value incompatible with local ones.<\/p>\n
The new president of Senegal’s human rights league, Denis Ndour, said he supports harsher penalties and describes individuals practicing same-sex relations as “sick”, in a recent interview with the Senegalese newspaper L’Observateur.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Externalising homosexuality cannot be accepted” out of respect to local “norms”, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Whatever a country’s cultural or religious stance, protection from violence and humiliation is a universal principle,” said Marame Kane, a French-Senegalese expert in advocacy on LGBTQ+ and feminist issues.<\/p>\n
Since 2021, Senegal has no longer been considered a safe country by France’s Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons due to risks linked to sexual orientation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Boubacar, using a pseudonym for his protection, said he was forced to flee Senegal five months ago when his family discovered his sexual orientation and threw him out of their home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some of his friends are now also trying to leave the country, he told AFP.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for those who do not have the means, “the only thing they can do is see death coming and wait”.<\/p>\n
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