The Effects of Criminalizing Same Sex Practices in Senegal

via PLoS ONE, by Tonia Poteat, Daouda Diouf, Fatou Maria Drame, Marieme Ndaw, Cheikh Traore, Mandeep Dhaliwal, Chris Beyrer, Stefan Baral

Abstract

 

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at high risk for HIV in Senegal, with a prevalence of 21.5%. In December 2008, nine male HIV prevention workers were imprisoned for “acts against nature” prohibited by Senegalese law. This qualitative study assessed the impact of these arrests on HIV prevention efforts. A purposive sample of MSM in six regions of Senegal was recruited by network referral. 26 in-depth interviews (IDIs) and 6 focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted in July–August 2009. 14 key informants were also interviewed. All participants reported pervasive fear and hiding among MSM as a result of the December 2008 arrests and publicity. Service providers suspended HIV prevention work with MSM out of fear for their own safety. Those who continued to provide services noticed a sharp decline in MSM participation. An effective response to the HIV epidemic in Senegal should include active work to decrease enforcement of this law.

Read the full study here.


[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Meet Amadou Moreau: Another New Friendly Rectal Microbicide Advocate!

“Advocating for the cause of minority groups in general is on my everyday to do list.”

Amadou Moreau is an IRMA advocate from Dakar, Senegal. There he is also a sociologist and demographer and Vice President of Global Initiatives at the Global Research and Advocacy Group (GRAG) - and he loves his job. HIV related matters are among key issues GRAG advocates for, as well as youth education across the developing world and gender-based violence.

He stays up to date on IRMA through the listserv and is hoping to become more involved through greater collaboration between IRMA and GRAG. He believes this relationship could be an asset to “enhance education and advocacy initiatives” and that IRMA collaboration with other groups, like GRAG, could do the same.

To Amadou, rectal microbicides are important among new HIV prevention technologies because they could be easy and safe to use and could add an important element to prevention packages. He has learned that across the developing world, and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, it is not easy to advocate for rectal microbicides. However, he believes that with commitment and creativity IRMA advocates can succeed. He is excited to work with IRMA to bring more positive change to those who need it most.

Read more Friendly Rectal Microbicide Advocate bios.


[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Bodies of gay men desecrated in Senegal

via SDGLN.com, by SDGLN staff

Madieye Diallo

Last May, one such mob dug up the body of Madieye Diallo, who had died of HIV-related complications, and the incident was recorded on video by someone holding a cell phone. The video was sold in the town market in Thies, where Diallo had lived.

The Associated Press reported that “Madieye Diallo's body had only been in the ground for a few hours when the mob descended on the weedy cemetery with shovels. They yanked out the corpse, spit on its torso, dragged it away and dumped  it in front of the home of his elderly parents.”

Read the rest.

Meanwhile, in Senegal

The global outcry against Uganda's "Anti-Homosexuality Bill" could not be more deafening.
  
via Metro Weekly, by Cary Alan Johnson and Ryan Thoreson

Excerpt:

Take Senegal, for instance, where homosexuality has been illegal since 1965. The last two years have seen a dramatic escalation in homophobic persecution and violence, largely unnoticed by the international community and the world media. The country has experienced waves of arrests, detentions, and attacks on individuals by anti-gay mobs, fueled by media sensationalism and a harsh brand of religious fundamentalism. Police have rounded up men and women on charges of homosexuality, detained them under inhumane conditions, and sentenced them with or without proof of having committed any offense. Families and communities have turned on those suspected of being gay or lesbian. In cities throughout the county, the corpses of men presumed to have been gay have been disinterred and unceremoniously abandoned. As the international community has laudably warned Uganda on the progress of its nonsensical law, arrests on charges related to homosexuality in Senegal -- five men in Darou Mousty in June, a man in Touba in November, and 24 men celebrating at a party in Saly Niax Niaxal on Christmas Eve -- continue largely unnoticed.

Read the full article.

Stephen Lewis on homophobia

[Excerpt from Stephen Lewis' speech at the IAS Conference, Cape Town, South Africa, July 19, 2009. Read the full speech.]

When the Government of Senegal jails eight gay AIDS activists for no reason except homophobia, setting back the fight against AIDS, where are the scientific voices of condemnation?

Right now, in the Caribbean, every country save the Bahamas, has laws that criminalize homosexuality. We tiptoe round this twisted form of racism. We submit to ridiculous claims of cultural relativism.


The Prime Minister of Jamaica, in the safety of Parliament, makes the most contemptible statements about gay men, leaving every elemental component of human rights in tatters, and he’s never called to account ... not by the UN Human Rights Council, not by the G8, not by the G20, not by the Commonwealth … only by the gay activists themselves.

What is wrong with the international community? If this is how it behaves, it doesn’t deserve the name “community” at all.

And if the political leadership lacks the courage to confront such outrageous slander, you shouldn’t lack the courage. You’re scientists. You know that it’s a scientific reality that a certain percentage of the world’s people is gay. So tell the political philistines to get over it and stop wrecking such damage. More, you know that an ugly homophobic culture is a threat to public health that inevitably serves to spread the virus … I beg you to say so. The majesty of science is its influence.

HIV Prevention Hypocrisy Watch: Fight the Virus, Punish the Victim?

via RH Reality Check

Two weeks ago, nine HIV activists were sentenced to eight years in prison in Dakar, Senegal for "indecent and unnatural acts" and "forming associations of criminals." They were arrested in December, just after the 15th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), on suspicion of having engaged in homosexual acts. Such arrests are all too common around the world. And under the Bush Administration, U.S. foreign policy leaders were far too reluctant to name such abuses for what they are - serious human rights violations.

Finding similar laws in the United States unconstitutional, the U.S. Supreme Court has said that they demean the existence of homosexuals. In so doing, such laws limit the effectiveness of our global commitment to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It is time for the new Obama Administration to take a principled stand for human rights.

In Senegal, the ICASA discussions highlighted the hypocrisy of countries, like Senegal, that support crucial HIV-prevention efforts for men who have sex with men, while simultaneously enforcing laws that criminalize consensual homosexual conduct and drive homosexuals into the shadows - often to a precarious and fearful legal existence that is well beyond the reach of any effective health intervention. There are far too many countries like Senegal, where the rights of LGBT communities are denied with impunity, and where the efforts of public health officials are continually thwarted.

Our existing legal commitments to human rights, together with our massive global investments in combating HIV/AIDS, should compel those who represent our country - in Congress, in the White House, in U.S. embassies and in U.S. corporations - to use the diplomatic, political and economic leverage available to them to oppose human rights abuses that are too often directed at individuals because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Public opposition to international human rights abuses impacting LGBT individuals was unusual under the Bush Administration. It will be sorely needed under the Obama Administration.

For example, at the United Nations General Assembly this past December, more than 60 countries submitted a ground-breaking statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity that called on all governments around the world to ensure that sexual orientation and gender identity are not subjected to criminal penalty, and that individuals are not executed, arrested or otherwise detained because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Despite thousands of individual calls to the State Department from US citizens, letters from Members of Congress, and requests from close U.S. allies, the United States refused to join the Statement. The United States was one of the only countries in the "Western Group" at the United Nations that did not sign the Statement.

Read the rest on RH Reality Check.

Senegal: Free AIDS Activists

Eight-Year Sentences in Threatening Conditions for 9 Accused of ‘Indecent and Unnatural Acts’

The men were arrested only days after Senegal served as the host for the 15th International Conference on AIDS and STIs (sexually transmitted infections) in Africa (ICASA). Presentations at this conference pointed out the apparent contradiction in some countries, such as Senegal, which target HIV/AIDS-prevention efforts at populations of men of who have sex with men but continue to criminalize same-sex relations. Advocates working in HIV and AIDS prevention point out that such an approach necessarily drives the targeted populations underground and mitigates the efficacy of HIV intervention efforts.

These charges will have a chilling effect on AIDS programs. Outreach workers and people seeking HIV prevention or treatment should not have to worry about police persecution. Senegal should drop these charges and repeal its sodomy law.
- Scott Long, director of Human Rights Watch's lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender rights program

Read the rest on Human Rights Watch.

Dakar: Report from ICASA

by IRMA member Lourence "Larry" Misedah of Kenya (pictured above)

It was a first in the history of the International Conference on AIDS and STI in Africa (ICASA). At the 15th ICASA held in Dakar, Senegal from 3-7th December 2008,there was high visibility and a wide presentation of LGBTI issues.

The LGBT pre-conference brought different participants together to unearth the truths and face realities as an emergence for the African LGBTI rights movement’s response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic. This led to a well-laid-out strategy and coordination to ensure strong representation through out the conference session, embodied by the pink book put together by Joel Nana (IGHLRC). Besides, the IGLHRC (International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission) and the Africa Gay booths provided space for a healthy interaction with the public and a display of different material about same sex practices in Africa.

Notably, building on the key lessons learned of AIDS 2008 to strengthen the epidemic in Africa, it came out strongly on the need to address the epidemics in at risk populations through targeted prevention. This followed different research that has continued to indicate high prevalence rates among MSM even in countries where the rates are lower in the general population.

However, as noted by the Joint Press release by 12 organizations working on LGBTI issues, only 7 countries have included MSM in the strategic plan while only Kenya and South Africa have included WSW (women who have sex with women). Nevertheless the shared experience from Kenya and South Africa showed that inclusion in the National Strategic Plans (NSPs) does not automatically result in programming. There is therefore a need to ensure that the inclusion within the NSPs is accompanied by targeted programs. As well, whereas there has been some research done on MSM in Africa, it was also noted there is barely any study on WSW. A study done in South Africa has shown high prevalence rate in WSW - hence there is a need to carry out further research on the issue.

With the conclusion of the conference, the major challenge remains on if and how the issues of the most at risk groups will be integrated in the different countries national responses.