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- Convenor:
-
Rui Garrido
(Portucalense University)
Send message to Convenor
- Stream:
- Law
- Location:
- 50 George Square, G.06
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 12 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
The issue of sexual orientation and gender identity remains one of the biggest human rights challenge worldwide, particularly in African societies. The panel aims to discuss the state of the art regarding the LGBT human rights in the continent, its struggles, developments, and backlashes.
Long Abstract:
The Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014, raised attention to the problem of legal persecution of homosexuals in Africa. But Uganda was the tip of the iceberg. Some other African countries decided to adopt restrictive and discriminatory legislation against homosexual citizens, challenging the fundamental rights and liberties enshrined in their national constitutions as well as its international human rights commitments. The recent anti-gay crackdowns, in October and November 2018, in Tanzania and Tunisia, are symptoms of prevalent state homophobia in Africa. The recognition of NGO's is also problematic in the African context. Many NGO's cannot access to legal recognition, or have to adopt different names in order to be able to work legally. Some countries adopt legislation that made LGBT NGO's illegal (such as the Nigerian Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, 2013). In the African Union political landscape, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights was under pressure for having recognized the status of observer to a South African NGO named Coalition of African Lesbians. The NGO lost observer status in August 2018, after a very hostile approach of the AU's Executive Council to the African Human Rights Commission.
The panel is open to receive communications on different perspectives about the debate of Human Rights of LGBT in Africa, in particular, empirical studies are very welcome to this discussion.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 12 June, 2019, -Stephen Brown (University of Ottawa)
Paper short abstract:
This paper uses the Tanzanian government's recent crackdown on the LGBT community to analyse the causes of and donors' responses to state homophobia in Africa. It critically engages with Western countries' reactions and proposes ways of making the long-term promotion of LGBT rights more effective.
Paper long abstract:
In October 2018, a senior Tanzanian government official announced a crackdown on homosexuality, including the creation of a special committee to track down and arrest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. International actors - including bilateral aid donors and multilateral organizations - strongly condemned these measures and, in a couple of cases, withheld or suspended foreign aid, leading to a domestic backlash.
This paper analyzes this chain of events. It finds that the crackdown in Tanzania was in fact the continuation of an earlier campaign and is part of a growing range of authoritarian practices not limited to state homophobia carried out by a ruling party that feels under threat, as has been the case in many other countries. The international response, however, was ineffective and even counter-productive, causing the government to expand its moral and anti-imperialist rhetoric, to the detriment of local LGBT people. International actors prioritized quick, visible and selective expressions of displeasure, but would be more effective if they developed long-term strategies in conjunction with local defenders of the rights of LGBT people, not just in Tanzania, but elsewhere in Africa and around the world.
Rui Garrido (Portucalense University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper aims to analyze the development of sexual orientation as a prohibited ground in the African Human Rights System (AHRS) and how States are dealing with sexual minorities demands.
Paper long abstract:
This paper aims to analyze the recognition of sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination in the African Human Rights System (AHRS) and the resistance from African Union political bodies to such recognition. In a continent of 55 States, only South Africa recognize and protect sexual orientation in its Constitution. Thirty-three African states have legislation criminalizing people and organizations, in contravention with national constitutions, and international standards. Those laws fuel widespread state homophobia in several parts of the continent and have a significant impact on the daily life of LGBT African citizens.
The African Commission on Human and People's Rights (the Commission) took steps forward, recognizing in 2011, sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination, and LGBTI people as vulnerable groups. In 2014, the Commission adopted a resolution concerning violence towards people based on its "real or imputed" sexual orientation and gender identity. This resolution represents a turning point on the human rights policy towards sexual orientation. In 2015, the Commission granted observer status to an NGO named Coalition of African Lesbian. To all this, the AU's Executive Council responded with a hostile approach, attacking the heart of the Commission's mandate and independence.
Through an analysis of the main developments of sexual orientation in the AHRS, the paper seeks to discuss how the question is being handled by the African Human Rights System, how it may protect sexual minorities, and how States are dealing with the issue domestically.
Ferdinand Onwe Agama (National Open University of Nigeria) Ernest Ogwashi Ugbejeh (National Open University of Nigeria)
Paper short abstract:
The challenge of LGBT human rights is global. In Africa, most States have laws criminalizing homosexuality, although LGBT people's rights fall within the ambit of international human rights. This paper analyses the struggles, strategies and development of LGBT human rights within African context.
Paper long abstract:
Issues concerning sexual orientation, gender identity and, the entire topics on LGBT are controversial and contentious ones worldwide. This is especially so in African continent which till date is still a hotbed of homophobia. In essence however, topics on LGBT fall within the purview of the present international human rights. This came as a result of painstaking efforts by proponent States which pushed hard at the United Nations General Assembly for equal recognition and protection of LGBT people's rights as human rights. On the contrary, most African States still have a different orientation and view concerning LGBT people's rights, the practices which are still a taboo in several parts of Africa. Against this backdrop, this paper set to discuss succinctly, the struggles, strategies and development of LGBT human rights, with special focus on Africa. The paper examined the human right status of LGBT people in Africa in relation to the prevalent State homophobia and found there is a good link to the cultural peculiarities, religion, value system and family value in the region. On the consideration of natural order, common sense, scientific report and, even positive law, the paper argued on the claim that LGBT people's rights tantamount to human rights. Thereafter, it concluded with useful recommendations.The paper adopted doctrinal and empirical methods.
Olanike S. Adelakun (University of Pretoria) Taiwo Odumosu (Olabisi Onabanjo University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper investigates the legal status of a transgender person that has undergone a gender reassignment surgery and an intersex person for the purpose of marriage in Nigeria. It discusses the legal requirements for the various forms of marriage that are permissible under the Nigerian law.
Paper long abstract:
With about 27 countries of the world legally permitting same sex marriage, many African countries have outlawed marriage between same sex couples. Nigeria enacted the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act in 2014. By the Act, same sex marriage is expressly prohibited and criminalized with a penalty of 14 years' imprisonment where convicted. While the law focuses on association of same sex persons, there is no provision of law that takes a position on the right of an intersex person or a transsexual person who has undergone a gender reassignment surgery. In the same light, there is no judicial stance on this position. It is against this background that this paper investigates the legal status of a transgender person that has undergone a gender reassignment surgery and an intersex person for the purpose of marriage in Nigeria. The paper discusses the legal requirements for the various forms of marriage that are permissible under the Nigerian law. The paper further discusses the prohibitions that can invalidate a marriage within the Nigerian context. Effort is made to determine if such a person within the scope of this research is required to make a disclosure of gender status and the effect of non-disclosure if such a person gets married in Nigeria. It investigates the social attitude towards such persons. A comparative approach to predict the likely approach of the judiciary to fill the gap on the legal status of an intersex and a gender reassigned person is adopted.
Douglas Ribeiro Weber (University of Minho)
Paper short abstract:
In February 2014, the President of Uganda enacted an Anti-Homosexuality Act whose text provided for the criminalization of anyone promoting or practicing homosexual acts. The Law was invalidated by the Ugandan Constitutional Court, but its content remains in the expression of government.
Paper long abstract:
The Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2014 is just one example of legislation that discriminates against and marginalizes sexual minorities. In force in the country since 1950, the Penal Code of Uganda provides sanctions resulting from offenses against morality and, in this context, punishes practices that are considered against nature or its attempted to commit unnatural offenses. Such legal provisions, besides constituting an invasion of individuals' privacy, legitimize violence against LGBTI persons. In addition, they attack their dignity in dealing with affective feelings and conduct regarding homosexuality as counter-crimes. They are provisions that can be used to destroy careers and lives by promoting and inciting violence, giving the state the power to arrest, blackmail and abuse, leading LGBTI people to live in invisibility and fear. Sexual minorities in Uganda, at least since colonization and the emergence of laws that combat homosexuality, have always lived in a politically hostile and dangerous environment. The content of the Act sanctioned and annulled in 2014 and the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uganda itself contradict the Constitution of that country, which provides for the protection of rights to equality and freedom, the protection of personal liberty, respect for human dignity and protection against inhuman or degrading treatment. Moreover, such State homophobia characterized by the laws and the way in which LGBTI persons are treated by public authorities in Uganda, also defies obligations under international treaties ratified by Uganda and which guarantee the protection of fundamental rights such as dignity, equality and non-discrimination.