Tag Archives: Senegal

Queer people are collateral damage in constitutional power struggle  The headquarter of the Senegalese Constitutional Council in Dakar.  A bill to amend Senegal‘s constitution that was passed last month by a unanimous vote in the National Assembly was struck down by the Constitutional Council on Thursday 9 July. The now-scrapped bill would have amended Article 17 of the Constitution to …

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 …

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 …

First conviction under Senegal’s harsh new anti-gay law Under Senegal’s harsh new anti-homosexuality law, the first defendant has been convicted and sentenced to six years in prison, SeneNews reported. Below is their article, edited, translated from French and amended with information from Block TV Gambia: Courtroom scene in the Pikine-Guédiawaye courthouse in Senegal. (Photo courtesy of Dakar Poste)   On …

Penalties for gay sex are doubled; prison for ‘promoting’ homosexuality Senegal President Bassirou Diomaye Faye The president of Senegal has given the green light to a highly contentious anti-LGBTQ bill that  significantly stiffens the penalties for same-sex relations, doubling the maximum prison sentence to 10 years. The newly enacted law also criminalizes any actions considered to be attempts to “promote” …

Senegal’s turn against LGBTQ rights reflects the rise of the far right Senegal, now at the forefront of homophobic populism in Francophone Africa, was also the native land of Léopold Sédar Senghor, a leading opponent of colonialism, racism and Eurocentrism. Senghor would become the father of the country’s independence from France and Senegal’s first president. In this analysis, Rodolphe P. …

‘To protect LGBTQ+ people’s health, we must protect LGBTQ+ people’s rights’ Ghana’s parliament (Photo courtesy of ISSAfrica.org) A group of progressive West African faith leaders have denounced a proposed bill in Ghana to jail every acknowledged homosexual, increase penalties for same-sex intimacy, and prohibit “promotion” of LGBTQ behavior. Meanwhile, the United Nations anti-AIDS agency (UNAIDS) issued a statement opposing a similar …

‘Homosexuals will no longer breathe in this country’ Anti-gay legislators at Senegal’s National Assembly in Dakar celebrate the passage of the bill to double the penalties for same-sex intimacy. (Seyllou photo courtesy of AFP / Getty Images) Yesterday the National Assembly in Senegal unanimously approved a bill yesterday to double the prison time for gay sex, sending it to President …

Wave of arrests hit LGBTQ citizens, generating an atmosphere of fear. Senegal’s gendarmerie released this photo of 12 men arrested on homosexuality charges. Amid a wave of arrests of LGBTQ citizens and claims about gay networks deliberately spreading HIV, conservative Muslims are again pushing to tighten Senegal’s anti-homosexuality law. As they did last year, the Islamist collective And Samm Djikko …

Five men arrested on homosexuality charges as they prepare for a fashion show. Map of Senegal shows the capital, Dakar. (Map courtesy of AFP) The West African nation of Senegal is continuing a police crackdown on gay citizens. In the latest incident, reported in Senenews, police in the city of Thiès, just outside the capital city of Dakar, arrested five …