The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has taken a major step toward protecting the rights of LGBTI people by adopting a resolution condemning violence against individuals based on their “real or imputed sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Established by the African Charter in 1987, the Commission consists of 11 members elected by the AU Assembly, and is officially charged with three major functions:
- the protection of human and peoples’ rights
- the promotion of human and peoples’ rights
- the interpretation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
In keeping with these commitments, during its 55th session held in Angola earlier this month, the ACHPR acknowledged the need to respond to the ongoing human-rights violations experienced by LGBTI people (documented and explained thoroughly in Rev. Dr. Kapya Kaoma’s new book, American Culture Warriors in Africa) through the adoption of this historic resolution.
It’s impossible to stop that which is unseen. When we fail to acknowledge the existence of sexual minorities, transgender people, and intersex people, their oppression, too, remains invisible. By recognizing that the violence experienced by LGBTI people is real and distinct, the ACHPR has taken a major step forward in the fight for LGBTI safety, respect, and justice in Africa.
Many conservative lawmakers and faith leaders in Africa—urged on by their U.S.-based conservative benefactors—will undoubtedly argue that this resolution is part of some imagined international “gay agenda” to create new, special rights for LGBTI people. But the ACHPR has simply affirmed that the application of existing human rights standards should also apply to those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex. The work of ensuring the protection of human rights for all people is not a zero-sum game—addressing human-rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity takes nothing away from the ongoing efforts to combat discrimination based on race, religion, gender, socioeconomic status, and other grounds. In a 2012 report, ARC International observed, “There can be no hierarchies of rights, and it is our common duty to ensure that no person faces violations of their human rights on any grounds, including because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”
As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated on the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “It is not called the ‘Partial’ Declaration of Human Rights. It is not the ‘Sometimes’ Declaration of Human Rights. It is the Universal Declaration, guaranteeing all human beings their basic human rights, without exception.”
See the entire text of this historic document: ACHPR Resolution on LGBTI People
Related
American Culture Warriors in Africa: A Guide to the Exporters of Homophobia and Sexism is a new, popular-format guidebook designed to educate U.S. audiences and motivate all people of conscience to take action that interrupts the persecution of women and sexual minorities overseas.