IGLHRC CALLS FOR THE MOBILISATION OF INTERNATIONAL AND LGBTI COMMUNITY

By Jerina Messie (French Reporter)

SENEGAL - 07 September 2009: The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has called on the international LGBTI community and allies to mobilize and hold the Senegalese government accountable for soaring human rights  violations and persecution of gay people.

According to Sara Perle from IGLHRC �the international LGBTI community cannot be silent in the face of these human rights violations and should be supportive of the LGBTI community within Senegal and their strategies and goals.�

�The international community must also hold their own government accountable for human rights violations against sexual minorities; discrimination is global and interconnected, and so must the struggle against it be,� said Perle from IGLHRC.

This statement comes after the arrest of four presumed gay men from the city of Darou Mousty in Senegal accused of sexual acts against nature.

�IGLHR is hoping to help shed light on this clear pattern of human rights violations against sexual minorities and people who are perceived to be sexual minorities in Senegal that have escalated since the arrests starting in February 2008.�

�The government can be held accountable on all sides for these rights violations and the individuals targeted by these persecutions can be freed, just as the nine men arrested and convicted on similar grounds earlier this year were freed by the court of appeals in Dakar in April,� adds Perle.

Perle also denounced the duplicity of the minister of justice�s discour on homosexuality during the United Nation Human Rights Council�s Universal Periodic Review of Senegal, two weeks before the arrest of these four men.

According to Perle, the Minister assured that �there was no legislative or regulatory prescription criminalizing homosexuality in Senegal, perhaps drawing a precarious distinction between sexual practice and sexual orientation.�

�In fact, both prosecuting someone for identifying as a gay man or for merely being accused of being a gay man are discrimination according to international human rights laws and principles,� concluded Perle.