CAIRO: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaking at the two-day summit in Addis Abba took advantage of the occasion to emphasize that the Arab Spring was “a reminder that leaders must listen to their people.” He then went on to call on African leaders to ensure all citizens have equal rights, including the homosexual community. “Events proved that repression is a dead end. Police power is no match to people power seeking dignity and justice,” he said, also urging African leaders to respect gay rights. “One form of discrimination ignored or even sanctioned by many states for too long has been discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” Ban said. Ban also emphasized that this type of discrimination has been a growing issue in African nations and it only encourages the treatment of people “as second class citizens or even animals” and that “confronting this discrimination is a challenge, but we must live up to the ideals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Deep-rooted prejudice against homosexuals can be found in all, if not most, African nations and most Africans would argue that homosexuality goes against their religious and cultural beliefs. This discrimination has moved onto the political arena, where homosexual acts have been banned in 41 (out of 54) African countries including many Western allies. Only South Africa has officially recognized gay rights, but people in rural areas still face discrimination despite promises made on the constitution. In Nigeria, an Islamic scholar called for the death penalty of the gay community. Malam Abdulkadir Apaokagi stated that the LGBT communities in Nigeria were “perverts” who did “not deserve to co-exist with right thinking and decent people.” He added that “homosexuality and lesbianism are just too dirty in the sight of Allah, those who engage in them deserve more than capital punishment. When they are killed, their corpse should also be mistreated.” The Nigerian government has also passed legislation to ban gay marriage despite threats from the UK to cut bilateral aid if gay rights are not respected. The “Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) bill 2011” carries a 14-year jail sentences for convicted gay people or lesbians in Nigeria. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has also condemned efforts to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation in the new Zimbabwean Constitution. He has been quoted saying that homosexuals are “worse than dogs and pigs.” Homophobic statements by religious, as well as, political figures have taken a different form in Zambia, where discrimination against homosexuals is discouraging men who engage in same-sex relations to test for HIV/AIDS and seek health care. This decrease in numbers is alarming, says Human Rights Watch, which has urged the Zambian government to condemn homophobic statements and amend the Penal Code to decriminalize consensual sexual conduct among adults of the same sex. Ban Ki-moon is not the first member of the international community to have urged African nations to respect gay rights. Last October, UK Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that aid could be cut from countries that did not recognize gay rights. Ghana President John Atta Mills rejected such warnings and refused to legalize homosexuality. “I, as president, will never initiate or support any attempt to legalize homosexuality in Ghana,” Atta Mills said. Uganda, another recipient of UK aid, rejected the warning and depicted the possible cut of aid as “bullying mentality” from the UK. Despite the little support for gay rights in the region, the Arab Spring should serve as a precedent for African leaders to start respecting human rights of all their citizens without any type of discrimination, the UN chief said. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/nlRQl Tags: featured, LGBT Section: Africa, Latest News
