Gay community persecuted

Human rights groups are calling upon the Committee Against Torture (CAT) to compel Namibia to abolish the common-law crime of sodomy and ensure equality and freedom from discrimination for sexual minorities.Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community in the country report high rates of violence, harassment and ill-treatment at the hands of police officers and other authorities, as well as the general public, a report submitted by a group of five local and international NGOs states. CAT is expected to address the submission in early December during its bi-annual review of state parties'' obligations and compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture, to which Namibia is a signatory.The report lists several incidents of abuse and murder that demonstrates the treatment suffered by sexual minorities.The submission quotes a 2009 study which found that 21% of men who had sex with men in Namibia reported beatings by a police officer or government agent, and the same number experienced blackmail or extortion. Moreover, a 2008 study found that close to 50% of gay men experienced human rights abuses related to their sexuality, including reports of transgender persons who were forced to strip naked in public “as well as in custody in order to verify their gender”.A 2014 murder of a gay man at Gobabis and a 2013 incident during which seven men severely beat a transgender woman in an Oshiwambo community in northern Namibia are contained in the submission. This year, in January, a man was charged with a gruesome double murder of two lesbian women in Windhoek. According to a number of reports filed by lesbians, they have faced threats of ''corrective'' rape as ''cure'' for their sexual orientation and “police often fail to prosecute or investigate such claims”.The NGO submission accuses the government of failing to uphold its obligations under the treaty, by not taking steps to prevent the ill-treatment of LGBTI persons, which they claim is rife in the country. Moreover, the report states that “systems actors fail to investigate and prosecute cases of violence and ill-treatment of LGBTI persons” and that the treatment suffered by the community after reporting crimes has led to survivors having little faith in the criminal justice system.The report alleges routine human rights violations at the hands of police officers who “arbitrarily” arrest members of the community and subject them to physical violence.The NGOs state that the continued criminalisation of homosexual conduct enables these violations.As such the community “face significant discrimination and violence in their encounters with the Namibian criminal justice system, from arrest to pre-trial detention through post-conviction detention.”In addition, Namibia''s lack of a law that specifically deals with torture requires urgent attention. Currently, acts of torture are treated as assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.The Namibian constitution enshrines the protection of human rights, although sexual orientation is not specifically addressed. “While homosexuality itself is not illegal in Namibia, Namibian law still officially criminalises sexual acts between consenting adult men, including sodomy,” the NGOs state.According to the Criminal Procedure Act, warrantless arrest and use of deadly force are authorised in cases of sodomy. Although numerous local and international groups have expressed concern that local laws do not explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the government has “indicated it does not intend to repeal the sodomy law.”The report notes that while these laws are seldom if ever applied in practice, their existence has a negative impact on the LGBTI community and contributes to discrimination against the community. Moreover, the lack of safe avenues to report abuse compounds the harassment the community endures.A number of human rights violations suffered by LGBTI individuals who wind up in detention, where inmates are exposed to acts of humiliation, threats and more, are listed.The report points out that the country''s obligations under the convention are to ensure that no persons are subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. “A state may violate the Convention Against Torture both by directly committing, instigating, inciting or encouraging such acts, or by acquiescing or failing to take steps to deal with such acts by private or public actors,” it says.The Convention Against Torture states that the protection of minority or marginalised individuals or populations especially at risk of torture is a part of the state''s obligation to prevent torture or ill-treatment.JANA-MARI SMITH

Gay community persecuted

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-03-07

Please login to leave a comment

Gay community persecuted

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-03-07

Please login to leave a comment

Login