We live in a sad world where stigma and discrimination follow people even in death.

Yesterday the BBC reported that the body of a senegalese man had been dug up twice from his grave because he was believed to be homosexual. As in many other African countries, homosexuality is outlawed in Senegal. In Uganda “the offence” carries a life sentence on conviction, and according to the government, international NGO (including UNICEF and Amnesty International) are accused of promoting it. In Burundi, the government recently adopted a law criminalising homosexual conduct. in Kenya, homosexual behaviour and attempted homosexual behaviour between men, which is referred to as “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” is penalised by 5 to 14 year of imprisonment.

At the same time, several African countries have jumped on the bandwagon of the criminalisation of HIV transmission.

However, on 27 June 1981, the Organisation of African Unity (now called the African Union) adopted an African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (also known as the Banjul Charter) which purpose was to promote and protect human rights and basic freedoms in the African continent. It was drafted in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but “Taking into consideration the virtues of [African States's] historical tradition and the values of African civilization which should inspire and characterize their reflection on the concept of human and peoples’ rights”. The charter includes the following articles:

Article 2

Every individual shall be entitled to the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms recognized and guaranteed in the present Charter without distinction of any kind such as race, ethnic group, color, sex, language, religion, political or any other opinion, national and social origin, fortune, birth or other status.

Article 4

Human beings are inviolable. Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right.

Article 10

Every individual shall have the right to free association provided that he abides by the law.

Unless the “African civilization” has a very different concept of “human and peoples’ rights”, African governments have a lot of work to do for these articles to be more than empty words.

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