Universal Human Rights for Sexual and Gender Minorities can be a Reality
Yesterday, 10 December 2019 marked 71 years since the drafting and proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations General Assembly, a document that has been translated into over 500 languages across the world. The document was drafted to mirror different legal and cultural backgrounds and adopted under the General Assembly Resolution 217A as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It is in this vein that every year on 10 December, International Human Rights Day is celebrated to highlight the strides being made in the attainment of Universal Human Rights for all. In the African context, the ‘Banjul Charter’ was adopted on 27 June 1981 and came into force on 21 October 1986. The Banjul Charter therein also referred to as the ‘African Charter on Human and People’s Rights’ is a human rights instrument that is used by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights which is supplemented by the African Human Rights Court. The Banjul Charter enshrines individual rights as well as people’s rights, rights and duties, socio-economic rights including civil and political rights.
Despite the strides that have been made both on the international and local African context in respect to the attainment of Human Rights for all, there is a lot that needs to be done when we discuss gender and sexuality. Both the UDHR and Banjul Charter in Article 7 and Article 3, respectively, do recognize the Right to be treated equally before the law and the entitlement to equal protection against any discrimination. The sad reality is that equal protection before the law has not yet been realized for sexual and gender minorities like the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) communities in many jurisdictions. The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) in a 2019 report highlighted that around the world consensual same-sex activities are criminalized in about 69 countries that are part of the United Nations. Of this number 32 Countries are in Africa, 29 are in Asia and Oceania, and nine countries in Latin America and the Caribbean region. Criminalization often using colonial laws alongside state-sponsored homophobia, has led to many people who either openly identify as LGBTQ or those whose sexual orientation is perceived to be at the receiving end of discrimination and non-protection before the law.
In Zambia, the Human Rights Commission in the 2017–2018 State of Human Rights Report noted, ‘identifying oneself as an LGBTI is not itself illegal, women and men especially are ridiculed, reported to the police, sometimes beaten, ostracized and prosecuted because of their real or perceived sexual orientation’. They further reveal that there was an 85.7 per cent increase in the number of discrimination cases reported to the commission across the gender and sexuality spectrum from four (4) cases in 2017 to twenty-eight (28) cases in 2018. It is important to note that Zambia as a national state is a signatory and had ratified both the UDHR and Banjul Charter among several human rights instruments and protocols that call for everyone to be protected from all forms of discrimination. In November 2019, two consenting adult men who had been convicted under Section 155 (a and c) of Cap 87 of the Laws of Zambia were sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment with hard labour. Before this judgement, their Rights to privacy and Right to be treated with dignity, respect and free from inhumane treatment had been violated by the supposed witnesses of the state and the criminal justice system by forcing them to undergo medical examination for the state to prove its case further.
Further on, the Ministry of National Guidance and Religious Affairs (MoNGRA) which advocates for Christian values has been used as a tool for state-sponsored homophobia. In its 2019 National Values, Principles and Religious Affairs Policy, MoNGRA writes, ‘arising from inconsistency in the application of the laws, immoral acts such as prostitution, LGBTQ as well as production, procuring and distribution of obscene materials has continued unabated’. The ministry is equally on record for refusing admission into the country, openly gay South African artist Somizi Mhlongo who was invited to grace a private entertainment function, on the basis that he would corrupt the morals of young people as can be noted by the Ministers statement below:
“Every country has laws. Here in Zambia, we have a constitution that guides citizens on morals and Christian values. We do not condone gayism. It is a crime and inviting such people means we are slowly accepting the vice,”- Times of Zambia in Shalala, 2019.
From the above in the Zambian context, it can be noted that state-sponsored homophobia is at the core for many human rights violations, especially for those that identify as LGBTQ. The reality is that Zambian nationals who are LGBTQ are denied their Right of autonomy to self-determine how they should live their lives. The constant denial of the LGBTQ identity often embedded in the social and political construction that Zambia is a Christian nation should in this opinion not supersede how people choose to live their lives in the confines of their homes. People lose their freedom and Right to privacy when the state using its operatives fail to recognize the need to protect its citizens from extreme fascist ideologies. Societies are not homogeneous but are a total of its people in their diversity. Having a clear understanding of this would ensure that each individual is treated equally before the law and protected under the law from discrimination. Attainment of Universal Human Rights for all both under the UDHR and the Banjul Charter including the Zambian national frameworks will only become a reality if we begin having honest conversations superseding our Christian religious beliefs and the lack thereof because not everyone subscribes to Christianity. Posterity has it that we are first human beings before any social construct or beliefs as such we should accord each other the bare minimum- Inalienable rights to exist free from oppression and discrimination.
In closing, as we continue reflecting on the UDHR in Zambia, Africa and the World over, let us remember that social inclusion and the protection of human rights of sexual and gender minorities does not take away from our core of being. Discrimination and homophobia are an injustice to the existence of sexual and gender minorities who walk among, pay taxes and contribute positively to the socio-economic and political development of our nations. ‘Universal Human Rights for all’ can only be a reality if everyone, including sexual and gender minorities, is protected under the law and can freely self-determine how they live their lives free from discrimination. The principle of equality before the law should supersede us on personal beliefs because like earlier stated; we are humans before anything else. In this opinion, it is befitting to end with a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, Human Rights Activist and the former First Lady of the United States of America who said:
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. […] Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”
