TAG: Africa

Buhari, LGBT rights, and international pressure

This week General Muhammadu Buhari will be inaugurated as Nigerian’s president, a position he won by campaigning on a platform of change. But will that change include the people on the fringe of society, like lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals?

Kohl’s summer issue is out!

Check the English version of the very first issue of Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research. Kohl serves as an alternative platform of knowledge production. It tackles feminisms, bodies, and sexualities, as they intersect with other identities and struggles in the Middle East, South West Asia, and North Africa region. Coming soon: Keep an eye out for the […]

Sexual politics in May 2015

In early May, SPW re-launched its website. Its new architecture allows an easier access to our products, publications and other contents. In particular, we call your attention to new SPW products, the good news of observer’s status granted by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights to the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) and […]

Scott Long: Tweet for Egypt on IDAHOT: Why it’s important

It’s the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOT, for short). Here’s one important thing you can do. Tweet, or post on Facebook, or write on your blog with a message of support for trans and gay and lesbian Egyptians. Use the hashtags #Antihomophobia, or in Arabic #ضد_رهاب_المثلية . Or the hashtag #‫‏انا_مش_مجرم_انا_مختلف‬ — in English, it’s #‎Am_not_aCriminal_Am_just_Different‬ […]

UN aid worker suspended for leaking report on child abuse by French troops

The French Army was plunged into a scandal after a UN report came into public in the last few weeks. While French prosecutors announced a criminal investigation to punish peacekeeping troops at Central African Republican accused of raping children and exchanging food for sex, the investigator nominated by the UN to review the case was suspended.

The sex-for-food scandal in Central African Republic

French soldiers patrol a street in Bangui [AFP] Hisham Aidi* In late March, a report commissioned by the Colombian government claimed that US military soldiers and contractors had sexually abused at least 54 children in Colombia between 2003 and 2007, emphasising that the perpetrators had not been brought to justice on account of diplomatic agreements […]

CAL granted observer status at the ACHPR

On April 24th, 2015, the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights granted the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) formal observer status. There are many reasons for this victory to be highly celebrated in Africa and elsewhere. Read more here

CAL’s victory at the ACHPR: Many reasons to celebrate

by the SPW team In the statement , that appraises the decision of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights in granting observer status the organization, the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) retraces the long and riding home preceding this outcome since 2007, when their request for observer status was presented to the Court. But […]

Registration: 7th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights

Realizing Demographic Dividend in Africa: the Critical Importance of Adolescents and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights February 8 – 12, 2016 | Accra, Ghana Click here to learn more.

Sex workers unite to defy stigma

The day the military raided Amina Danait’s* village in Muguru na Nyori will forever remain etched in her mind. Soldiers had been deployed to search for alleged illegally held guns in her village in Northern Kenya. But they also found girls like Amina and, as she recounts, they raped them. “The soldiers paraded the men outside […]

7th Africa Conference on Sexual Rights and Health

Dear Colleague, Join more than 1,000 policymakers, activists and practitioners, including young persons, people living with HIV & AIDS, with disabilities, and LGBQTI persons from Africa and around the world at the 7th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights. The theme of the conference is Realizing Demographic Dividend in Africa: the Critical Importance […]

Court nullifies section outlawing reckless spread of HIV

By Kamau Muthoni Kenya: The High Court has declared unconstitutional a section of the HIV and Aids Prevention and Control Act that sought to criminalise reckless spreading of the disease. A three-judge bench comprising justices Mumbi Ngugi, Isaac Lenaola and George Odunga ruled Section 24, introduced by the State and criminalising the reckless spreading of […]