State and political attitudes

In May 2016, the member of Parliament Mberry Sylla presented a bill that would explicitly criminalise same-sex conducts in the country.

In the spring of 2013, the U.S. pressured the Senegalese government to decriminalise same-sex relationships. The President of Senegal responded by issuing a press release, stating that the ‘state has never considered such an option [to decriminalize homosexuality]’ and in light of ‘cultural values’ same-sex relationships cannot be decriminalised.

Treatment by the authorities

Human Rights Watch published a 95-page report entitled ’Fear for Life: Violence Against Gay Men and Men Perceived as Gay in Senegal’. HRW interviewed male victims who have been subject to threats and violence by the police and others in the community.  The men who were interviewed describe being insulted, beaten, stripped, threatened and tortured in prison, and attacked and blackmailed. The police often fail to protect those who suffer vigilante violence on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender expression.

While it appears that in the past the police authorities have mainly targeted gay men, recent reports show that the number of women arrested for suspected same-sex conduct is increasing. Despite this, a recent report by the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board suggests that the government is responding to international scrutiny and the number of successful prosecutions of LGBTI is decreasing.

In December 2015, 11 men were arrested allegedly guilty under Article 319. All of them were released afterwards, but the case triggered a surge of homophobia.

In August 2015, seven men were sentenced to 6 months jail under Article 319 of the Penal Code.

In July 2015, the Senegalese journalist Tamsir Jupiter Ndiaye was ordered to return to prison to serve a six month sentence for homosexual acts, notwithstanding the fact that the defendant gave a different account of the facts. The journalist had been already convicted in 2012 under the same allegation.

In 2013, four women were freed after being arrested on allegation of same-sex relationship laws because of insufficient evidence to convict them under Article 319.

Societal attitudes

According to the 2013 Pew Global Attitudes Project, 96% of Senegal’s residents believe that same-sex relationships are a way of life that society should reject.

The AfroBarometer survey, conducted in 2014/2015,found that intolerance against homosexuals almost reaches unanimity (97%) in Senegal.

In early 2014, a music video by Senegalese singer Ouzin Keita was published on YouTube. To date, it has had nearly 800,000 views. Numerous people in Senegal criticised the dancer and called him ‘gordjiguène’, a word which translates into ‘man-woman’ in Wolof (language of the Wolof people in Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania) and is often used as a slur for a gay person. This abuse is indicative of the societal attitude towards transgender and intersex individuals in Senegal.

Four men were arrested for attacking five men suspected of being gay in 2014. This was a rare instance of the police authorities standing up for the rights of gay people. However, it was revealing that there was a popular protest organised by locals urging the authorities to release the men.

In 2016, a man was threatened by students on the allegation of being gay.

Cases C-199/12, C-200/12 & C-201/12 X, Y, Z v Minister Voor Immigratie en Asiel, 7 November 2013

The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruled that a homosexual man fleeing Senegal had a well-founded fear of persecution, given the enforcement of anti-gay laws in the country. The CJEU also declared that a person’s sexual orientation is so essential to a person’s identity that they should not be forced to renounce it. The court decided that therefore it was not a reasonable expectation for a person to conceal his homosexuality in his or her country of origin, or exercise restraint in expressing his or her sexual orientation. The CJEU underlined that there must be sufficiently serious violations of fundamental rights to constitute persecution within the meaning of the Geneva Convention.

Applicant v USA – No. 11341, San Francisco Immigration Court, 28 January 2015

A San Francisco Immigration Judge granted Convention Against Torture (CAT) relief to a bisexual man from Senegal. The man was chronically homeless and feared persecution because of his sexual orientation and also because of his involvement with a rebel group, The Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC).

Applicant v Belgium (Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons), No. 134833, Belgian Council for Alien Law Litigation, 9 December 2014

Belgian Council for Alien Law Litigation finds that the initial rejection of an asylum application by a Senegalese national was too subjective and did little to displace the applicant’s general credibility and legitimate fears of persecution. The court advances that the individual faces a serious risk of persecution on account of his homosexuality and that protection provided by the authorities would not be guaranteed on his return.

TCT v Italy (The Minister of the Interior), No. 15981/2012, Court of Cassation, 20 September 2012

This Italian Supreme Court judgement asserts that criminal sanctions against homosexual acts under Article 319 of the Criminal Code of Senegal constitute a deprivation of the fundamental right to live one’s own sexual and emotional life in freedom and are sufficient in themselves to justify granting refugee status. The case was returned to the court of appeal.