HIV fears mount after wave of arrests

Arrest toll mounts and gay men flee the country as new, harsher legislation cracks down on ‘promotion’ of homosexuality, reports The Guardian. Amadou Diouf* has spent the past two months watching people he knows disappear – fleeing across borders, being arrested or simply going silent. Diouf’s experience is playing out across a country that, for decades, has maintained one of Africa’s most resilient HIV prevention systems. But they now feel that Senegal’s harsh anti-gay law puts decades of HIV progress in jeopardy, Diouf helps with the running of a refuge, providing emergency shelter and community support for LGBTQ+ people facing homophobic violence. In Senegal’s capital Dakar, the work has to stay under the radar of the authorities. On 27 March, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye signed a new law doubling the maximum prison term to 10 years for sexual acts by same-sex couples and criminalising the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality. Alice Bordaçarre, at the gender equality desk of the International Federation for Human Rights, warned that any organisation working on fundamental rights – including HIV prevention – could be considered as promoting LGBTQ+ rights under the law’s broad framing. ‘It risks criminalising legitimate human rights activities, including those of lawyers, health workers, journalists and NGOs. It is very dangerous,’ she said.

According to HIV Justice Network, which monitors HIV criminalisation globally, more than 60 people have been detained since the beginning of February on Article 319 charges, which carry a sentence of one to five years in prison. Forty-two of those cases are linked to the arrest of television presenter Pape Cheikh Diallo, according to Sylvie Beaumont of HIV Justice Network. After Diallo was detained at a hotel, police used his phone to identify and trace those connected to him. Beaumont said the latest wave of arrests is ‘unprecedented in the region’ due to the forced HIV testing of those arrested and the automatic addition of intentional transmission charges for those who test positive, notes The Guardian. On 18 March, UNAIDS noted that new HIV infections in the country rose 36% between 2010 and 2024, making Senegal one of only four countries in west and central Africa where infections are still climbing. For Diouf, the question now is whether the HIV prevention system can survive the new legislation and the fear that is driving key communities underground.

Full report in The Guardian