Gay community booming in Ethiopia

Wikileaks | Gay community booming in Ethiopia

A leaked Cable of US Embassy Addis Ababa, dated Dec. 30,2009, claims that:

‘a thriving LGBT social scene exists in Addis Ababa. Parties are generally unannounced and held in private homes or bars, with invitations distributed via word of mouth or text messaging….events are held at least on a weekly basis, with attendance of more than 50 people not unusual. ’

LGBT is an abbreviation to ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (or transsexual)’.
According to the Cable, citing Embassy ‘contacts’, such Such events have been forced to relocate, sometimes on short notice, because of real or perceived threats to the establishments where they are held. However, no arrests or harassment have been reported linked to these social events.
The Cable notes that Ethiopia is a conservative society and Homosexual conduct is punishable under Ethiopia’s Crime law. However, it claims that:

* Post[the Embassy] is not aware of any cases of homosexual conduct that have been prosecuted in recent years or any pending cases for homosexual acts between adults.

* In the past year, post received limited reports of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals; however, reporting may have been scarce due to fears of retribution, discrimination, or stigmatization. The anecdotal reports post is aware of come from credible sources and include forced marriages and rapes of LGBT individuals.

* [social events of LGBTs] have been forced to relocate, sometimes on short notice, because of real or perceived threats to the establishments where they are held. However, no arrests or harassment have been reported linked to these social events.

* As in other countries, urban residents and young people are likely to be more tolerant of homosexual behavior when compared to their rural and elder counterparts, but even among this group conservative views dominate.

The US Embassy is of the opinion that ‘there is not an appreciable level of homosexual prostitution or sex tourism in Ethiopia.’
The Cable also mentions a December 2008 campaign by Ethiopian religious leaders and an NGO called "United for Life" . The Campaign mainly involved the signing of a resolution by a ‘dozens ‘of religious leaders condemning homosexuality and urging the parliament to ban homosexuality in the Constitution. However, the Constitution was not amended to that effect, nor does it seem likely.
A group called Rainbow Ethiopia LGBT/MSM, however, described the year 2009, as follows:

LAST YEAR CHALLENGES/2009

1.On December 28,2008 an alliance of religious leaders from Ethiopian Orthodox church,Muslim, catholic & the evangelical church with an NGO called <united for life Ethiopia>held a three days homophobic conference & submit 10 points ultimatum to urge the government to the constitutionalisation of death sentence to any homosexual acts even between two consented adult. The alliance perceive this social group as mentally ill/criminals and the all want us to relocate top mental hospitals/concentration camp/remote prisons which are full of wild animals & yellow fever. They consider this sexual orientation as communicable/contagious plague.

2. Many local Medias & presses such as Kumneger magazine, royal magazine, lamrot magazine, Ethiochannal news papers & many others are printing very sarcastic catalyzing articles & open psychological homophobic war to agitate the general society against this social group. If these trends continue we may face more additional danger both from the government & the public. These will jeopardize the whole Ethiopians sexual minorities in general & our steering organization members in particular.

3. On February 5, 2009 an American diplomat Brian Daniel working in the visa section of the embassy has been found dead in his home by head injury using golf clubby homophobic attack of his own Ethiopian friends.

4. AFP has transmitted a short documentary program on the harsh & secret life style of Ethiopians sexual minorities by interviewing some of them & collecting some information from the other resources.

5. The other issue is the publishing of homophobic book religion & sodomy by the Episcopal of Ethiopian orthodox church of A.A BISHOP SAMUEL which aims to the public uprising against us especially the church followers.

6. The homophobic rally by the Pentecostal church leaders & followers to condemn us irrationally. Generally all the above mentioned & other government & public homophobic actions has a very negative impact on our life. We are now the high risk groups in the society. at any time we may face public attack at any place, we don have either a legal ground our organizational capacity to respond to this defamation,intimidation,harassment & attack because we are very resource constrained.So,we need a partner for capacity building assistance to our organization well functioning.

Generally, to accomplish all the projects into fruition, we need the support of international humanitarians in the form of financial, technical, material.Please send us a message if  you have any comments/suggestions.Therefore please be the part of this human right project. We are waiting your generous support.

UN Human Rights Committee
The call for ‘support of international humanitarians’, in the above quoted statement, didn’t fall on deaf ears, it seems. In deed, the issue is one of the major concerns of the United Nations Human Rights Committee with regard to Ethiopia.
The Committee, responsible to review the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, stated on its list of recommendations to Ethiopia last July, that:

The Committee is concerned about the criminalization of “homosexuality and other indecent acts”, as are other international human rights treaty bodies. As pointed out by the Committee, such criminalization violates the rights to privacy and to protection against discrimination set out in the Covenant. The Committee’s concerns are not allayed by the information furnished by the State party that the provision in question is not applied in practice or by its statement that it is important to change mindsets before modifying the law in this regard (arts. 2, 17 and 26).

The State party [Ethiopia] should take steps to decriminalize sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex in order to bring its legislation into line with the Covenant. The State party should also take the necessary steps to put an end to the social stigmatization of homosexuality and send a clear message that it does not tolerate any form of harassment, discrimination or violence against persons based on their sexual orientation.

Prior to the issuance of the recommendation, the Committee had discussed the issue with a high level Ethiopian delegation led by Fisseha Yimer, Special Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia. The Committee probed about the state of ‘same sex sexual activity’ in Ethiopia at least twice during in the discussion. The summarized minutes of the discussion posted by the Committee reads:

* [Committee members:] The criminalization of same sex sexual activity raised serious issues under several articles of the Covenant, including articles dealing with privacy and non-discrimination. Ethiopia had not registered reservations to these articles. How could the State invoke public morals, social norms and customs in a manner that led to stigmatization, violence and disparities in medical care?

The delegation said….In terms of sexual orientation and homosexuality, the delegation said that there was some difficulty in having discussions on this issue because it was a criminal act in Ethiopia and this currently was not being discussed in the country. The delegation did not know of anyone who had been prosecuted under this law and it had not been discussed publicly. What the State could do at this point was state the facts, which was that the law was unlikely to be changed at this point.

* [Committee members:] Concerning homosexuality, the fact that homosexuals were not pursued by the law did not mean they were not discriminated against. There was a feeling that homosexuals preferred to hide. Could Ethiopia do something to protect these individuals, an Expert asked?

The Ethiopian delegation said…..concerning sexual orientation, it was not in a position to respond further to the questions raised by the Committee. There was no possibility of changing the law on this subject at present. However, Ethiopia did not question in any way that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights protected all persons.

 N.B. Originally published on www. danielberhane .com