“The Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act effectively
authorizes abuses against LGBT people,” said Wendy Isaack, LGBT rights
researcher at Human Rights Watch. “While Human Rights Watch found no evidence
that anyone has been prosecuted under the SSMPA, its impact has been
far-reaching and severe.”
The report is based on in-depth interviews conducted between
October 2015 and April 2016 with 73 LGBT people and 15 representatives of
Nigeria-based nongovernmental organizations in Abuja, Lagos, and Ibadan. Human
Rights Watch research indicates that since January 2014, there have been rising
incidents of mob violence, with groups coming together to attack people based on
their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan passed the law, even
though same-sex activity between consenting adults was already illegal and
activists had not been advocating legalization of same-sex marriage. The law
provides for prison terms of 14 years for anyone who enters a same-sex marriage
or civil union and is so vague that “civil union” could include any form of
intimate co-habitation.
The law also punishes establishing, supporting, and participating
in gay organizations and public displays of affection with 10 years in prison.
The passage of the law was strongly opposed by domestic,
regional, and international human rights groups, including the African
Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. On February 5, 2014, Commissioner
Reine Alapini-Gansou, the African Commission’s special rapporteur on human
rights defenders in Africa, voiced concern about “physical violence,
aggression, arbitrary detention and harassment carried out against human rights
defenders dealing with sexual minority rights issues” in the wake of the law.
“Basically, because of this law the police treat LGBT people
in any way that they please,” said an Abuja-based leader of a nongovernmental
group. “They torture, force people to confess and when they hear about a
gathering of men, they just head over to make arrests.”
Punitive legal environments, stigma, and discrimination
based on sexual orientation and gender identity, together with high levels of
physical, psychological, or sexual violence against gay men and other men who
have sex with men, impedes sustainable national responses to HIV, Human Rights
Watch found. When officials or national authorities, including law enforcement
officials, condone and commit violence, it leads to a climate of fear that
fuels human rights violations. The fear also deters gay men and other men who
have sex with men from seeking and adhering to HIV prevention, treatment, care,
and support services.
The law contravenes basic tenets of the Nigerian
Constitution and violates several human rights treaties that Nigeria has
ratified. In April 2014, the African Commission adopted its groundbreaking
resolution 275, calling on governments to prevent and punish all forms of
violence targeting people on the basis of their real or imputed sexual
orientation or gender identity. In November 2015, the African Commission urged
the Nigerian government to review the law, to prohibit violence on the basis of
sexual orientation and gender identity, and to ensure access to HIV prevention,
treatment, and care services for LGBT individuals.
Nigerian authorities should act swiftly to protect LGBT
people from violence, whether by state or non-state actors. Law enforcement
officials should act without delay to stop all forms of abuse and violence
against LGBT people, and ensure that LGBT victims of violence can file criminal
complaints against their attackers.
The government of Nigeria should repeal the specific
provisions of the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act that criminalize forming
and supporting LGBT organizations and ensure that key populations, including
gay men, men who have sex with men, and transgender people have access to HIV
services, care, and treatment.
“LGBT people in Nigeria are not advocating for same-sex
marriage, but they want the violence to stop and for human rights defenders and
organizations that provide services to LGBT people to be able to operate
without fear,” Isaack said. “Nigeria should respond to the African Commission’s
recommendation to review the law, rather than remaining silent about the human
rights abuses LGBT people are facing.”
Source; Human Rights Watch
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