Sustainable development and the struggle for LGBTI social inclusion in Africa: opportunities for accelerating change

ABSTRACT

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Agenda 2063 chart a new development pathway for Africa. ‘Leaving no one behind’, or full social inclusion, is central to this effort. What will this mean for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex (LGBTI) people in Africa who are among the most socially excluded members of the population? This article explores this through a discussion framed by the concept of social inclusion and the commitments regarding it that appear in the SDGs and the Agenda 2063. Although LGBTI inclusion across Africa is not explicit in either document, there are nevertheless important opportunities for linking continental LGBTI advocacy to the sustainable development enterprise.

Les objectifs de développement durable (ODD) et l'Agenda 2063 tracent une nouvelle voie pour le développement en Afrique. Le principe de « N'abandonner personne » - ou encore, d'une pleine intégration sociale – est central à ce programme. Quelle en sera la signification pour les personnes lesbiennes, gays, bisexuelles, transgenres ou intersexes (LGBTI) en Afrique, qui figurent parmi les populations les plus exclues socialement ? Cet article examine cette question à travers une discussion à la lumière du concept d'intégration sociale et des engagements le concernant, tels qu'ils apparaissent dans les ODD et dans l'Agenda 2063. Bien que l'intégration des personnes LGBTI à travers le continent africain ne soit explicite dans aucun des documents, il existe des opportunités importantes d'associations entre le plaidoyer LGBTI continental et l'initiative des ODD.

Los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ods) y la Agenda 2063 trazan un nuevo camino de desarrollo para África. Un aspecto central de este esfuerzo consiste en alcanzar la plena inclusión social, lo que se resume en el lema “Sin dejar a nadie de lado”. Sin embargo, persiste la incógnita sobre lo que esto significará concretamente para las personas lesbianas, gais, bisexuales, transgéneras e intersexuales (lgbti) de África, que figuran entre los miembros más socialmente excluidos de la población. El presente artículo aborda esta cuestión a partir de una discusión enmarcada en el concepto de inclusión social, así como en los compromisos que en este sentido se han asentado en los ods y la Agenda 2063. Aunque ninguno de estos documentos menciona explícitamente la integración de las personas lgbti en África, existen importantes oportunidades para vincular la incidencia a favor de las personas lgbti en este continente con los esfuerzos encaminados a lograr el desarrollo sostenible.

KEYWORDS:

• Aid – Development policies
• Civil society – participation
• Gender and diversity
• Rights
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Nana K. Poku is Research Professor and Executive Director of the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. He was formerly the Executive Director of the United Nations Commission on HIV and AIDS Governance in Africa. He is a leading global expert, in research, policy, and practice, on governance and development for the African continent.

Kene Esom is the Executive Director of African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (AMSHeR), a coalition of 18 men-having-sex-with-men and LGBT-led organisations in 15 sub-Saharan Africa countries. He is a Barrister-at-Law and holds an LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Russell Armstrong is a Visiting Research Fellow at HEARD and an independent health and development consultant based in southern Africa. He is a graduate of the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics, Human Rights and Health Law at the University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. As part of his professional practice, he works with LGBTI constituencies across the continent on HIV programmes and other health and social justice priorities.

Notes

1 Terms related to sexual orientation and gender identity are difficult to fix in the African context as elsewhere. The article alludes to this in the section addressing LGBTI exclusion in Africa, particularly where it notes the fluid and intersectional ways that same-sex-loving or gender-non-conforming individuals construct and live out their sexual and social identities in ways that align and do not align with such global terms. The authors use “LGBTI” as a short-hand or proxy for this subtler reality despite its evident truncation of a much broader and more complex continuum. The case is still made for advancing the social inclusion of LGBTI constituencies in Africa, even though there may be many more similarly situated but differently identified individuals or groups for whom the argument for greater social inclusion, and the benefits to be achieved, may also apply.

2 For example, the Botswana Court of Appeal, the highest court in the country, recently ruled that “Members of the gay, lesbian and transgender community, although no doubt a small minority, and unacceptable to some on religious or other grounds, form part of the rich diversity of any nation and are fully entitled in Botswana, as in any other progressive state, to the constitutional protection of their dignity.” Attorney General of Botswana v. Thuto Rammoge and 19 Others, Court of Appeal of the Republic of Botswana, 2016, Civil Appeal No. CACGB-128-14. www.southernafricalitigationcentre.org/1/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/LEGBIBO-CoA-judgment.pdf

3 Some attention was given to these omissions within the UN system at the end of the process. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights noted, for example, that while the SDG framework “include[d] perhaps the most extensive list of groups to be given special focus of any international document of its kind”, it pointed out that LGBTI individuals were not part of the list (UNOHCHR 2015). At a press event coinciding with the ratification of the declaration, the UN Secretary General stated, “We will only realise this vision if we reach all people regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.” Secretary-General’s remarks at the High Level LGBTI Core Group Event, “Leaving No-One Behind: Equality & Inclusion in the Post-2015 Development Agenda”, New York, 29 September 2015. www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=9064

4 An important example of this difficulty was the granting (May 2015) and subsequent withdrawal (November 2015) of observer status to the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) during and following the 56th ordinary session of the ACHPR (African Union 2015b). In calling for the withdrawal, the Executive Council of the AU requested of the ACHPR that it: “… take into account the fundamental African values, identity and good traditions, and to withdraw the observer status granted to NGOs who may attempt to impose values contrary to the African values; … and [specifically] to withdraw the observer status granted to the Organization called CAL, in line with those African Values” (African Union 2015b, 1). Among other reactions, an NGO-led legal action is pending before the African Court for Human and Peoples’ Rights to clarify the powers of the Executive Council and to protect the ability of the ACHPR to grant observer status to organisations it deems relevant to its work (African Union 2015b).