PHM-Exch> Global Fund and UNAIDS urge Nigeria to reconsider new anti-gay law

[Patrick Wamukulu]

FYI>>>>
Global Fund and UNAIDS urge Nigeria to reconsider new anti-gay law
Karanja Kinyanjui
20 Jan 2014
 The law restricts gay and lesbian people from associating in public and
imposes jail time of up to 14 years for same-sex unions

The law passed the Nigerian national assembly in May 2013 but President
Goodluck Jonathan resisted signing it until early January, doing so with
little fanfare as he knew the likely firestorm it would provoke among
Nigeria’s development partners.

Governments including the US and the UK released strongly worded statements
that matched the urgent request by the Global Fund and UNAIDS for Nigeria
to review the constitutionality of the law, which will impose stiff jail
sentences of up to 14 years for those entering into same-sex unions and
restricts public association by gay and lesbian Nigerians.

In a 14 January statement, the two organizations said the new law “could
prevent access to essential HIV services for LGBT people who may be at high
risk of HIV infection, undermining the success of the *Presidential
Comprehensive Response Plan for HIV/AIDS *which was launched by President
Goodluck Jonathan less than a year ago”.

Nigeria should put comprehensive measures in place to protect the ongoing
delivery of HIV services to LGBT people without fear of arrest or other
reprisals, the Global Fund/UNAIDS statement added.

Estimates from 2012 suggest there are some 3.4 million people in Nigeria
living with HIV, a national prevalence rate of around 4%. Prevalence among
men who have sex with men is estimated at 17%.

“The provisions of the law could lead to increased homophobia,
discrimination, denial of HIV services and violence based on real or
perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. It could also be used
against organizations working to provide HIV prevention and treatment
services to LGBT people,” they said.

The law may have serious public health and human rights implications for
Nigeria and could be a bellwether for similar repressive legislation across
West Africa.

There are already more than 30 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that have
criminalized homosexual activity: most of which are recipients of Global
Fund support. The implications of the new law are already evoking concerns
among civil society groups that work specifically with men who have sex
with men. The Global Fund Secretariat told Aidspan that it did not know yet
what the law meant for the programmes it supports in Nigeria, but that
contact with government was continuing.

However, the adverse implications for outreach programmes to the MSM
community could be considerable. In the administrative capital Abuja, the
International Center for Advocacy on Right to Health (ICARH) established a
clinic in 2011, providing condoms and ARVs to slow the spread of HIV in
this population.

“This law will be very harmful to our work,” Ifeanyi Kelly Orazulike,
ICARH’s Head of Programmes told Aidspan. “The primary beneficiaries of our
programmes are men who have sex with men. Over 600 people are benefitting
from our services, and 200 of them are receiving ARVs. What will happen to
these people who are on ARVs? There is a real possibility that they will
drop out of the programme as MSM will henceforth fear coming out in public
to receive the services.”

Mr Orazulike said that anecdotally, he has heard from many men preparing to
flee the country once the law is fully implemented because due to the way
it is written, it creates an atmosphere that encourages targeting of people
on the basis of their sexual orientation. As part of an intensive year-long
campaign to keep the bill from being passed, ICARH delivered a paper to the
Nigerian senate about the potential implications for public health. The
paper, he said, was ignored.

“The international community should put pressure on the Nigerian government
to understand the negative impact of this law in terms of financing for
programmes targeting key populations,” he said, noting that the support by
the Global Fund and other donors is crucial.

The Global Fund has disbursed about $1 billion to Nigeria since 2002, some
two-thirds of which supports HIV programming including the provision of
anti-retroviral therapy for more than 520,000 people.

Speaking by telephone to Aidspan, Ibrahim Umoru, coordinator of Nigeria’s
Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, which has been a sub-recipient (SR)
of Global Fund grants since 2006, called the law  inconsistent with the
country’s need to slow the spread of HIV transmission and infection.
Tackling AIDS is not just about providing anti-retroviral treatment; it’s
about sensitizing people about prevention and changing behaviours to avoid
infection. So the grey areas not yet clarified in the application of the
new law could make his job decidedly more complicated.

“For instance, in my work, I come across situations where I may need to
offer counselling to MSM people who are HIV positive. Since the new law
criminalizes the public display of same-sex activities, will such
counselling be prevented?” he asked. “As a person living with HIV, my
concern is not about people’s sexual orientation but rather about sexual
health. Treatment must be given to all people without discrimination.”

Discouragement with the passage of the bill that they spent a year fighting
will not make AIDS activists in Africa’s most populous nation complacent,
Mr Umoru vowed; instead, they will continue to agitate for government to
ensure a conducive environment for the implementation of HIV/AIDS
programmes for all people, including those engaged in same-sex activities.

Yakasai Umar Tanko, the national coordinator of Network of Youth on
HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (Nynetha), a sub-recipient of Global Fund grants for
Round 9, said the government should be prepared to fill the void if donors
who have been funding LGBT programmes are unable to operate because of the
new law.

“The government must have been aware of the implications of coming up with
that law and should be ready for the consequences that the law will have on
donor funding for HIV/AIDS programmes,” he said.

Read the article in
French<http://www.aidspan.org/fr/gfo_article/fonds_mondial_ONUSIDA_exhortent_nigeria_reexaminer_nouvelle_loi_contre_homosexualite>.
Lire l'article en
français<http://www.aidspan.org/fr/gfo_article/fonds_mondial_ONUSIDA_exhortent_nigeria_reexaminer_nouvelle_loi_contre_homosexualite>
.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20140127/2c7b19ec/attachment.html>