SENEGALES police have arrested 12 men in the capital Dakar, charging them under laws that criminalise same-sex conduct and the alleged intentional transmission of HIV — the latest in a series of escalating crackdowns against LGBTQ+ communities across West Africa.
The men face charges including “acts against nature” under Article 319 of Senegal’s Penal Code, a provision rooted in colonial-era legislation. If convicted, they could face up to five years in prison and fines ranging from 100,000 to 1,500,000 CFA francs — approximately $180 to $2,700 — with additional sentences of up to ten years on HIV transmission charges.
Human Rights Watch, which reported the arrests, called on the Senegalese government to release the men and repeal what it described as discriminatory and homophobic laws.
The arrests come amid a broader climate of hostility toward LGBTQ+ people in Senegal that advocates say has grown sharply in recent years. In October 2023, a mob in the city of Kaolack, 200 kilometres southeast of Dakar, exhumed the body of a man believed to be gay, dragged it through the streets, and burned it publicly. Videos of the incident circulated widely on social media across the country.
Members of parliament have twice sought to toughen penalties for same-sex conduct — in 2022 and again in 2024 — though both efforts fell short. Critics warn that the repeated legislative attempts signal a growing political appetite for harsher measures.
The chilling effect extends beyond those arrested. One activist told Human Rights Watch that community-based health workers are now afraid that their contact information, if found on the detained men’s phones, could expose them to legal jeopardy.
A Regional Pattern
Senegal’s crackdown is not isolated. Across West Africa, anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment has hardened into law and public policy. Ghana’s parliament passed a sweeping anti-LGBTQ+ bill in 2024 that would criminalise advocacy and support for LGBTQ+ rights, not just same-sex conduct itself. The bill, one of the most far-reaching of its kind on the continent, awaits presidential assent and has drawn condemnation from international human rights organisations and Western governments.
Human rights advocates say the convergence of punitive legislation, mob violence, and political rhetoric in the region is creating an environment in which LGBTQ+ people face mounting danger with few legal protections.
Public Health Consequences
The arrests in Dakar have raised alarms among public health workers. Human Rights Watch noted that prosecutors are using condoms, lubricants, and HIV medication as evidence of same-sex conduct — practices that, advocates warn, will deter people from accessing HIV prevention and treatment services.
Forcing HIV testing and publicly disclosing individuals’ HIV status, as has occurred in connection with the case, violates internationally recognised privacy rights and undermines public health frameworks built around voluntary testing and confidential care.
Senegal is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights — instruments that prohibit discrimination and guarantee equality before the law. Human Rights Watch argues that the current prosecutions place Senegal in violation of each.
The Senegalese government has not issued a public response to calls for the men’s release.
