Resisting anti-rights attacks on the LGBTQ+ movement in the digital age

Session description: 

The rise of the anti-rights movement is accelerating the criminalization of LGBTQ+ people and identity in Africa. 

In Senegal, the government’s amendment of Article 319 of Senegal’s Penal Code has triggered alarming crackdowns on LGBTQ+ people, online and offline. In Ghana, members of parliament recently passed the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, which will increase censorship and surveillance of LGBTQ+ people in Ghana. The threats to human rights are emerging not only at the national level, but across the continent; anti-rights actors are now lobbying to pass the draft African Charter on the Protection of the Family, Sovereignty, and Religious and Cultural Values at the African Union. This dangerous law would roll back LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and sexual and reproductive health rights for millions of people in Africa. 

The digital space is playing a critical role in enabling both state and non-state actors to target LGBTQ+ people in criminalized contexts. In this webinar, experts will unpack how the anti-rights movement is weaponizing narrative framing on family values to restrict rights, how Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ bill will impact people across the continent, and what we can do to fight back.

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