‘Hand them over so we can stone them to death’: LGBTI people’s ongoing African battle

It’s a song that has been sung year after year: LGBT people are victimised in the majority of African countries, and human rights activists continue to fight an uphill battle. Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch released two disturbing reports from Kenya and Tunisia, detailing more draconian prison sentences, public violence and even torture. 

“We are saying hand the homosexuals over to us so that we can give them up, we can stone them to death. We can teach them to become normal, straight people,” one citizen calmly requests in a recent HRW video.

The situation in Tunisia is not much different.  Tunisian authorities force accused homosexuals to undergo anal examinations--a humiliating and sometimes physically excruciating process, they are classified as torture by the UN Committee Against Torture. 

HRW Tunisia office director Amna Guellali said that underreporting of abuse by authorities was a major challenge for activists. “If [one] has been victim of violence from other individuals or from mobs because of their sexual orientation, they can formally file a complaint at the police office. But most of the time they don’t do it because they are afraid to be repressed even more by the police and to face prosecution."  Read More via Daily Maverick