This image is for illustrative purposes only and is not directly related to this story. Image source: Papa birame Faye
On October 12, Human Rights Watch published a report exposing Senegal's escalating crackdown on LGBTQ people. On March 11, Senegal's parliament voted 135 to 0, with three abstentions, to amend article 319 of the penal code, doubling the maximum prison term for consensual same-sex conduct from five to 10 years and raising fines to 10 million CFA francs (about US$17,000). "Promoting" or "glorifying" homosexuality, or financing LGBTQ individuals and organizations, now carries up to seven years in prison and fines of 500,000 to 5 million CFA francs; judges are instructed not to suspend sentences or go below the minimum penalty. Since the amendment, police and gendarmerie have escalated arrests across the country.
At least 320 people have been arrested since February on allegations of "acts against nature," according to the HIV Justice Network; the Dakar-based rights group RADDHO counts 212 arrests between February and July. Security officials admit arrests were based on information extracted from seized phones, third-party allegations, and raids on private premises: after 12 men were detained in Dakar on February 9, gendarmes traced one man's phone and arrested the 101st suspect in Keur Massar on June 25; on July 30, eight women were arrested after phone data linked them to two others. At least 82 detainees were charged with "voluntary HIV transmission" solely on the basis of their HIV-positive status; a court dismissed some of those charges in August. Detainees were subjected to forced HIV testing without informed consent, and their names and HIV status later appeared in local media. On April 10, a 24-year-old man was sentenced to six years in prison — the only conviction so far. Lawyers say they are afraid to take such cases for fear of being associated with the cause.
"LGBT people are being forced to curb their normal activities and to keep from exercising their rights for fear of arrest and increased stigma," said Larissa Kojoué, LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Senegal's government should call a halt to this crackdown, which threatens everyone's rights." A doctor in Dakar told Human Rights Watch: "We have noticed that some people have fled while others are hiding. One-third no longer come in for appointments to seek HIV treatment." On September 29, Human Rights Watch wrote to Senegal's justice minister, the high commander of the National Gendarmerie and the director general of the National Police with its findings; it has received no response. Notably, the amendment passed parliament with near-unanimous support — during the 2024 presidential campaign, President Diomaye Faye and former Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko both pledged to strengthen laws against same-sex relations.
Consensual same-sex conduct has been criminalized in Senegal since 1965, but hostility has intensified sharply in recent years. Analysts note the crackdown's damage reaches beyond LGBTQ people themselves: fear is driving people away from HIV testing and treatment, threatening to reverse years of public-health gains, while a law that classifies homosexuality alongside necrophilia and bestiality as "acts against nature" is chilling lawyers, doctors and journalists. Symbolically, Dakar is set to host the 2026 Youth Olympic Games from October 31 to November 13 — the first Olympic event on African soil — under an Olympic Charter that prohibits discrimination of any kind. Human Rights Watch questions whether Senegal, while the crackdown continues, still meets its obligations under its own constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Africa Editorial Office: Imani Makena
Sources: Human Rights Watch, Associated Press, HIV Justice Network, RADDHO and public reporting (tip: GayBuzzer)
Reference links:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/10/12/senegal-brutal-crackdown-violates-lgbt-peoples-rights
https://www.lanacion.com.ar/usa/senegals-crackdown-on-lgbtq-people-forces-them-to-go-into-hiding-rights-watchdog-says-nid12102026/
https://www.europesays.com/africa/470528/
https://britbrief.co.uk/environment/activism/senegal-lgbtq-crackdown-320-arrested-hrw-reports.html