January 6th, nine gay men were tried before a court in Senegal and sentenced to prison for eight years for "indecent conduct and unnatural acts."  Consensual sex between men is illegal in Senegal (punishable by imprisonment from one to five years and a hefty fine) but, on top of that, the judge threw in three to five years on top of the original sentence claiming these men were also part of a criminal group. 

Most of them belonged to an organization established to provide HIV prevention services to men who have sex with men.

Well.  Hmm.  There are just so many things wrong with this.

While it has long been apparent that most African governments prefer to deny the existence of men who have sex with men in their countries over providing them with the tools needed for effective HIV prevention, in the recent past, the environment in Senegal has become particicularly antagonistic to LGBT men and women.

While just this past December, Dakar was the host city to the International Conference on HIV and STIs in Africa (ICASA) where issues related to men who have sex with men were prominitely featured, homophobia and stigma leading to violence have been on the rise, fueled, in part, by Muslim religious norms and ongoing trends to repress sexuality across the board.

Particularly in a country where HIV prevention programs have been so successful-- from the outset of the epidemic, Senegal implemented effective prevention programs targeting those most at risk with essential prevention tools and succeeded in keeping transmission rates and prevalance extremely low compared to other West African countries-- fueling stigma and discrimination against men who have sex with men undermines both human rights and good public health practice.

Yesterday, UNAIDS released a formal statement condoning the government of Senegal.  Executive Director Michel Sidibé said,“There is no place for homophobia. Universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support must be accessible to all people in Senegal who are in need—including men who have sex with men... This will only happen if the men convicted are released and steps taken to rebuild trust with affected communities.”

Beyond urging the Senegalese government to release the prisoners,

UNAIDS urges the Government of Senegal to take steps to eliminate stigma and discrimination faced by men who have sex with men and create an enabling legal environment for them and the organizations working with them so as to protect their rights and increase access for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services. Failure to do so will jeopardize Senegal’s target of achieving the goal of universal access by 2010.

UNAIDS would like to see the creation of a social and legal environment that guarantees respect for human rights. UNAIDS recommends that criminal law prohibiting sexual acts between consenting adults in private should be reviewed with the aim of repeal.

While it is reassuring to see such a strong response from UNAIDS (and new leadership from Sidibé), it's unlikely this statement will have much impact on the outcome in this case, considering the UN's lack of real enforcement power. 

While the defendents plan to appeal and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) is currently working with local and international partners to find more information about the case and explore options for action, for now, these men are in jail.  For the next eight years.  For commiting no crime aside from being themselves and seeking to prevent HIV transmission in their community.