The UN Secretary General, just days after the killing of a gay activist in Uganda, issued a warning to countries across the continent against discrimination based on gender. In Italy, associations are calling for a commitment from the Italian government.
by MARCO PASQUA
A FEW days after the first anniversary of the death of David Kato, the gay activist brutally murdered in Uganda, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a warning to African countries to defend gay rights. He did so in Addis Ababa, during the 18th African Union Summit, before heads of state and government from countries where gay people are not only not protected but can even be killed. In the vast majority of countries, homosexuality is a crime, and LGBT people risk prison. Violence (in addition to discrimination) is often encouraged by the local press and even by political leaders. There are few exceptions: one of these is South Africa (when, a few days ago, the king of the Zulu people insulted gays, he was rebuked by the South African president, who distanced himself).
Discrimination based on sexual identity "has been ignored or even approved by many states for too long," the UN chief emphasized today. "This has led governments to treat people as second-class citizens, or even criminals. Combating this discrimination is a challenge, but we must not abandon the ideas of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." For Ban Ki-moon, "Africa's future also depends on investing in civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights." In addition to the United Nations, the United States (represented by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton), France, and the United Kingdom have repeatedly exerted pressure on African states that discriminate against gay people, even threatening to cut off Western aid if homosexuality is not decriminalized.
The memory of the death of activist David Kato, killed on January 26 of last year at the age of 47, in his home, is still vivid. This follows a hate campaign that continues to fuel evangelical preachers in suburban squares in Uganda, sparking a full-blown witch hunt for homosexuals. A bill calling for the death penalty for gays remains pending. In October 2010, the tabloid Rolling Stone published photos of 100 gay activists, calling for their arrest and hanging. Kato was among them, and was later bludgeoned to death in his home. Messages of condolence for his death arrived from the European Union and the U.S. State Department, and various organizations once again urged the international community to apply pressure on African states.
A new campaign has recently been launched by the group Everyone to prevent a young African man from being deported from San Diego to Nigeria. Becley Aigbuza, 28, fled to America after being tortured and raped in his home country. Last year, he applied to the US government for American citizenship, but is now at risk of deportation for applying for a credit card under a false name. "In 2008," say Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro, and Dario Picciau, co-presidents of EveryOne, who are following the case, "during a trip to Nigeria to visit his paternal aunt, he was discovered to be in a relationship with a local boy. She reported him to the authorities in Benin City and the police took him from his home. Taken to a barracks, Becley was first beaten bloody by some inmates, after they had been informed by the police of his homosexuality, and then tortured with acid by three officers, who took turns sodomizing him for hours, using a beer bottle. The young gay man woke up in the hospital with severe wounds and bruises all over his body, a broken hand, and a mutilated testicle." Becley managed to escape from the hospital and, thanks to the help of a parish priest who procured him a new passport, board a flight back to San Diego, where he had lived with his father since the age of eleven. "My father and all my family members in Nigeria," Becley told activists from the EveryOne Group, "have vowed to kill me, 'to cleanse the abomination and shame I brought into the family by being gay.'" The association reports that hundreds of requests for deportation suspensions are currently arriving from all over the world: they will all be forwarded to President Obama.
Ban Ki Moon's message is important, as Aurelio Mancuso, president of Equality Italia, points out, and should be "heard" in Italy as well: "Let's remember that gay people are discriminated against in our country too. Of course, unlike Africa, we don't have laws condemning homosexuality, but our country doesn't implement any active anti-discrimination policies. And for this reason, despite being among the founding members of the European Union, we are seen as lagging behind in civil rights. Suffice it to say that the Obama administration has long been at the forefront of defending gay rights, which have recently been recognized as human rights. From a diplomatic standpoint, this has been very important." Italy, for Mancuso, "should exercise its role in the United Nations and Europe to protect homosexuals worldwide. Something has been done: thanks to the Prodi government, humanitarian asylum was introduced for homosexuals. I personally have supported many young Africans who fled to Italy and requested and obtained this status." Praise for Ban Ki-Moon came from Paolo Patané, national president of Arcigay: "The secretary's words are consistent with a renewed international commitment to combating hate crimes against homosexuals and transgender people, by the UN, the United States, Great Britain, and France." "And where is Italy?" Patané polemically asks. "Which international community does it belong to? The one that wants to change and improve the world, or the one that wants to continue to silently witness the massacres of LGBT people in Africa and beyond, so as not to be embarrassed by the lack of national legislation?" Arcigay also launches an appeal to Prime Minister Monti: "We would like the government to reflect on this. In Africa, homosexual and transgender people are dying for lack of rights, but in Italy they certainly don't live as citizens. Does a right to existence with true equal opportunities exist for us in this country? Arcigay calls for Italy to return to greatness in Europe, including in terms of rights, by committing to a positive turning point for the approval of the Horizontal Directive on equality.".
