Gay rights in Namibia

Namibia has had a troubled history in regards to the protection of the rights and civil liberties of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens. Sodomy is illegal in Namibia, and is punishable with prison time. Furthermore, statements by government leaders, such as Sam Nujoma and Jerry Ekandjo, concerning gays and lesbians have drawn both domestic and international condemnation.

However, LGBT rights groups, such as Sister Namibia and Rainbow Project, operate freely in Namibia's major cities, even though they have been frequented by anti-gay attacks since independence in 1990. There is no information on the history of the LGBT citizenry prior to 1990.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Namibians live and work in difficult circumstances. Sodomy remains illegal in Namibia and rather than fulfilling its duty to protect LGBT people, the government has helped fuel anti-LGBT violence. In 1996, former President Sam Nujoma stated at the opening of a SWAPO (ruling party) Women’s Congress that, “Homosexuals must be condemned and rejected in our society.” In a 2001 speech at the University of Namibia, his attacks went further. Nujoma said, “The Republic of Namibia does not allow homosexuality [or] lesbianism here. Police are ordered to arrest you and deport you and imprison you.” To this day, the Namibian LGBTI community experiences widespread social exclusion and rejection. As one member of the community told us, “When we walk down the street, people call us names. One transwoman was even beaten by seven people but the police dismissed the case as a general attack and not a hate crime.”

Although for many years, there was a strong LGBT movement in Namibia responding to such attacks, a gap formed as the organizations then leading the movement folded or shifted their focus. In response, community members and activists came together in March 2010 to form Outright Namibia (ORN) – headquartered in Windhoek with a network of regional leaders and support groups. As the one-year organization works to rebuild the LGBT movement in Namibia, ORN decided to partner with IGLHRC in designing and delivering a two-day training focused on human rights documentation. ORN and Executive Director Linda Baumann rightly reasoned that if they have strong documentation about what LGBT people experience in their daily lives, they will be in a better position to understand those challenges and identify avenues for change.

The training finally occurred February 19th and 20th and was attended by twenty-five people including seven LGBT community facilitators from around Namibia, thirteen LGBT activists from Windhoek, and five allies from other organizations. Organizations represented included Positive Vibes, an HIV/AIDS organization, the Legal Assistance Centre, a public interest law firm, and the Namibian Planned Parenthood, a sexual health services provider. The agenda, designed to take account of the specific context of Namibia, covered LGBT rights in Namibia and the challenges faced by defenders of those rights before moving on to particular skills training.

The training began by examining the current state of LGBT rights in Namibia. Unfortunately the sodomy law, essentially a Roman-Dutch law imposed when Namibia was under South African rule, has been in existence since 1927 and was strengthened in 1980 by the “Combating of Immoral Practices Act.” Sadly even where progressive, rights-affirming law was on the books this has been removed. This was the case with the Labor Act that had contained a prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation – in 2004, Namibia moved backwards by removing this reference. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the training participants were critical of the legal framework.

Participants were then given an opportunity to learn about the mainstream human rights provisions of Namibian law and to understand more about the application of fundamental rights. The session revealed how unaware many community members were about their basic rights and how to assert those rights. One participant, a community facilitator from outside of Windhoek, shared her strategy: she memorized the parts of Namibian law that apply most directly to her as a transwoman. When police harass her, she is prepared. This prompted a discussion about the importance of knowing your rights, which the Legal Assistance Centre helped move forward by showing up the next day with pocket-sized versions of the Namibian Constitution. These conversations also made apparent that many human rights violations on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity had happened to the people in the room, however very few had been reported. People shared their stories of surviving violence, police misconduct, denial of health care and discrimination in schools. Everyone agreed that the lack of documentation made it difficult to seek justice and redress.

According to Jacobus Witbooi, sexual minorities coordinator for the Czech NGO People in Need, which is sponsoring the march, Ada Ma/Hao will focus on “enhancing empowerment of marginalized sexual minorities in areas of human rights and HIV/AIDS.”

Sodomy is illega in Namibia, though LGBT rights groups like Sister Namibia and Rainbow Project operate freely in the country’s major cities. The last sodomy case was tried in the late 80s.