France pushes un resolution to counter anti-LGBTQ+ laws in West Africa

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced on X over the weekend that Paris would introduce a draft resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council aimed at preventing countries from criminalizing LGBTQ+ individuals. This diplomatic move comes just two months after Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye signed a stringent law targeting homosexuality, and as a French national remains detained in Dakar under its provisions.

Diplomatic response follows Senegal’s March legislation

The new Senegalese law, passed by the National Assembly on March 11 with unanimous support and signed by the president on March 30, escalates penalties for “unnatural acts” from five to ten years in prison while raising fines tenfold to 10 million West African CFA francs. The legislation, championed by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko as a matter of national sovereignty, also criminalizes the promotion, support, or funding of LGBTQ+ identities.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, had publicly urged Senegal to refrain from enacting the law, arguing it violated international human rights commitments. On April 16, a spokesperson for France’s foreign ministry confirmed the country’s concerns, noting that Minister Barrot had raised the issue directly with his Senegalese counterpart, Cheikh Niang, during talks in Paris.

French national held under Senegal’s new law

Since February 14, a French citizen has been detained in Dakar under the controversial legislation. The French consulate has conducted four visits to the detainee, according to foreign ministry sources, which are also in contact with his family. On April 10, a Dakar court sentenced a 24-year-old Senegalese man to six years in prison under similar charges.

France’s foreign ministry reports that 62 countries still criminalize consensual same-sex relations, with eleven imposing the death penalty. The date for the UN Human Rights Council’s review of France’s resolution in Geneva has not yet been disclosed.