Attorney General prioritises majority over marginalised rights
Friedel Dausab, an expert in HIV prevention and treatment and an experienced lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) human rights activist, recently filed a constitutional challenge at the Namibian High Court, arguing that the outdated common law offence of sodomy and other related offences violate his constitutionally protected rights.
As a result of the exclusion and discrimination that these laws perpetuate, LGBTQ Namibians are often on the receiving end of abuse, harassment, threats, blackmail and violence, whilst access to health services becomes discriminatory because of the current environment of shame and stigma.
Yet the opinion of the Attorney General and the four ministers who act as respondents to Mr Dausab’s case is that Namibia’s sodomy law should remain intact.
Relegate old laws
For the Attorney General, it is not in the public interest to change the inherited common law, and the rights of the majority in the country surpass those of the minority.
Perhaps, however, he should consider returning to his notes on constitutional law from his undergraduate days?
Surely the whole point of our beloved constitution is to put certain issues beyond the reach of popular opinion? In the event that Attorney General Festus Mbandeka wishes to persist with his arguments in favour of the sensibilities of the majority, then he may be interested to know that Namibians have already spoken.
According to the respected research institution Afrobarometer, in their 2020 report on African attitudes, when polled, 54% of Namibians say they are tolerant of LGBTQ people.
It is Positive Vibes’ deeply held belief that the way in which adults conduct their private lives together within close, loving, consensual relationships, and in the intimacy of their own homes, should not be a matter for state interference. It is high time that these laws were relegated to the history books, where they belong.
Letter by Positive Vibes Trust
As a result of the exclusion and discrimination that these laws perpetuate, LGBTQ Namibians are often on the receiving end of abuse, harassment, threats, blackmail and violence, whilst access to health services becomes discriminatory because of the current environment of shame and stigma.
Yet the opinion of the Attorney General and the four ministers who act as respondents to Mr Dausab’s case is that Namibia’s sodomy law should remain intact.
Relegate old laws
For the Attorney General, it is not in the public interest to change the inherited common law, and the rights of the majority in the country surpass those of the minority.
Perhaps, however, he should consider returning to his notes on constitutional law from his undergraduate days?
Surely the whole point of our beloved constitution is to put certain issues beyond the reach of popular opinion? In the event that Attorney General Festus Mbandeka wishes to persist with his arguments in favour of the sensibilities of the majority, then he may be interested to know that Namibians have already spoken.
According to the respected research institution Afrobarometer, in their 2020 report on African attitudes, when polled, 54% of Namibians say they are tolerant of LGBTQ people.
It is Positive Vibes’ deeply held belief that the way in which adults conduct their private lives together within close, loving, consensual relationships, and in the intimacy of their own homes, should not be a matter for state interference. It is high time that these laws were relegated to the history books, where they belong.
Letter by Positive Vibes Trust
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