September 5 2005

PRESS RELEASE

MORE HOMOPHOBIA IS CONDMNED

As the principal human rights monitoring and advocacy in the country, Namibia’s National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) condemns the homophobic incitements and utterances by Deputy Home Affairs and Immigration Minister Theopolina Mushelenga over the weekend. Addressing a public Heroes’ Day commemoration rally at Omaalala village, some 700 kilometers northwest of Windhoek on Saturday, Ms. Mushelenga reportedly accused sexual minorities of having been responsible for, inter alia, the country’s HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Claiming that she fully agrees with former Namibian President Sam Nujoma’s homophobic utterances in the past, Ms. Mushelenga also accused lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of betraying the country’s struggle for freedom. She warned the youth not to allow what she called “prophets of same sex love” to mislead them, local media reports said.

Articles 8 and 10 of the Namibian Constitution (NC) guarantee the right of everyone to dignity, equality before law and non-discrimination. Furthermore, the UN Human Rights Committee interprets the human rights principles enumerated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to include the protection of the right of sexual minorities to equality before the law and non-discrimination as well as to liberty and security of the person.

In its just released annual Namibia Human Rights Report 2005 (seewww.nshr.org.na), NSHR noted that LGBT people continue to experience widespread discrimination, homophobia and related intolerance. Sexual minorities also continue to be prejudiced, excluded, stigmatized, assaulted, raped and even brutally murdered.

According to The Rainbow Project, the country’s LGBT organization, some 3 000 cases of violence directed against LGBT were recorded during the period under reporting by NSHR. Some 75 percent of LGBT people preferred to suffer in silence in order to hide their identity and save themselves from hate speech and crime.

While Article 21(1)(a) of the NC guarantees the right of to freedom of speech, opinion and expression, Article 21(2) expressly imposes reasonable restriction of exercise of such right.

“Hence, by accusing LGBT people of being the cause of the country’s deadly HIV-AIDS pandemic Deputy Minister Mushelenga went entirely overboard. Singling out these people for such dangerous incitement and holding them responsible for the country’s number one killer disease is not only manifestly false but also constitutes an intentional and reckless effort to expose sexual minorities to even more hate crimes. Aggrieved LGBT people have the right to challenge Ms. Mushelenga personally in a civil court of law for punitive damages for her reckless endangerment”, advised NSHR executive director Phil ya Nangoloh.

NSHR calls upon President Lucas Hifikepunye Pohamba (LHP) to distance himself and his Administration from Deputy Minister Mushelenga’s hate expressions.

“Such unlawful and unconstitutional utterances, which came at the time of widespread media revelations of financial scams and other forms of corruption and mismanagement by high-ranking Government officials, only help to tarnish even further the otherwise positive image of the new Administration of President LHP” said NSHR spokesperson Dorkas Phillemon.

For further comment, please call Phil ya Nangoloh or Dorkas Phillemon at Tel: +264 61 236 183 or +264 61 253 447 (office hours) or Mobile: +264 811 299 886 (Phil) or e-mail: [email protected] or web: www.nshr.org.na