PBA Reporter
Generally, North Africa and West Africa are the regions least safe for LGBTQ+ travellers on the continent.
According to a ranking of the Spartacus Gay Travel Index 2020/2021 which is based on diverse sources such as Human Rights Watch, the UN campaign Free & Equal, and collected information about human rights violations of members of the LGBTQ+ community throughout the past year.
A country scores less than zero in the index when human rights are not observed, nor guaranteed, or even violated. This means that Mozambique, Angola, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Lesotho, Mali, and Niger were far from being considered safe but were better-rated destinations than other countries on the continent.
South Africa was rated the safest travel destination in Africa for members of the LGBT community, according to the 2021 ranking.
It was also the only destination considered friendly for LGBT tourists in Africa. South Africa outperformed all other African countries, ranking 27th worldwide. According to the report, South Africa has declared that they would legally recognise non-binary genders in their country.
Looking at the other end of the spectrum, Somalia scores poorly at -18 points and is preceded at the bottom of the ranking, followed by Libya and Nigeria (both with -14 & -13 points) as well as Egypt (-13 points). Generally, North Africa and West Africa are the regions least safe for LGBTQ+ travellers on the continent.
- Somalia (-18 points)
- Libya (-14 points)
- Nigeria (-13 points)
- Egypt (-13 points)
- Cameroon ( -13 points)
- Zimbabwe (-12 points)
- Uganda (-12 points)
- Tanzania (-12 points)
- Mauritania (-12 points)
- Malawi (-12 points)
Hmm. Did you notice? There’s something quite disturbing in this list. How come Nigeria even appeared nearly tops? Why didn’t the nation score less than zero in the index? Whatever happened to our 14 years jail-term for these queer individuals?
So many questions, really!
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