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Nigeria – Homosexuals – Anglican Church – Police

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Nigeria – Homosexuals – Anglican Church – Police Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: NGA32703 Country: Nigeria Date: 5 December 2007 Keywords: Nigeria – Homosexuals – Anglican Church – Police This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein. Questions 1. Do families in Nigeria disown their homosexual sons? 2. Does the Anglican Church turn against outed gays? Is it usual for such persons to be denied the ability to worship? 3. Are homosexuals likely to be beaten by mobs, police and possibly lynched? RESPONSE The following response includes sources from 2007 only. For more in-depth information on homosexuality in Nigeria, see: • Research Response NGA30400 dated 3 August 2006 provides detailed updated information on the legal situation as well as societal treatment of homosexuals, including attitudes of the Anglican church in Nigeria towards homosexuality (RRT Country Research 2006, Research Response NGA30400, 3 August – Attachment 1); • Research Response NGA16816 dated 11 June 2004 provides information on the treatment of homosexuals in Nigeria. The information provided has been organised under the following seven headings: Legal Situation, Shari’a Law, Anglican Church, Alliance Rights Nigeria, AIDS, UN Resolution and 1993-2002 (RRT Country Research 2004, Research Response NGA16816, 11 June – Attachment 2). 1. Do families in Nigeria disown their homosexual sons? The available information indicates that there is a great deal of intolerance towards homosexuals in Nigeria, and the discovery that a man is gay can lead to the family disowning him. The most recent UK Home Office Operational Guidance Note for assessing asylum claims from Nigeria states that the country’s sodomy laws “also contribute to the climate of intolerance towards gay men and young men who discover that they are gay tend to hide the fact as they fear being ostracised or thrown out of the family home if their homosexuality became known” (UK Home Office 2007, Operational Guidance Note: Nigeria, 26 November, Section 3.13.5 – Attachment 3). A May 2007 Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) information response states: Homosexuality is considered “taboo” in Nigeria (BBC 1 Mar. 2007; ibid. 14 Feb. 2007; AP 11 Dec. 2006; US 6 Mar. 2007); very few people are openly gay (ibid.; Denmark Jan. 2005, 23; AP 11 Dec. 2006). Homosexuals are generally treated as outcasts by society (Denmark 2005, 24, 25; This Day 8 Sept. 2006), and are often disowned by their own families (ibid.; AP 11 Dec. 2006; The Wall Street Journal 12 Jan. 2007) (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2007, NGA102511.E – Nigeria: Treatment of homosexuals by society and government authorities; recourse and protection available to homosexuals who have been subject to ill- treatment (2005 – 2007), 16 May http://www.irb- cisr.gc.ca/en/research/rir/index_e.htm?action=record.viewrec&gotorec=451223 – Accessed 4 December 2007 – Attachment 4). 2. Does the Anglican Church turn against outed gays? Is it usual for such persons to be denied the ability to worship? According to the available information, homosexuality is unacceptable both in the Christian- dominated south and the Muslim-dominated north. The Anglican Church in Nigeria has remained vehemently anti-gay. The above-quoted IRB information response states: According to a 2 September 2006 Reuters article, homosexuals are “fiercely condemned” in both Nigeria’s Christian-dominated south as well as in its largely Muslim north (see also This Day 8 Sept. 2006; BBC 14 Feb. 2007). Nigeria’s Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola is said to be leading a world-wide revolt against the Anglican Church’s perceived acceptance of homosexuality (AP 20 Sept. 2005; This Day 8 Sept. 2006). Akinola is said to have condemned the consecration of a gay bishop in the United States (US) as a “satanic attack on the Church of God” (ibid.; AP 20 Sept. 2005) (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2007, NGA102511.E – Nigeria: Treatment of homosexuals by society and government authorities; recourse and protection available to homosexuals who have been subject to ill-treatment (2005 – 2007), 16 May http://www.irb- cisr.gc.ca/en/research/rir/index_e.htm?action=record.viewrec&gotorec=451223 – Accessed 4 December 2007 – Attachment 4). As noted in the IRB response above, an article dated 8 September 2006 states that “[h]omosexuals are certainly not welcome in Nigeria’s 17 million-member Anglican Church, whose primate, Archbishop Peter Akinola, condemned the consecration of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as an openly gay bishop as a ‘satanic attack on the Church of God.’” A number of recent articles report on the emerging schism in the worldwide Anglican Church on the issue of acceptance of homosexuality, with the Nigerian Archbishop continuing to lead the conservative anti-gay stance (Haruna, G. 2006, ‘Homosexuals: chasing the “outcasts” out of town’, Behind the Mask website, source: This Day, 8 September http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=nigeria&id=1320 – Accessed 5 December 2007 – Attachment 5; see also: ‘African Archbishop says Anglican Church still faces “gay” crisis’ 2007, Behind the Mask website, source: AFP, 28 September http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=nigeria&id=1702 – Accessed 5 December 2007 – Attachment 6; ‘Archbishop Of Canterbury To Meet Episcopal Bishops As Schism Threat Increases’ 2007, 365 Gay, 2 September http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/09/090207anglican.htm – Accessed 5 December 2007 – Attachment 7). 3. Are homosexuals likely to be beaten by mobs, police and possibly lynched? As noted above, homosexuality remains illegal and is considered taboo in Nigeria in both Christian and Muslim dominated areas. Most homosexuals are not open about their sexuality for fear of reprisals. There have been reports of “gay-bashing” within communities, as well as severe prison beatings of those convicted of engaging in homosexual activities. An October 2007 article on the Behind the Mask website reports on a current case of 18 men originally convicted of sodomy. The charges were later reduced to “cross dressing and vagrancy”: The trial of 18 Nigerian men arrested on charges of cross dressing and vagrancy scheduled to take place on 13 September was postponed to 14 September, closed from the public and journalists and their charges were added to include conspiracy. This was decided after chaos erupted at the previous hearing on 21 August where the Muslim community broke into frenzy and hailed stones at the accused who had been granted bail. They felt that the Islamic legal system was being easy on the accused by granting the bail (Masike, L. 2007, ‘New charges for 18 Nigerian’, Behind the Mask website, 2 October http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=nigeria&id=1705 – Accessed 5 December 2007 – Attachment 8). The above-quoted IRB information response states: In Nigeria, “gay bashers” are reportedly “always a threat” (The Wall Street Journal 12 Jan. 2007; see also UK Gay News 18 Mar. 2007). According to the Representative of the Nigerian NHRC, cited in the British-Danish fact-finding mission report, “any homosexual in Nigeria has a well-founded fear of being ill-treated not by the authorities, but from the person’s local community and society at large;” however, homosexuals in Nigeria’s larger cities who are not open about their homosexuality may not face “persecution” (Denmark Jan. 2005, 23). The Representative further notes that wealthy or influential Nigerians may also be able to bribe authorities who accuse or suspect them of being homosexual (ibid.). Still, homosexuals in Nigeria often face harassment and arrest by the authorities (The New York Times 18 Dec. 2005; see also AP 11 Dec. 2006). The Representative of Nigeria’s NHRC notes in the fact-finding mission report that there have been cases in the states of Kano and Lagos in which police officers “humiliated” alleged homosexuals (Denmark Jan. 2005, 23). In these cases, the police officers reportedly forced the suspects to engage in homosexual acts so that photographs of the acts could be taken and presented as evidence in court (ibid.). An 11 December 2006 Associated Press (AP) article reports that persons convicted of engaging in homosexual acts in Nigeria have been “publicly flogged, exhibited before the press naked, or beaten severely in prison.” (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2007, NGA102511.E – Nigeria: Treatment of homosexuals by society and government authorities; recourse and protection available to homosexuals who have been subject to ill-treatment (2005 – 2007), 16 May http://www.irb- cisr.gc.ca/en/research/rir/index_e.htm?action=record.viewrec&gotorec=451223 – Accessed 4 December 2007 – Attachment 4). The most recent UK Home Office country information report on Nigeria provides information on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) persons. The relevant extracts follow at length: LEGAL RIGHTS 21.01 Article 214 of the Nigerian Penal Code states that the act of sodomy between males is illegal and the penalty is imprisonment for 14 years. Attempting to commit the offence of sodomy is also illegal and the punishment for this offence is imprisonment for seven years. Under Article 217 of the Penal Code, other male homosexual acts or practices, defined as ‘gross indecency’, whether in private or in public, are also illegal and the punishment for this offence is imprisonment for three years. Lesbianism and lesbian sexual acts are not mentioned in Nigerian criminal law. (International Lesbian and Gay Association 1999 World Legal Survey on homosexuality) [23].
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