To the government of Nigeria: The right to privacy of LGBT persons in their own homes must be protected.
From the 13th till the 27th of September, 2019, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing visited Nigeria. Through the REA program, CHOICE was able to support our Nigerian partners - activists from 3 organizations - to engage with the country visit of the UN Special Rapporteur, to highlight the challenges that LGBT youth face specifically. As a result of the advocacy efforts of our partners, as well as several other LGBTI organizations in Nigeria, the UN Special Rapporteur has paid specific attention to LGBT persons in her concluding report, and has issued a list of strong recommendations to the Nigerian government to address these concerns.
Specifically, the Special Rapporteur notes that Nigeria’s laws create “a climate of oppression” for LGBT persons to be free, even within the privacy of their own homes. As a result, “many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in Nigeria are forced into gender conformity and isolation, not only publicly, but also in their own homes”.
The Special Rapporteur’s report will be discussed at the upcoming Human Rights Council (February 24 – March 13). CHOICE stands with our Nigerian partners and echoes the concluding call from the UN Special Rapporteur: “The Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, as well as all other pieces of legislation that discriminate and criminalize on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity [in Nigeria], must be repealed. The right to privacy of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in their own homes is an essential element of the right to housing and must be protected.
Read the full report of the UN Special Rapporteur here.
To read more about our work in Nigeria, see:
* Calling on Nigeria to end LGBT suffering
* CHOICE programs, including a description of REA
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