Following campaign pledges from both the president and prime minister in Senegal’s latest elections, the country’s Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill doubling penalties in the far West African nation for homosexuality, described in the measure as “acts against nature.”
From a rise in arrests to online attacks, Senegal has been under an intensified crackdown on same-sex relations in recent weeks, prompting outcry from human rights groups and driving some in the LGBTQ+ community to consider exile.
A coalition of 160 civil society organizations in Turkey has condemned the government’s plans for a new bill that would impose prison sentences on LGBTQ+ people and rights advocates.
“In recent months, we have seen a sharp and disturbing increase in similar incidents across the country, where people are being reported, targeted, harassed and arrested based solely on allegations about their identity or relationships.”
“With the immigration thing, yeah, it’s a whole other shade of hate. If you’re an LGBT refugee and a person of color, then you’re just like completely f**ked … they’re really the most marginalized people that don’t have a lot of people standing for them.”
Questions have arisen about the performance of Canada’s immigration minister.
Senegal's prime minister has put forward legislation that would increase prison sentences for same-sex relations in Senegal. The move follows a series of arrests, including of public figures, under existing laws.
www.dw.com/en/senegal-p...
The United States has used third-country deportations to pressure migrants who are in the U.S. illegally to leave on their own, saying they could end up “in any number of third countries."
Facing persecution in their home countries as transphobia and homophobia increase amid the global rise of authoritarianism, many people are seeking refuge in countries like Canada.
After a year marked by legislative setbacks and devastating cuts to funding, the outlook for LGBTQ+ rights in 2026 could be daunting, with elections, court decisions and legal reforms likely to affect policies and people around the world.
Under UK asylum policy, Nigeria is treated as a country that is generally stable rather than affected by civil war, active conflict, or a failing government.
However, for queer Nigerians, this perception of safety is misleading and dangerous.
“There is an atmosphere of fear, even terror,” described an activist from Free Sénégal, a group advocating for the rights of LGBTQ+ people, describing the current climate in the country.
“The fact that this tragic event in Tumbler Ridge immediately inspired calls for restrictions on gender-affirming care and trans rights at large in Canada should raise huge alarm bells for trans people and our allies.”
Canadian Immigration Minister Lena Diab says the changes to the refugee status claim process proposed in the government’s border and immigration bill are “better for the applicants,” even as multiple organizations attack the plan.
Canada has announced cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), a public insurance program that temporarily covers refugee and asylum claimants while they wait to get provincial or territorial health coverage. A potentially costly mistake.
“For me, community building means making sure no one has to survive alone what we were meant to overcome together.”
Hundreds of LGBTQ+ individuals in Ghana are targeted online by criminal gangs. Victims are contacted on dating apps or other digital platforms by criminals pretending to be gay, and lured to isolated places where they are subjected to assault, robbery, blackmail and extortion.
“I hope to find a place where I could live without risking my life. My dream is that people talk more and more about homosexual people persecuted in Turkmenistan, because it is very hard to get out of the country and there is little evidence of what is going on.” #refugees
“This is not about trans people. It is an excuse to weaken rights. It is nobody’s business what healthcare you are using. Politicians shouldn’t tell you what care you should and should not access.”
Two gay men who came to the United States seeking asylum are set to be deported to their home country of Iran, and what their attorney fears will be their deaths.
“Across the world, LGBTQI+ individuals face horrific persecution— torture, forced medical treatment, sexual violence, and exile— simply because of their identity.”
Ramping up its anti-transgender campaign targeting U.S. citizens, the Trump administration has ordered U.S. embassies to issue reports on nations that allow gender-affirming medical care for minors, which Trump loyalists categorize as a human rights abuse.
“All the evidence shows that private, sponsored refugees do better. They become citizens quicker, and they integrate better… This is something that the government will do with the people, with shared goals and shared accountability.” — Ratna Omidvar, Canadian Senator
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Violence against LBQ women in Africa is routinely normalized within families and communities and rendered invisible as a private or cultural matter.
In the days following the shooting of Nicole Good, there has been a sharp increase in Google searches for the phrase “LGBTQ asylum Canada.” The spike reflected something deeper than momentary panic. It pointed to a growing anxiety within LGBTQ communities about safety, stability, and the future.
As Kenya launches an ambitious effort to turn refugee camps into open villages, LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, long targeted by violence, wonder whether the promise of safety, mobility, and legal status will finally reach them.
Trans Americans seeking asylum in the Netherlands.
“I don’t think that the US government wants to murder me specifically. I think that they don’t care if I am murdered, and I think they think that I deserve it if I’m murdered in custody.”
