All Africa Rights Initiative

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All Africa Rights Initiative (or AARI) is a coalition of LGBT community organizations in Africa founded in 2004. [1] The coalition advocates against homophobia and for LGBT rights in Africa. [2] [3] [4]

History

The initiative emerged from a conference in Johannesburg in February 2004, organized by GALZ (originally "Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe") and a poverty-relief organization from Uganda, [5] and was linked to Human Rights Watch. [6] The conference consisted of over 55 representatives [7] from 22 LGBT movements groups originating in 17 African countries. The conference was initially convened to address HIV/AIDS education in Africa. [8] The initiative has been described as an attempt to "respond to human rights crises in Africa with a unified voice, and to share experiences that could lead to greater self-confidence and reduced dependence upon Western gay rights associations and other foreign donors." [9]

Due to the nature of homophobia across the continent, the conference did little to publicize its meeting at the time, and attendees refused to have their pictures taken. [5] At the end of the conference, the organization issued a statement challenging the locally popular idea that homosexuality is a Western notion, alien to Africa: "We have and have always had a place in Africa. [African traditional culture] is based on principles of welcoming and belonging." [10]

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References

  1. ↑ Epprecht, Marc (2006). "All Africa Rights Initiative". In Gerstner, David A. (ed.). Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture (1 ed.). Routledge. p. 36. ISBN   9780415306515 . Retrieved 2022-07-17.
  2. ↑ Lind, Amy (2010). Development, Sexual Rights and Global Governance. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   9781135244590 . Retrieved 2022-07-17.
  3. ↑ Martel, Frédéric (2018). Global Gay: How Gay Culture Is Changing the World. Translated by Baudoin, Patsy. MIT Press. p. 139. ISBN   9780262537056 . Retrieved 2022-07-17.
  4. ↑ Clark, Howard (2009). People Power: Unarmed Resistance and Global Solidarity. Pluto Press. pp. 173, 175. ISBN   9780745329024 . Retrieved 2022-07-17.
  5. 1 2 Richardson, Eric M. (2005). "Africa, LGBT Youth and Issues in". In Sears, James Thomas (ed.). Youth, Education, and Sexualities: An International Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 29–30. ISBN   9780313327544 . Retrieved 2022-07-17.
  6. ↑ Harcourt, Wendy (2013). Body Politics in Development: Critical Debates in Gender and Development. Zed Books. ISBN   9781848136182 . Retrieved 2022-07-17.
  7. ↑ Sources variously report the number as 55 or 65.
  8. ↑ Epprecht, Marc (2013). "Politics". Hungochani: The History of a Dissident Sexuality in Southern Africa (2 ed.). McGill–Queen's University Press. p. 219. ISBN   9780773588783 . Retrieved 2022-07-17.
  9. ↑ Currier, Ashley; Thomann, Matthew (2016). "Gender and sexual diversity organizing in Africa". In Fadaee, Simin (ed.). Understanding Southern Social Movements. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   9781317484080 . Retrieved 2022-07-17.
  10. ↑ Goering, Laurie (2004-06-09). "Africa's gays persecuted as cause of ills". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on 2018-11-16. Retrieved 2022-07-17.
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