Rights Groups Report Hundreds Arrested in Senegal Amid Anti-LGBTQ Crackdown
In October 2026, the international organization Human Rights Watch published an extensive investigation reporting that law enforcement authorities in the West African nation of Senegal have detained hundreds of individuals suspected of same-sex conduct since early 2026, driven by aggressive legislative crackdowns on civic and sexual freedoms.
According to a Human Rights Watch report, compiled from interviews with local defense attorneys, medical practitioners, and activists and also detailed by LGBTQ Nation, the Senegalese human rights organization RADDHO recorded at least 212 arrests between February and July under allegations of “acts against nature,” while the international HIV Justice Network reported more than 300 detentions during the same period. The report highlights that gendarmerie and police units subjected detainees to non-consensual HIV testing, utilizing positive diagnoses to file supplementary criminal charges, while local defense lawyers widely declined representation out of fear of prosecution under a newly enacted ban on “promoting” homosexuality.
The escalation followed the Senegalese parliament’s unanimous approval in March 2026 of sweeping amendments to Article 319 of the penal code. The law doubled the maximum prison sentence for consensual same-sex relations from five to ten years, raised fines to 10 million CFA francs, and criminalized the promotion or funding of LGBTQ initiatives with penalties of up to seven years in prison. Human Rights Watch researcher Larissa Kojoué emphasized that the crackdown breaches the Senegalese Constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the non-discrimination principles of the Olympic Charter as Dakar prepares to host the Youth Olympic Games in autumn 2026. Conversely, state leadership under President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko previously defended the statutes as a national priority aligned with the cultural and religious values of Senegal’s predominantly Muslim society.
Medical personnel and advocates in Dakar warn that the police actions are precipitating a serious public health crisis. Due to security forces leaking confidential case files and medical records to local media and persistent fears of arrest, approximately one-third of patients living with HIV have ceased attending clinic appointments for antiretroviral therapy.
Previously, Uránia extensively covered the March 2026 enactment of the law doubling prison sentences for same-sex relations in Senegal, as well as the judicial order sending 71 individuals to criminal trial following mass raids.
