11 03 14 Think Afrika (us) – DRC Looks to Follow in Uganda's Footsteps with Anti-Gay Bill

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo:

As Uganda comes to terms with the controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill recently signed into law, there are some pushing the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to follow in its footsteps.

Last December, Steve Mbikayi, an MP with the Parti Travailliste Congolais (PTC), introduced a draft bill to the Congolese National Assembly
that would explicitly criminalise homosexuality. The DRC is one of the
relatively few African countries in which homosexual acts have not been
directly banned though there is much discrimination against LGBT
communities.

Throughout February, Mbikayi toured the country to
garner popular support for the bill. In addition to radio interviews and
television appearances, the MP spoke at a conference
organised at the University of Kinshasa where he condemned
homosexuality and Western leaders for condoning “unnatural acts" such as
paedophilia and bestiality. Mbikayi also defended his bill as being
constitutional, citing article 40 of the Congolese constitution, which states that “all individuals have the right to marry a person of their choice of the opposite sex."

Mbikayi's
bill − which has yet to be made public but which has been seen by Think
Africa Press − contains 37 articles that would render homosexuality and
transgenderism illegal. The proposed penalty for engaging in a
homosexual act is 3 to 5 years in prison and a fine of 1 million
Congolese francs (about $1,000); while a transgender person would face
the same fine and a jail sentence of 3 to 12 years.

The draft also contains a passage promising that the Congolese government will pay three quarters of any medical costs to “correct hormonal disorders that may result in homosexuality.”

"The
bill emanates from the Travailliste Party’s philosophy,” Mbikayi
explained to Think Africa Press. “In relation to our culture,
homosexuality is an 'anti-value' that comes from abroad. Already, in our
country, seeing a man with a man or a woman with a woman is considered
scandalous. So I promised my base that I would take care of the issue
and penalise homosexuals."

Combating campaigns

If Mbikayi
is successful, the DRC could criminalise homosexuality, but this is not
the first time an MP has tried to pass an anti-homosexuality bill in the
DRC. In January 2009, a law preventing homosexuals from adopting children was passed. And in October 2010, a bill entitled the Law Concerning Sexual Practices Against Nature was put forward to the National Assembly by MP and bishop Evariste Ejiba Yamapia.

Similarly to Mbikayi's, this bill sought to modify the penal code and law on sexual violence
by making what it called "counter-nature acts" − defined as
homosexuality and zoophilia − punishable by three to five years in
prison and a fine of 200,000 Congolese francs ($200). The bill would
have also banned organisations, publications, posters, or pamphlets
'promoting unnatural sexual acts'.

This 2010 bill, however, was
never voted on in a parliamentary session, for reasons that remain
unconfirmed. Now, Congolese LGBT activists are hoping Mbikayi's bill
goes the same way.

In response to Mbikayi's campaigning, human
rights activists and HIV/AIDS workers have started informally
petitioning MPs and sensitising the general public to the potentially
damaging implications of the bill. And some activists are optimistic
they can win the public battle over the draft law.

“In the city
[Kinshasa], we know gays and transvestites who are known and accepted by
their communities. No-one would try to attack them,” explains
Okakessema Olivier Nyamana, a lawyer from an NGO that works with
HIV-positive people. “To me, it seems like political opportunism.”

This
view was shared by Patrick Civava, a lawyer and employee at the
Kinshasa University's Centre for Human Rights, who sees Mbikayi's bill
as little more than attention seeking. “Seeing that homosexuality in
Africa is entering the international debate, he simply wants to draw
attention to himself,” he says.

With the next parliamentary
session looming, however, others are more pessimistic. “My fear is that
the bill will pass next week without anyone noticing,” says Françoise
Mukuku, the executive director of Si Jeunesse Savait, a feminist
organisation that also advocates for the rights of LGBT people in the
DRC.

Meanwhile, Hilaire Mbwolie, director of a local organisation
that conducts HIV/AIDS counselling and testing, voices his concern on
the grounds of how the bill might impact on public health. "A law like
that blocks the combat against HIV/AIDS. It will make it hard to conduct
HIV testing," he says.

A rising tide?

If the proposed bill attracts the necessary support, it could be debated in the DRC's next parliamentary session on 15 March.

To
try and ensure this, Mbikayi, who represents the Tshangu district of
Kinshasa, disclosed that he intends to organise sit-ins, debates and
approach various religious groups to endorse his proposals. He also
expressed an interest in meeting LGBT communities to debate with them
the bill's legitimacy. LGBT activists meanwhile will be continue their
own campaigning against the bill in the hope it never makes its way onto
the parliamentary schedule.

If the bill were to be discussed and
signed into law, the DRC would become the 38th African country to
criminalise homosexuality and would provide another sign of a rising
tide of legislative homophobia across the continent.