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EU agreement causes controversy in Ethiopia as deemed “too pro-LGBT”

3 mins read
January 19, 2024

A partnership agreement between the European Union and the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States signed last November has been accused of “promoting homosexuality” in Ethiopia. Nearly 30 countries have so far refused to sign the agreement.

Samoa Agreement
On 15 November 2023, the European Union and the 79 Member States of the Organization of African Caribbean and Pacific States signed the Samoa Agreement in Apia, Samoa. | © OACPS

On July 20, 2023, the European Council gave the go-ahead for the signature and provisional application of a partnership agreement between the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the European Union (EU).

The Samoa Agreement, a new legal framework for the EU’s relations with 79 countries (48 African, 16 Caribbean, and 15 Pacific countries) and officially signed in November in Samoa, follows the Cotonou Agreement signed in 2000, which expired at the end of 2023.

The text aims to strengthen the capacity of the EU and OACPS countries to jointly address global challenges, including democracy and human rights, sustainable economic growth and development, climate change, human and social development, peace and security, migration and mobility.

Thanks to the previous agreement, many countries have benefited significantly from their cooperation with the EU in various fields, including trade, investment and tourism.

Tanzania, for example, has received over 2.3 billion euros (2.5 billion dollars) in aid since the previous agreement was signed. This aid has been earmarked for the implementation of various development projects, linked in particular to the fight against climate change and the development of tourism in the country. Sales of Tanzanian products on the EU market have continued to grow each year, reaching 892 million dollars in 2021.

Ethiopia, one of the signatory countries, reported last Saturday that the agreement is expected to be approved by the House of People’s Representatives in January 2024.

However, numerous associations across the country have voiced their opposition to the text and launched an online petition, explaining that “issues related to homosexuality, transsexualism, abortion or even universal sex education would be hidden under the guise of human rights and other misleading expressions contained in the signed document,” reports Ethiopian news site Borkena.

According to Dereje Negash, president of an anti-homosexuality association based in Ethiopia and leader of the movement opposing the agreement, the terms “inclusive” and “non-discrimination” used in the text refer to “the incorporation of homosexuality, transsexualism and adultery into Ethiopian society.”

The anti-LGBT activist had already made headlines in 2019 in an interview with AFP about conversion therapies aimed at changing the sexual orientation of homosexuals in Ethiopia.

“An agreement on lesbianism” for Nigeria

The Samoa agreement is also causing a stir in Nigeria, also a member of the OACPS, where controversy is raging. Last November, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs refuted claims that Nigeria had signed the agreement.

In a statement, government spokeswoman Ms. Francisca Omayuli had said via a press release published on social network X that Nigeria was not present at the signing of the agreement, explaining that: “Nigerian stakeholders are currently studying the Instrument with a view to ensuring that its provisions do not contravene Nigeria’s domestic legislation.”

A coalition of civil society organizations opposed the signing of the Samoa agreement at the time, Nigerian media outlet The Guardian reported.

As their spokespersons explained in a video broadcast by Nigerian channel Arise News, “We are begging the government not to sign the agreement because if we sign, we are signing our death warrant” with the decline of the population, and argued that the EU should not “dare to tell Nigerian mothers how to raise our children.”

30 countries refused to sign the agreement

Nearly 30 OACPS member countries have so far refused to sign the agreement.

Poland, too, initially opposed signing, protesting against certain provisions in favor of non-discrimination, LGBTQ+ rights and gender equality. Several other African countries have also expressed reluctance to ratify the agreement due to its non-discrimination clauses, which they claim encourage homosexuality.

One of the contentious parts concerns Article 9 on human rights: “The Parties shall commit to the promotion of universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without discrimination based on any ground including sex, ethnic or social origin, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, disability, age, or other status.”

As mentioned in the EU’s presentation of the official text, “Some leaders explained they wanted to check whether the agreement would be compatible with their legal order, notably as regards same-sex relations and sexual health and rights. However, the language used on these subjects is no different from other international agreements already in force. […] The wording on these topics does not go beyond existing international agreements.”

69% of Ethiopians don’t want to live next to LGBTQ+ people

Attitudes towards same-sex marriage vary considerably around the world, according to several Pew Research Center surveys conducted in 32 countries over the past two years. Among the people surveyed, support for legal gay marriage is the highest in Sweden, where 92% of adults favor it, and the lowest in Nigeria, where only 2% support it.

Homosexuality is criminalized in Nigeria and Ethiopia. The maximum penalty in Nigeria’s 12 northern states is death by stoning. In the South, the maximum penalty for same-sex sexual relations is 16 years imprisonment.

Data published last year by Equaldex, an online LGBTQ+ rights publication, also reveals the prevalence of homophobic attitudes across much of Ethiopian society. According to the report, 69% of Ethiopians don’t want to live next to LGBTQ+ people, and 80% oppose the acceptance of homosexuality.

Julie Carballo

Julie Carballo is a journalist for Newsendip.

She used to work for the French newspaper Le Figaro and at the Italian bureau of the international press agency AFP.