UPR-Equatorial Guinea

GENDER MINORITIES-LGBTQ+

MINORÍAS SEXUALES-LGTBIQ+

FACTSHEET

In 2019, Equatorial Guinea supported 3 recommendations to adopt policy and legislative measures to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. To date, the government did not implement any of the recommendations, but in 2020 began a process of approval of the Draft Law Regulating Prostitution and Gay Rights, whose purpose was to conceal the legal personality of sexual minorities.

Families are ashamed of their descendants confine them in therapy homes and institutions for "healing homosexuality". This marginalization excludes victims from the enjoyment of children's rights. When they are minors, they often go through different types of violence such as human trafficking, child prostitution, conversion therapies or repudiation

NATIONAL FRAMEWORK

1. Ministerial Order 1/2003 prohibiting the use of tourist establishments as nightclubs is in force. This law prohibits the exercise of "activities that threaten morality and good customs" and is used as a tool to persecute LGTBIQA+ community.

2. The Code of Military Justice is in force. It penalizes homosexuality with expulsion from the body and up to six years in prison.

3. The public authorities apply the obsolete Law on Vagrants and Criminals despite the fact that the new Penal Code (2022) does not expressly punish homosexuality, although it could do so through the articles that punish public scandal.

CHALLENGES

1. Application of obsolete and restrictive legislation.

2. Poor health care. Conversion therapies with deadly results.

3. Lack of protection for minors who are subjected to violent conversion or healing therapies.

4. Arrests and torture by security agents.

5. Discrimination by the executive and the judiciary.

IMPACT

1. The press Law No. 6/1997 punishes journalists and their media for attacking the honor of the authorities.

2. While new information websites have been set up nationwide, the government promotes self-censorship.

3. The Penal Code, approved in 2022, provides for penalties of up to USD 76,000 for anyone who publishes news that may violate the dignity of the authorities. On the other hand, the Senate is reviewing a law on the use of social networks that include fines of up to 800,000 USD or imprisonment of up to 25 years in its current version.

4. The practice of self-censorship is common due to the repressive actions of the authorities. Between 2019 and 2023, at least 11 journalists were detained or fired for their work.

5. At least 6 activists were also detained for more than 2 years without a fair trial because of statements made in a private WhatsApp group

6. Anacleto Micha, currently detained, Gemma Jones, a suspended lawyer, and Trifonia Melibea, an LGTBIQ activist, are several of the recorded cases of repression by the authorities as a result of public statements on social networks or in publications considered negative by the government or the authorities.

7. Internet providers are controlled by the government GETESA or relatives of the ruling family (MUNI). In 2023, Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang threatened to restrict access to WhatsApp and created a cybersecurity department in charge of controlling online content that could damage the country's image.

8. There have been cases of temporary internet shutdowns, cutting off communications from an embassy, the headquarters of an opposition party as a result of government action.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Release all those arbitrarily detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression and comply with the UN Human Rights Committee's recommendation to protect journalists and the media from any form of undue interference, harassment or attack.

2. Repeal or amend Law No. 6/1997 on the press, printing and audiovisual media, in line with Article 19 of the ICCPR; repeal Articles 221 to 224 of the 2022 Penal Code that include the crime of "abusive exercise of fundamental rights"; withdraw the draft law Regulating the use of Social Networks and Cyberspace; and ratify the African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Protection of Personal Data.

3. Allow the expansion of the scope of action of private media and allow the publication of news without having to report and allow international media to operate in the country.

4. Ensure that internet networks remain open, accessible, and secure, including social networks or websites critical of the government.

5. Ensure that the Directorate for Cybersecurity acts in accordance with the ICCPR and/or its adaptation to the ICCPR.

6. Fully respect, protect and promote individuals' right to privacy, including the secrecy of communications, by adopting and immediately enforcing rules to guide the implementation of the Data Protection Act 2016, and by prosecuting and punishing related violations.

Question for Equatorial Guinea

1. What are the specific functions of the Directorate-General for Cybersecurity?

2. What have been the impediments to the reform of Law No. 6/1997 on the press, printing and audiovisual media?

3. How many cases are currently being prosecuted or sentenced under the crime of abusive exercise of fundamental rights in the new 2022 Penal Code?

FICHA INFORMATIVA

Guinea Ecuatorial recibió en el año 2019 recomendaciones para adoptar 3 medidas políticas y legislativas con el fin de combatir la discriminación por motivos de orientación sexual e identidad de género. Hasta hoy el ejecutivo no solo no ha implementado ninguna de las recomendaciones, sino que inició en el año 2020 un proceso de aprobación del Anteproyecto de Ley Reguladora de la Prostitución y los Derechos de los Homosexuales, cuyo fin pretende derogar la personalidad jurídica de las minorías sexuales.

Las familias guineanas se avergüenzan de sus descendientes homosexuales y los recluyen en hogares e instituciones de “curación de la homosexualidad”. Esta marginación excluye a las víctimas del disfrute de los derechos de infancia. Estos son menores, a menudo pasan por diferentes tipos de violencias como la trata de personas, la prostitución infantil, las terapias de conversión o el repudio

MARCO NACIONAL

- Está en vigor la Orden ministerial 1/2003 por la que se prohíbe el uso de establecimientos turísticos como centros de alterne. Esta ley prohíbe el ejercicio de “actividades que atentan contra la moral y las buenas costumbres” y es utilizada como herramienta de persecución a las personas LGTBIQA+.

- Está en vigor el Código de Justicia Militar. Penaliza la homosexualidad con la expulsión del cuerpo y hasta seis años de prisión

- Los poderes públicos aplican la obsoleta Ley de Vagos y Maleantes a pesar de que el nuevo Código Penal (2022) no castiga la homosexualidad de manera expresa, aunque podría hacerlo mediante el articulado que castiga el escándalo público.

DESAFÍOS

1. Aplicación de legislación obsoleta y restrictiva.

2. Atención sanitaria deficiente. Terapias de conversión con resultados de muerte.

3. Falta de protección a los menores que son sometidos a violentas terapias de conversión.

4. Detenciones y tortura por parte de las agentes de seguridad.

5. Discriminación por parte del ejecutivo y el poder judicial.

IMPLICACIONES

1. The public authorities apply the obsolete Law of Vagrants and Criminals or the code of military justice that criminalizes homosexuality with up to six years in prison.

2. Between April 2022 and December 2023, 29 LGBTQ+ members died from tuberculosis and/or HIV-AIDS. At least half of the deaths occur in institutions that implement conversion therapies. The average age of the deceased is 29-30 years.

3. 32 people were arbitrarily arrested and 15 were victims of torture between 2021 and 2023.

4. In January 2024, the governor of the province of Bioko North issued a resolution that literally limited the rights of "assembly, expression, demonstration".

5. Families subject minors to very violent conversion therapies, such as the consumption of drugs that cause addiction and sudden death. When fleeing conversion therapy or when suffering family repudiation, many minors end up in destitution and prostitution. At least one case reported to the juvenile prosecutor's office was ignored.

6. In July 2023, the authorities broke into and destroyed the SPDM headquarters in the cities of Bata and Malabo without a court order. They claimed that they were looking for drugs and homosexuals.

7. A legislative process began in 2019 that would repeal the legal personality of LGTBIQA+ people if passed.

8. In 2023 two lesbian women were jailed for "having homosexual relations" by order of a judge in the city of Bata.

RECOMENDACIONES

1. Adapt existing legislation in the country based on the Yogyakarta Principles on how international human rights law applies to issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.

2. Ban conversion therapies, adopt specific health policies to assist LGBTI+ individuals, and allow the registration of civil society organizations working in these sectors.

3. Protect LGTBIQ+ minors based on the content of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

4. Disseminate through the educational system, media and other awareness platforms, the 1990 World Health Organization (WHO) resolution, which removes homosexuality from the list of diseases.

5. Train the public security agents and institutions on respect for the human rights of sexual minorities, especially in the areas of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

6. Extend and open invitation to the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Preguntas para Guinea Ecuatorial

What is the basis for applying obsolete laws for the LGTBIQ+ community after the publication of the Penal Code in 2022?

2. Will those responsible for torture against members of the LGTBIQ+ collective be investigated?

3. What is the role of the juvenile prosecutor's office in the defense of minors in distress?

4. What are the impediments to the registration of associations for the defense of the LGTBIQ+ collective?

WITNESSES / TESTIMONIOS

240814_SPDM_Detenciones.mp4

Arbitrary detentions

Detenciones arbitrarias

240814_SPDM_Conversion.mp4

"Healing therapies"

"Terapias de conversión"

240814_SPDM_Abandono Familiar.mp4

Family abandonment

Abandono familiar

DESCARGAS / DOWNLOADS

Access to full reports as submittted to the Human Rights Council

Acceso a los informes completos enviados al Consejo de Derechos Humanos.

Factsheet on LGBTQ+.docx

Ficha Informativa LGTBIQ+.docx

Informe LGTBI EPU 2024.pdf

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