Project description
What issue are you trying to solve?
In Mali, despite the legal vacuum on homosexuality, LGBTIQ people have to face an environment of intolerance and violence. An upsurge and rise in violence against LGBTQI people since the beginning of 2017. This goes hand in hand with strong media coverage and debates on homosexuality in the Malian media. Debates are dominated by negative opinions about “gay rights”, condemnations, and even calls for the criminalization of homosexuality. This climate of growing intolerance is, unfortunately, having a negative impact on the lives of LGBTIQ Malians or suspected of being so.
Mali’s LGBTQI community lives in a hostile, clandestine and unfavourable environment. A rise in violence with difficulties to access health, security, protection, justice and lack of respect for their fundamental rights. In 2017, the community was confronted with a rise in violence due to social realities, cultural and religious but also with the creation of anti-LGBTQ movement (fight against homosexuality in Mali). Between 2017 and 2018 we recorded: 17,000 reports of reported verbal aggression, 90 cases of reported and reported physical assault, plus over 700 hate speech videos and photos and exhibition on social networks etc …
What is your approach to change this undesired situation?
CAS intervenes in Bamako and in the first 5 regions of Mali and as intervention and approach:
- Strengthening the capacity of the LGBTQI community through information activities in the field and on the Net on security, human rights, leadership, associative life and on the esteem in silk, periodic VADs with kits food support for LGBTQI (PLHIV) people, study trips and professional training and reinforcement and training.
- Advocacy in the sector possible that of HIV for obtaining a favourable environment.
- Attempted dialogue with some media (did not work much)
- Documentation of cases of violence and assistance to victims of violence (temporary relocation for three months, medical care, interventions for people in cases of police abuse and incarceration, temporary security of certain victims, personal interventions with the family of some victims)
- Signage of hate speech publications on Facebook, YouTube.
- Dissemination of alerts and preventions messages;
- Our Association is the only association fighting for the promotion and defence of human rights of the LGBTQI community.
What is the potential impact of your initiative?
CAS interventions have helped strengthen the knowledge and skills of the LGBTQI community, the safety of some victims, the release of some of the arrest, the care of victims, the availability of data on violence against LGBTQI people.