French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, revealed on Saturday via the social platform X that Paris is championing a draft resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council. This significant proposal aims to prohibit states from criminalizing LGBT+ individuals. This diplomatic move by France emerges just two months after Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye enacted a law intensifying penalties for homosexuality, and notably, as a French national remains detained in Dakar under this very legislation. This reflects a key aspect of pan-African current affairs and global human rights.
“You can rely on France: it works, and will always work, to advance the human rights agenda,” affirmed the head of French diplomacy. He pointed to a “conservative surge” that has been observed across many global regions over the past decade, impacting African society news and beyond.
Diplomatic Engagement Intensifies Following March 11 Law
The new legislation, passed by the Senegalese National Assembly on March 11, 2026, with 135 votes in favor and no opposition, and subsequently promulgated on March 30, significantly escalates penalties. It extends the maximum prison sentence for “unnatural acts” from five to ten years and increases the fine ceiling tenfold, now set at ten million CFA francs. Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko championed this text as a measure of national sovereignty. The law also criminalizes the promotion, support, or financing of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality, a development closely watched in Africa politics English discussions.
Prior to its enactment, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk had urged Dakar not to sign the bill into law, contending that it violated Senegal’s international commitments. On April 16, Pascal Confavreux, spokesperson for the Quai d’Orsay (the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs), conveyed Paris’s deep concern. He confirmed that Minister Barrot had addressed this critical issue with his Senegalese counterpart, Cheikh Niang, during a meeting at the French Foreign Ministry, highlighting its relevance to African news today.
French National Detained in Dakar
A French citizen has been held in detention in Senegal since February 14, facing charges under the newly implemented legislation. According to the Quai d’Orsay, the French consulate in Dakar has visited the individual four times, and officials remain in contact with the detainee’s family. Separately, on April 10, a Dakar court sentenced a young Senegalese man, born in 2002, to six years in prison for similar offenses, a case that has drawn attention from The Panafrican Press.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports that 62 nations still criminalize consensual homosexual relations, with eleven of these potentially imposing the death penalty. The specific date for the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to review France’s proposed resolution has not yet been announced, but it remains a crucial development for global LGBT+ rights.
