Human Rights Violations among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Southern Africa: Comparisons between Legal Contexts

In 1994, South Africa approved a constitution providing freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Other Southern African countries, including Botswana, Malawi, and Namibia, criminalize same-sex behavior. Men who have sex with men (MSM) have been shown to experience high levels of stigma and discrimination, increasing their vulnerability to negative health and other outcomes. This paper examines the relationship between criminalization of same-sex behavior and experiences of human rights abuses by MSM. It compares the extent to which MSM in peri-urban Cape Town experience human rights abuses with that of MSM in Gaborone, Botswana; Blantyre and Lilongwe, Malawi; and Windhoek, Namibia. In 2008, 737 MSM participated in a cross-sectional study using a structured survey collecting data regarding demographics, human rights, HIV status, and risk behavior. Participants accrued in each site were compared using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression. Encouragingly, the results indicate MSM in Cape Town were more likely to disclose their sexual orientation to family or healthcare workers and less likely to be blackmailed or feel afraid in their communities than MSM in Botswana, Malawi, or Namibia. However, South African MSM were not statistically significantly less likely experience a human rights abuse than their peers in cities in other study countries, showing that while legal protections may reduce experiences of certain abuses, legislative changes alone are insufficient for protecting MSM. A comprehensive approach with interventions at multiple levels in multiple sectors is needed to create the legal and social change necessary to address attitudes, discrimination, and violence affecting MSM.     

The Uunguu Monitoring and Evaluation Committee: Intercultural Governance of a Land and Sea Management Programme in the Kimberley,Australia

The importance of Indigenous peoples’ and their ancestral estates for the maintenance and protection of biodiversity, ecosystem function, threatened species and cultural diversity is clear. Due to their nature, processes and tools to measure the impact of intercultural Indigenous land and sea management partnerships need to be innovative and adaptable. In 2015, the Wunambal Gaambera Healthy Country Plan reached its mid‐point, which triggered an evaluation to enable adaptive management through the assessment of effectiveness. The evaluation was used to appraise the need for adaptation, contribute to the evidence base for healthy Country, and to report on achievements. The Uunguu Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, an innovative, intercultural and interdisciplinary body, and their collaborators adopted a multiple evidence‐based approach to enable an enriched picture. This committee has successfully integrated western scientific and local Indigenous knowledge for adaptive management by embodying the principles of co‐production. The Uunguu Monitoring and Evaluation Committee model outlines a way of doing knowledge integration from the bottom up which, given the significance of the cultural and natural diversity of the Indigenous estate, makes a valuable contribution to the global community of practitioners attempting to use diverse knowledges for better management of biodiversity, ecosystems, threatened species and cultural traditions.