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 In many African countries, people’s rights to expression, association, and assembly are curtailed on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.  Restrictions of these rights, with accompanying threats of arrest, police harassment, blackmail, and violence, limit people’s access to health and other social and economic rights. To discuss these issues, UNDP sponsored and convened a panel discussion during the ‘NGO Forum’ at Banjul, Gambia to table issues of human rights, HIV, and health related to sexual orientation and gender identity. The panel was organized in partnership with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and other NGOs including Global Rights, Interights, and East & Horn Human Rights Defenders. The panel discussion was convened in preparation for 45th session of African Commission on Human Rights and People Rights (ACHPR) which was held from 13-27 May 2009 in Banjul, Gambia. 
 
The meeting was historic because it is the first time in the NGO Forum’s history that a plenary discussion focused on the human rights situation of African lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) individuals as well as other men who have sex with men. The panelists were from civil society organizations and networks from six African countries (Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe) representing  organizations and networks led by and/or representing women who have sex with women, men who have sex with men, transgender people, and other groups focused on human rights and AIDS.
 
The NGO Forum unanimously noted that “the failure by states to ensure the enjoyment of the right to the highest attainable standard of health by everyone irrespective of their sexual orientation and gender identity; which has impacted to the scourge of HIV in communities of men who have sex with men (MSM) and women who have sex with women (WSW) despite the proven impact of the pandemic in these communities and the population at large.”
 
The NGO Forum formally adopted a resolution that recommended that the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR):
 
o   Ensure that states put in place mechanisms for access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care for everyone regardless of sexual orientations and gender identity.
 
o   Acknowledge and condemn human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI).
 
o   Mandate investigation, documentation and reporting on SOGI-related human rights violations by ACHPR Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, rights of women, and freedom of expression.
 
o   Create a new rapporteur mechanism specific to SOGI.
 
o   Strongly urge states to repeal laws criminalizing aspects of SOGI, to end impunity for acts of violence and abuse, and to protect the rights of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity.
 
These recommendations were brought forward to the full ACHPR meeting by Mrs. Hannah Forster, the Executive Director of the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies and a draft paper on sexual orientation was also shared with the ACHPR. The commission decided to defer further consideration to its 46th Ordinary Session to be held 11-25 November 2009.   
 
On a similar development, while addressing the issues facing homosexuals, a Jesuit priest and former University of Zambia Lecturer, Professor Michael Kelly, has called upon the Zambian government to make homosexuality legal. He said that homosexuality in Zambian prisons was rampant and because it is done secretly, it exposes gay people to danger because they don’t use protective measures like condoms. He appealed to African governments to refrain from making laws that punish people who infect others with HIV, as inappropriate criminalization of HIV transmission can cause people to avoid learning their HIV status and undermine broader prevention and treatment efforts.