‘We fear the epidemic will return’: Senegal’s harsh anti-gay law puts decades of HIV progress in jeopardy

Arrest toll mounts and gay men flee the country as new, harsher legislation cracks down on ‘promotion’ of homosexuality

Amadou Ndiaye has spent the past two months watching members of his organisation disappear – fleeing across borders, being arrested or simply going silent.

Ndiaye is the secretary-general of UJEC (Union des Jeunes Engagés pour Notre Communauté), a Dakar-based NGO that runs a refuge providing emergency shelter and community support for LGBTQ+ people facing homophobic violence.

In February, when Ndiaye was attacked by neighbours and family members, he too left Senegal for the Gambia. He has since returned to Dakar, but UJEC’s services are yet to resume. “We have stopped all our activities. We are no longer safe,” he says.

Ndiaye’s experience is playing out across a country that, for decades, has maintained one of Africa’s most resilient HIV prevention systems. The success was built, in part, on reaching men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers and other key populations who are being swept up in a wave of arrests as hostility against homosexuality rises in Senegal.