HBT-förening debatterar hatbrott med regeringen i Sydafrika

Sydafrika är ett av de länder i världen som har de HBT-vänligaste lagarna. Könsneutral äktenskapslag, lika regler för samkönade och olikkönade par när det gäller adoptioner och inseminationer, lagar mot diskriminering inom i princip alla samhällsområden när det gäller sexuell läggning, rätt att juridiskt byta kön och förbud mot hets mot bögar och lesbiska.

Kritik har dock riktats från HBT-rörelsen i Sydafrika om att landet saknar någon hatbrottslag som ger möjlighet till skärpta straff om syftet är att kränka någon p.g.a bl.a. sexuell läggning och könsidentitet. Ett annat problem är att, trots de HBT-vänliga lagarna, en tydlig majoritet av befolkningen ännu är negativ till samkönade relationer.

Från Wikipedia LGBT rights in South Africa

South Africa has no specific "hate crime" legislation; human rights organisations have criticised the South African police for failing to address the matter of bias motivated crimes. For example, the NGO ActionAid has condemned the continued impunity and accused governments of turning a blind eye to reported murders of lesbians in homophobic attacks in South Africa; as well as to so-called “corrective” rapes, including cases among pupils, in which cases the male rapists purport to raping the lesbian victim with the intent of thereby “curing” her of her sexual orientation.

Den sydafrikanska HBT-föreningen Triangle Project rapporterar om ett möte hos regeringen.

On the 14th of March 2011, Triangle Project and Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust presented a memorandum at a meeting hosted by the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development. The focus of the meeting was on the ‘Corrective Rape’ of lesbian women. The memorandum was endorsed by a wide range of organisations and activists across South Africa. The Memorandum called on the Justice Ministry to implement immediate and concrete measures to improve the way in which the criminal justice system handles crime of violence against lesbian, gay, transgendered and intersex (LGBTI) people.

På sin hemsida publicerar Triangle Project förslagen från Triangle Project och Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust. Bl.a. förbättrade lagar.

Additionally, we recognise that The Protection from Harassment Bill which is currently before the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development gives greater consideration to Section 9 of the Constitution through the explicit inclusion of harassment based on unfair discrimination on one or more grounds, including: gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, nationality, socio-economic status, class; religion; culture age; disability; and HIV status.

We further recognise that a gap exists in criminal law which specifically affords protection to LGBTI persons and that such legislation needs to be promulgated in order for the state to fulfil its constitutional duty to advance the rights and interests of marginalised groups or categories of people and to impose appropriate penalties for offenders who commit criminal offences against LGBTI persons on the basis of hatred of their gender, sex and/or sexual orientation.

We recognise that on or about 25 January 2011 the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development reported that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is in the process of conducting research into a draft anti racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance Bill which covers hate crime against LGBTI persons and look forward to making submissions or recommendations to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional development on the proposed ‘Hate Crimes’ Bill.

Regeringspartiet i Sydafrika är socialdemokratiska ANC som har egen majoritet i parlamentet. Största oppositionspartiet är liberala DP. Båda är HBT-vänliga även om det inom dem är en minoritet av homonegativa. De flesta andra partier kommenterar sällan rättigheter för bögar, lesbiska och transpersoner. Det parti som de senaste åren varit tydligast homofientligt är kristdemokratiska ACDP men de fick bara 0,8 % i senaste parlamentsvalet.