By Melanie Nathan, Aug 18, 2026 In June 2026, Ghana hosted the Fourth African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family, Sovereignty and Values in Accra, bringing together parliamentarians and conservative “pro-family” actors from across Africa to coordinate regional opposition to LGBTQI+ rights, abortion, gender-related rights and other policies characterized by participants as foreign interference in African cultural and religious values. The conference culminated in the ad

By Melanie Nathan, August 13, 2026. There is a tendency to report Africa's expanding anti-LGBTQ laws one country at a time. Uganda passes a brutal law. Ghana advances another. Senegal increases its penalties. Burkina Faso criminalizes same-sex relations. Niger follows. Mali follows. Each becomes a headline for a day or two. Then the world moves on. I cannot look at these developments that way. For years, my work through African Human Rights Coalition and as a country-conditio

By Melanie Nathan, July 31, 2026 - Country Conditions Expert on Ghana UPDATED AUG 01, 2026: Parliament has adjourned sine die, bringing the second meeting of the second session of the Ninth Parliament to a close without reconsidering the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2026. Parliament has adjourned sine die, bringing the second meeting of the second session of the Ninth Parliament to a close without reconsidering the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill,

Melanie Nathan, Executive Director , JULY 28, 2026 Today marks the 75th Anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, one of the most important human rights instruments ever adopted. Born from the devastation of the Second World War, the Convention embodies a simple but profound promise: that no person should be denied protection simply because they have been forced to flee persecution. For seventy-five years, that promise has stood as the cornerstone of international refugee p

By Melanie Nathan, July 20, 2026 Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, who has died at the age of 94, was a remarkable Ugandan clergyman who chose conscience over comfort. At a time when evangelical hatred was helping propel Uganda’s first “Kill the Gays” bill, he stood almost alone among senior Christian leaders, publicly declaring that LGBTQ people deserved dignity, compassion, and God’s love—not persecution. For that unwavering faith, he paid a heavy personal price, yet he never re

Melanie Nathan, July 02, 2026 Emergency Appeal: Protecting LGBTQI+ Refugees Trapped by Xenophobia in South Africa For more than a decade, the African Human Rights Coalition (AHRC) has provided humanitarian assistance, advocacy, and protection to LGBTQI+ refugees and asylum seekers fleeing persecution across Africa. Many of those we serve have escaped imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, forced marriage, family rejection, and death threats because of their sexual orientatio

The African Human Rights Coalition responds to the U.S. Supreme Court's asylum ruling, warning that LGBTQI+ refugees fleeing persecution, criminalization, and violence face heightened risks when denied access to seek asylum at U.S. ports of entry.

As anti-LGBT laws decline in many Christian-majority countries and expand across parts of the Muslim world, this analysis examines the global religious, political, and legal dynamics shaping LGBTQI+ rights. Melanie Nathan adds critical context from her work as a country conditions expert, highlighting Ghana's sweeping new anti-LGBTQ bill, the continuing role of religion in persecution, and why legal reform alone often fails to protect LGBTQI+ people from violence, discriminat

A new AHRC report warns that South Africa's xenophobia crisis is escalating as anti-foreigner movements demand undocumented migrants leave the country by June 30, 2026. The report examines violence, displacement, organized anti-migrant mobilization, and the growing humanitarian consequences for migrants, refugees, and LGBTQI+ asylum seekers across Africa.

BY MELANIE NATHAN , JUNE 12, 2026 Niger has adopted a new Penal Code that, for the first time in the country's history, explicitly criminalizes consensual same-sex relations. The legislation introduces severe penalties, including prison terms of up to twenty years for certain offenses related to same-sex relationships, marriage, and association. Enacted under military rule, the legislation represents a significant escalation in the criminalization of LGBTQI+ people and reflec