Forced Anal Examinations in Senegal: When an LGBTQI Investigation Becomes Torture
By Melanie Nathan, Country Conditions Expert for Senegal, September, 16, 2026
For years, human rights advocates documenting the criminalization of homosexuality in Africa have warned about one of its most degrading consequences: the so-called “forced anal examination.”
Now there is compelling evidence that the practice is in fact occurring in Senegal.
Forced anal examinations are pseudo-medical procedures used in some countries that criminalize consensual same-sex conduct in an attempt to obtain purported physical “evidence” that a person has engaged in anal intercourse. The examinations may involve visual inspection and digital or other penetration of the anus.
They have no legitimate scientific basis for determining whether a person has engaged in consensual same-sex activity. They are also profoundly degrading, dehumanizing and painful.
A gay man who was subjected to this while detained in Uganda under that country's Anti-Homosexuality laws told me, "It was torture."
And international medical and human rights authorities have concluded that they can constitute torture.
From Risk to Documented Practice in Senegal
Until recently, public documentation specifically establishing the use of forced anal examinations in Senegal was limited. Previously we could not verify some reports we had received at African Human Rights Coalition, that such exams were occurring.
That has changed.
In December 2025, Erasing 76 Crimes reported that some defendants prosecuted for alleged “unnatural acts” had undergone forced anal examinations in Senegal. Outright International has subsequently reported that, following the arrest of 15 people associated with a WhatsApp group in December 2025, detainees were subjected to forced anal examinations.
The evidence became still more troubling in 2026.
Erasing 76 Crimes reported in August that seven defendants arrested in Rufisque—including two cisgender heterosexual women—were subjected to anal examinations during medical examinations at Youssou Mbargane Diop Hospital.
Then came something particularly significant: acknowledgment from the Senegalese authorities themselves.
On September 10, 2026, Erasing 76 Crimes reported that the Senegal National Police had issued a statement acknowledging that requests had been made for rectal examinations of suspects as part of the investigation. The police maintained that the examinations were performed with the consent of those concerned.
While these admissions involved women, it is an important development because it lends crdibility to reports we have been receiving from gay men.
That assertion that consent was given does not resolve the human-rights issue. It raises it.
A person under arrest, facing prosecution and confronted with police demands for an intimate examination designed to produce evidence that may incriminate them, is not situated like a patient freely choosing a medical procedure.
Was refusal genuinely possible? Were the detainees told they could refuse? Did they have access to counsel? Were they informed of the purpose and nature of the procedure? Was consent written or verbal? What would have happened had they said no? Were they coerced in any way. Were they threatened? DId they know there was no evidence to be obtained and thoughht they would endure it as a way out?
These are not incidental questions. They go directly to whether purported “consent” was free and informed. regardless, these examinations should not be required at all, especially given the documented concerns by medical and human rights organizations.
What Is a Forced Anal Examination?
These examinations are not medically legitimate tests for homosexuality.
The Independent Forensic Expert Group, an international body of forensic specialists, has concluded that anal examinations have no medical or scientific value in determining whether consensual anal intercourse has occurred. The experts further concluded that such examinations are inherently discriminatory, cause significant physical and mental suffering in almost all instances, constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and may amount to torture depending upon the circumstances.
This matters because medicine is being enlisted not to treat a patient, but to assist the state in investigating and potentially prosecuting intimate consensual conduct.
The World Medical Association has taken an equally unequivocal position.
Its Resolution on Prohibition of Forced Anal Examinations to Substantiate Same-Sex Sexual Activity, adopted by the 68th WMA General Assembly in Chicago in October 2017 and reaffirmed with minor revisions by the 221st WMA Council Session in Berlin in October 2022, calls upon physicians and other health professionals to refuse participation in forced anal examinations because they are medically invalid. It calls upon medical associations to educate practitioners that these examinations are unscientific and futile and are a form of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. (Endnote 1)
Why This Can Constitute Torture
Article 1 of the United Nations Convention against Torture defines torture, in substance, as the intentional infliction of severe physical or mental pain or suffering for purposes that include obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation or coercion, or discrimination, where the conduct is carried out by, at the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or another person acting in an official capacity.
Consider how a forced anal examination conducted during a police investigation of alleged homosexuality fits those elements.
Intentional conduct: The examination is deliberately performed.
Physical or mental suffering: It involves an extraordinarily intimate invasion of bodily integrity capable of producing pain, humiliation, fear and psychological trauma.
Purpose: It is undertaken to obtain purported evidence concerning conduct for which the person is being investigated or prosecuted.
Discrimination: Where imposed because of actual or perceived same-sex conduct or sexual orientation, - the procedure has an inherently discriminatory dimension.
State involvement: Where police request the examination as part of a criminal investigation and the procedure is carried out on a detainee, the state nexus is direct.
This is precisely why United Nations human-rights mechanisms have condemned the practice. The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture has described non-consensual anal examinations used to “prove” homosexuality as medically worthless and noted their condemnation by the Committee against Torture, the Special Rapporteur on Torture and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The Subcommittee has expressly called upon states to ban forced anal examinations.
Senegal's Existing Obligations
This development is especially disturbing because Senegal has already been repeatedly warned about abuse directed at people because of their real or perceived sexual orientation.
The UN Committee against Torture previously expressed concern about reports of violent arrests based upon perceived sexual orientation in Senegal and called upon the state to prevent arrests and police violence based on real or perceived sexual orientation, investigate violence, prosecute perpetrators and provide victims with redress.
Senegal's 2024 Universal Periodic Review likewise addressed the persecution of LGBT people. Among the recommendations was that Senegal take necessary steps to protect minorities and end persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Other states recommended repeal of provisions of the Criminal Code that contribute to discrimination and violence against LGBT people.
Yet the trajectory since that review has moved in the opposite direction.
Senegal has intensified its criminal response to alleged same-sex conduct, with arrests continuing through 2026. Reporting by The New Humanitarian in May documented forced HIV testing following arrests and reports of forced anal examinations, while researchers warned that the treatment of detainees was violating bodily integrity and deterring people from seeking healthcare.
The use of anal examinations must therefore be understood within the broader context of criminalization, arrests, denunciation, stigma and the use of state power against people suspected of same-sex conduct.
The Next UPR Must Address This
Senegal underwent its most recent Universal Periodic Review in January 2024. Its next review is scheduled for January 2029, during the 59th UPR Working Group session. Critically for civil society, the current timetable gives June 1, 2028 as the deadline for stakeholder submissions.
Forced anal examinations should be squarely before that review.
Earlier UPR cycles addressed criminalization, arbitrary arrest, police violence and discrimination based upon sexual orientation. But the emerging evidence of anal examinations gives the international community something more specific to confront: an invasive investigative practice condemned by the world's leading medical and human-rights authorities.
States participating in Senegal's next UPR should ask Senegal directly whether anal examinations are being ordered or requested by police, prosecutors or courts; how many have been conducted; under what legal authority; which medical facilities and practitioners have participated; what safeguards supposedly ensure genuine consent; and whether evidence obtained from such examinations has been used in criminal proceedings.
They should also call for an explicit prohibition of the practice. No Doctor Should Participate
There is another institution that cannot be overlooked: the medical profession. A white coat does not transform an abusive investigative technique into healthcare.
The World Medical Association's position leaves little ambiguity. Physicians should not participate in forced anal examinations intended to substantiate same-sex sexual activity. The procedure is scientifically invalid, medically unnecessary and incompatible with medical ethics. An anal examination undertaken for this evidentiary purpose does not become legitimate because a physician performs it. It instead raises the disturbing prospect of medicine being enlisted in the investigation, torture, and punishment of people for their actual or perceived sexuality.
Senegal Must End the Practice
The first remedy would be for Senegal to decriminalize human sexuality, - instead it went further this year to amend its Criminal Code to broaden the definition criminalizing same-sex conduct, punishable by double the previous sentence with 5- 10 years in prison, plus fines of up to 10Million CFA ; and also effectively criminalized support, advocacy and so called promotion of homosexuality, the latter punishable by 3-7 Years in prison. In any event, Senegal should immediately prohibit forced anal examinations and any purported anal examination intended to establish evidence of consensual same-sex sexual activity.
It should disclose the extent to which such examinations have been requested or performed, investigate their use, ensure that medical professionals are never required or permitted to participate in coercive examinations, and exclude purported evidence derived from medically invalid procedures. Medical practitioners should condemn and refuse the practise and their associations participate in bans.
This should not have to wait for the 2029 UPR for people and instituions to speak out.
The issue belongs before Senegal's national human-rights institutions, medical authorities, civil society, the UN torture-prevention mechanisms and the international community now.
With this recent admission by the Police in enegal, the question is no longer merely whether a person accused of homosexuality in Senegal might face a forced anal examination. There is now documented reporting that such examinations have occurred, as the Senegal National Police itself has acknowledged the use of rectal examinations in an investigation.
The remaining questions are how widespread the practice is—and whether Senegal will stop it.
About the Author: Melanie Nathan is the Executive Director of African Human Rights Coalition and a Country Conditions expert for LGBTQI+ asylum seekers in the U.S. Immigration Courts and Global tribunals. For Senegal and 19 other African Coountries.
Author's Note:
Some Facts about Senegal: Senegal is a Muslim dominant country. It is about the size of South Dakota. About 95% of the polulation says it will not tolerate homosexuality (Afrobarometer/Equaldex)
Location: Senegal wraps around its smaller neighbor, The Gambia, to form the western bulge of Africa. It has a 330 mile coastline on the Atlantic. Mauritania and Mali are north and east and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau border on the south.
Land Area: Senegal covers approximately 76,000 square miles,
Terrain: The flat rolling plains in the northern region of the country are part of the Sahel desert. In the southeast plateaus rise from the foothills of the Gouta Djallon Mountains. Marshy swamps and tropical forests are found in southwest Senegal. The country's four main rivers are the Senegal, Saloum, Casamance and Gambia.
Climate: The climate is as varied as the terrain. There are two seasons, rainy and dry. The rainy season lasts from June through October. Along the coast the weather tends to be breezy and cooler while further inland it is drier in the north and more tropical in the south. Temperatures range from 64 to 86 degrees.
Population: There are around 7 million people. The population is made up of numerous ethnic groups that include Wolof 36%, Fulani 17%, Serer 17%, Toucouleur 9%, Diola 9%, Mandingo 9%, European and Lebanese 1%, other 2%
Language: French is the official language. Other languages spoken are Wolof, Pulaar, Serer, Diola and Mandingo.
Religion: Muslim 92%, indigenous beliefs 6%, Christian 2%
Major Cities: Dakar is the nation's capital and its largest city. Other major cities are Saint Louis, which served as the colonialist capital, and Thi�s, Kaolack and Ziguinchor.
Government: After achieving independence from France in 1960, Senegal was established as a republic. Its constitution was adopted in 1963. The president, elected every five years, is head of state and appoints a council of ministers as well as Supreme Court judges. The legislature, the National Assembly, is a unicameral body with 120 elected members. President Abdou Diouf is leader of the Socialist Party, which has been the party in power since 1960.
Economy: The economy of Senegal is relatively diversified. The main agricultural crop is groundnuts. Other crops are maize, millet, beans, rice, sugar and cotton. Industries include textile manufacturing and food processing as well as petroleum and phosphate production. Fishing industries have become the largest export earner. Tourism is also a growing sector of the economy.
Flag: The national banner consists of three vertical bands of green, yellow and red. A green star is centered in the yellow band.
Endnotes:
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