Anti-LGBTQ+ laws are on the rise across west Africa, campaigners warn

Activists in the region say politicians regard LGBTQ+ people as the easiest scapegoats to maintain their power'

A growing number of west African countries are implementing or strengthening anti-LGBTQ+ laws, amid local political pressures and a global pushback against LGBTQ+ rights.

In March, Senegal doubled the maximum prison sentence for gay sex to 10 years and criminalised the promotion" of homosexuality. Niger criminalised sexual relations with a person of the same sex" in February, the first time same-sex intimacy had been outlawed in the country.