Traditions and Religion in Man Hunt for LGBT Practitioners, Benjamin Bai Sesay.
By wisdom.
There has been a phenomenon in Sierra Leone, which is human rights, tradition and religion. In this wake, there have been contradictory approaches to conflicts amongst these tripartite.
Religion and traditional societies are fighting and always against issues of human rights, seeing them as an affront to their beliefs; many human rights campaigners are frowning at, believing that traditions and religions are trespassing on human rights that are supposed to be recognised and protected without any hindrance.
The practices of LGBT in Sierra Leone have displaced many Sierra Leoneans be displaced and forcing them into hiding OR exile; fear of losing their lives, the societies in Sierra Leone have declared war against LGBT in Sierra Leone, not to be recognised or exist, therefore, they are hunting anyone suspected to be or practising LGBT.
Recently, a suspected individual named Benjamin Bai Sesay, who was seen practising LGBT, on the 17th January, 2017, was chased out of the society and declared wanted by the religious and traditional people, declaring wanted and considering him to be a nuisance against their faiths. According to our investigations, he was practically assaulted by those supporters of traditions and religious beliefs.
Many people are therefore being victimised because of their own emotions and feelings they have for practising LGBT, these have made society against their own beliefs and see them as enemies of their own beliefs.
Sierra Leone is a signatory to many treaties that are also in support of LGBT as they enshrined the practices to be human rights policies and regulations characterized with recognitions and protections, all those directives from those practices are not being adhered to by government, this makes it impossible for LGBT practitioners to make formal complaints to the police against those who are committing assaults and stigmatizations on their person. We have witnessed major incidents of physical assaults on LGBT practitioners, and none have been accounted for by the police.
The case of Benjamin Bai Sesay is a pure example of many cases where the police are supporting the human rights violations against persons of the LGBT community. No records were given to us by the police during the course of our investigations, even when eyewitnesses gave accounts to the media about the unfortunate human rights violations that were committed against Benjamin Bai Sesay
This is actually presenting a situation of religion and tradition taking dominance over human rights in Sierra Leone. This has made Sierra Leone not a safe place for persons of the LGBT community, because it is either you are killed, locked up or assaulted to perpetual deformity.
Our investigation is continuing, despite several attempts to reach the victim, Benjamin Bai Sesay and his family, to ascertain his present conditions and his whereabouts. As we continue, we are also making an effort to reach anyone who may be getting information about his whereabouts and his present health status.
According to sources, Benjamin Bai Sesay is a popular disc jockey (DJ) known for his musical versatility. Many people claim that he has been using his profession to promote LGBTQ+ issues, which has faced criticism in Sierra Leone. In Sierra Leone, where traditional and religious beliefs are strong, some communities consider such promotion to be unacceptable.
