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Eswatini’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to allow an LGBTQ rights group to legally register.
The Registrar of Companies in 2019 denied Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities’ request to register.
The advocacy group in 2020 petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case. The Supreme Court initially ruled against Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities, but it appealed the decision.
The Eswatini Commerce, Industry, and Trade Ministry in 2023 said it would not allow the group to register. The Supreme Court on Tuesday in a unanimous ruling ordered the Swazi government to allow Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities to register.
“For seven years the Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities group has fought the Swazi government for its citizens to have the right to freedom of association,” said Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities on Tuesday in a Facebook post. “But this is a hard fight against a government and king who believe LGBTI people have no place in the kingdom and who are trying to restrict the power of civil society organizations.”
Eswatini is a small, landlocked country in southern Africa that borders South Africa and Mozambique.
Consensual same-sex sexual relations between men remain criminalized in the country.
Discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity is commonplace in Eswatini. The country’s first Pride parade took place against this backdrop in 2018.
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