Women’s groups have raised the alarm about two impending African anti-rights conferences, featuring prominent US conservatives, that have previously been used to mobilise for anti-LGBTQ laws and restrictions on sexual and reproductive rights on the continent.

Similar ‘African family’ conferences have tried to “strip women of their basic human rights and dignity and reinforce the dominance of men within our society using ‘family values’ as a vehicle”, notes Women’s ProBono Initiative (WPI), a Ugandan women’s rights group.

The Entebbe Inter-Parliamentary Forum opens on Friday (9 May). Since its inception three years ago, it has served as a conservative organising and misinformation platform for ultra-conservative African Members of Parliament.

Hosted by Uganda’s president and parliament, the forum has mobilised for copycat anti-LGBTQ laws in Uganda and Ghana with prison terms for those who identify as lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual. Conservative Kenyan MPs are working on a similar law.

Other concerning shared policies include the Kenyan government’s “family protection policy”, adopted in 2023, which undermines no-fault divorce that has since been copied by Uganda, says WBI.

Notorious ‘hate groups’

The Entebbe forum is co-sponsored by Family Watch Africa, the continental branch of the Arizona-based Family Watch International (FWI), a homophobic, anti-choice, abstinence-only organisation designated as a ‘hate group’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center in the US for its anti-LGBTQ agenda. 

FWI president Sharon Slater, who is presenting the opening session, is notorious for championing anti-LGBTQ laws in Africa and organises annual “training sessions” for African politicians in Arizona on how to lobby for conservative causes at the United Nations and other multilateral forums.

“Whenever an anti-LGBTQ law is passed in Africa, you are assured Sharon Slater had a hand in it!” says Tabitha Saoyo Griffith, a human rights lawyer and Amnesty International Kenya board member.

Last year’s forum featured addresses by two of the continent’s most vociferous anti-vaxxers, Shabnam Mohamed and Wahome Ngare, who delivered blistering attacks on several life-saving vaccines, as reported by Health Policy Watch.

Mohamed heads the Africa chapter of Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group started by Robert F Kennedy Jr, currently the US health secretary. 

Ngare is a director of the conservative lobby group, the Kenyan Christians’ Professionals Forum (KCPF). Nine Ugandan medical professional bodies issued a statement disavowing Wahome’s misinformation after his address. 

This year’s forum will not be public, and attendees have to agree not to publicise discussions and to abide by “Chatham House rules” (no attribution of information) when registering. 

“This is worrying because these elected representatives, discussing African family values, are accountable to the people who elected them. The secretive nature of these discussions points to a sinister plan that will result in harmful decisions with life-and-death consequences,” says Joy Asasira, an SRHR and gender advocate from Uganda.

From Entebbe to Nairobi

A day after the Entebbe forum ends, the Pan-African Conference on Family Values convenes in Nairobi, Kenya, on 12 May. 

Co-hosted by anti-vaxx Ngare’s KCPF, this is a much bigger gathering than Entebbe, aimed at “promoting and protecting the sanctity of life, family values and religious freedom”, as well as equipping delegates “with tools to strengthen advocacy efforts at national, regional, and global levels”. 

Ironically, its keynote speakers are predominantly white conservative men from the United States and Europe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was due in the city at the time and had been invited to speak, but has since cancelled his planned visit to Kenya – apparently in protest against Kenyan President William Ruto’s recent visit to China.

The pale cast of speakers includes Austin Ruse, the president of the ultra-conservative Center for the Family and Human Rights (C-Fam), who describes himself as “descended of colonists” and a “Knight of Malta”, a Catholic order.

Also due to speak are Family Watch International’s Slater; Dutch conservative lobbyist Henk Jan van Schothorst; and US anti-LGBTQ politicians Robert Destro, a deputy secretary of state under the first Trump administration, and former senator John Crane; as well as leaders of the ultra-conservative Polish group, Ordos Iuris. Kenya’s Labour Ministry is also supporting the conference.

Advisors to Project 2025

Anti-rights researcher Dr Haley McEwan points out that two of the conference sponsors – C-Fam and the Alliance Defending Freedom – were on the advisory committee of Project 2025, the conservative blueprint being followed by the Trump administration which has led to life-threatening cuts to development aid in Africa. Meanwhile, another sponsor, FWI, has worked with the Heritage Foundation, which authored Project 2025.

Project 2025’s proposals to slash US Agency of International Development (USAID) grants, prioritise funding for faith-based organisations and prohibit funding for “sexual reproductive health and reproductive rights” and “gender equality” programmes have all been implemented.

“It is outrageous that these organisations have been given a platform, when they are part of an initiative that pushed for slashing aid that is harming Africa families, and undermining the health of children, women and men and vulnerable communities,” said McEwan, a research associate at the University of Witwatersrand’s Centre for Diversity Studies in South Africa.

“This conference is part of decades-long activities of US Christian right organisations in the region. The fact that it features high-profile government speakers shows that they are gaining influence and power and this is even more concerning, particularly in light of the damaging funding cuts.”

“Why are these white American men so concerned about African families? Is this not another form of colonialism? ” asks Kemi Akinfaderin, chief global advocacy officer for Fòs Feminista, a global network of over 150 organisations working for sexual and reproductive rights.

“They are trying to instil fear by claiming that there is an agenda to reduce Africa’s fertility and population rates, but this is an imposition of Western problems, such as declining fertility rates, on Africa.” 

Red Cross Kenya’s hotel

Over 20 Kenyan human rights organisations petitioned the Red Cross, the main shareholder of the Boma Hotel where the conference is being held, to try to persuade them to refuse to host the conference.

In their letter, they point to the KCPF’s opposition to laws aimed at curbing maternal mortality in Kenya and its involvement in promoting Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act. The KCPF is also opposing access to contraception for people under the age of 18.

“By giving the conference a platform, Red Cross Kenya is endorsing discriminatory ideologies that contradict the Red Cross’s commitment to alleviating human suffering and prioritising the lives of the most vulnerable,” they wrote.

However, the Red Cross, a principal recipient of the Global Fund’s grant in Kenya, responded that it was not involved in the day-to-day running of the hotel.

One of the letter’s protesters has sponsored billboards on the road from Nairobi’s airport to the hotel, stating: “True Family Values bring everyone together – not tear us apart.”

Over 12,000 people also signed a petition calling on the Boma Hotel to refuse to host the conference.

Narrow Western definition of ‘family’

Akinfaderin notes that the anti-rights groups have a “Western-centric, Eurocentric definition” of the family centred on a man as the head of the family, which is “not aligned with the more expansive realities of African families”.

“According to these groups, women’s rights, LGBTQI rights, access to safe abortion and comprehensive sexuality education are anti-family initiatives,” says Akinfaderin.

“Their justification is that, if more women and girls know their rights, working and having a sense of value and empowerment, it means that they’re less likely to want to stay home and bear children. But women’s and girls’ aspirations are greater than their reproductive capacities. They want to go to school, work, and earn their income. They want the right to decide for themselves: physical, economic, social, and bodily autonomy,” she adds.

Anti-LGBTQ legislation was introduced in Uganda and Ghana shortly after the previous conferences. Ghana’s former president did not sign his country’s Bill into law but conservative MPs are planning to reintroduce it under the new government. 

There are also fears that the conferences will galvanise Kenyan MPs to do the same, particularly as the conference is supported by Kenya’s Department of Labour and President Ruto is an evangelical Christian with close ties to US conservatives.

Meanwhile, Akinfaderin points to several other ‘family values’ conferences in the offing in Africa in the coming months, including the Strengthening Families Conference organised by the Church of Latterday Saints (Mormons) in June in Sierra Leone. FWI’s Slater is part of this church.

Sierra Leone’s lawmakers are currently considering the Safe Motherhood Bill, which would allow abortion up to 12 weeks (24 weeks in cases of rape, incest or danger to the mother’s health) to address its high maternal mortality rate. An estimated 10% of maternal deaths are due to unsafe abortions.

“It’s no mistake that they’re targeting Sierra Leone,” says Akinfaderin.

Where are the pro-family initiatives?

If these organisations and conferences are really pro-family, why are they not promoting policies that support families to thrive, ask the women’s groups and activists.

“Families need food, water, housing, access to healthcare, and protection,” says Saoyo Griffith.

“They should be talking about policies that help individuals to be able to make informed decisions about having children,” says Akinfaderin. “Pro-family policies should be about expanding access to contraception and family planning, assisted reproductive techologies like in vitro fertilisation (IVF), child care services, parental leave, social protection, and ending sexual violence in the home.” 

Women are at the core of families and if MPs want to support families, they should fast-track laws that protect women, such as the East African Community Sexual and Reproductive Health Bill, and laws on sexual offences and policies to extend social protection to single parents, says WBI.

“Families should never be a place where women’s rights are stripped away or where women live as second-class citizens who only exist to serve men. Instead, families should be a place of liberation where women can thrive and live life to the fullest on their own terms,” adds WBI.

Image Credits: Africa News.