Hard-won LGBT rights fragile, easily reversed - IPPR

A new report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) argues that while Namibia has recorded significant legal advances for LGBTQ+ rights in recent years, those gains remain vulnerable to political and legislative rollback, leaving the minority group without comprehensive legal protection.

The report, Not Yet Uhuru: Gender and LGBT Rights in Namibia - Opportunities, Gaps and Challenges, authored by Abigail Solomons, examines developments between 2023 and 2025 and concludes that Namibia has moved away from outright criminalisation but has not yet established a legal framework that fully protects LGBTQ+ persons.

According to the study, the country's legal landscape has become characterised by a struggle between judicial progress and legislative resistance. It cites two landmark court victories: the May 2023 Supreme Court ruling requiring Namibia to recognise same-sex marriages legally concluded abroad for immigration purposes, and the June 2024 High Court judgment declaring the common-law crimes of sodomy and "unnatural sexual offences" unconstitutional.

However, the report notes that parliament subsequently passed legislation defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, while government also appealed the High Court's decriminalisation ruling at the Supreme Court.

"The central finding is this: Namibia has moved from criminalisation toward a contested and fragile tolerance – but it has not moved toward protection," the report states.

It warns that judicial victories remain exposed to legislative reversal and executive action because the Constitution does not explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Uhuru – for some

The report identifies several legal gaps, including the absence of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation, hate-crime laws recognising crimes motivated by sexual orientation or gender identity, labour protections against discrimination, and legal mechanisms for transgender people to change their gender markers.

While describing Namibia as one of Africa's more tolerant societies on issues of sexual orientation, the report argues that tolerance does not necessarily translate into legal protection. It notes that many LGBTQ+ Namibians still face discrimination, violence and social exclusion without adequate legal recourse.

Drawing on Afrobarometer data, the study reports that tolerance towards homosexual neighbours declined from 64% in the 2019/21 survey round to 51% in 2024, although Namibia remains among the more accepting countries surveyed on the continent. At the same time, majorities opposed equal legal rights and same-sex marriage.

The report further argues that political opposition to LGBTQ+ rights has increasingly been fuelled by what it describes as the "weaponisation of disgust" as a political instrument and by transnational anti-rights movements that influence domestic debates and legislation.

Among its recommendations, the IPPR calls for constitutional amendments explicitly protecting sexual orientation and gender identity, the enactment of anti-discrimination and hate-crime legislation, the restoration of labour protections, and stronger support for civil society organisations working on human rights issues.

Fractured rights

The report states that while Namibia's liberation dismantled racial apartheid, it left another exclusion standing, one rooted in sexuality, identity and the body. Colonial-era laws criminalising same-sex relationships outlasted independence, labour protections for sexual orientation were quietly stripped away in 2007, and the legal framework still offers no category for hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people.

"For Namibia’s LGBT citizens who were present in the liberation struggle, who live in this country, who pay taxes and raise children and contribute to its life, the horizon has remained stubbornly distant. The Namibian House was built with a back door that certain citizens were never quite meant to use."

It concludes that Namibia's constitutional promise of equality remains incomplete for many LGBTQ+ citizens, arguing that "uhuru" – freedom – remains an aspiration rather than a reality.