Eswatini: Education minister’s anti-LGBTI remarks risk fueling discrimination in schools

Responding to media reports in which Eswatini’s Minister of Education and Training, Owen Nxumalo while making school visits during back to school visits in schools in the Hhohho Region, around Mbabane, is quoted as saying same-sex relationships have “no place” in schools and that LGBTI students should be expelled, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Flavia Mwangovya said: “Eswatini’s authorities must publicly reject discriminatory rhetoric and urgently reaffirm that every student has the right to education in a safe, inclusive environment. Schools must be places of learning and protection, not spaces where children are threatened with exclusion because of who they are, or who they are perceived to be. “Threatening students with expulsion on the basis of their real or perceived sexual orientation is discriminatory and profoundly harmful. Such statements by senior officials’ risk legitimizing stigma against already marginalized individuals, resulting in bullying, violence and children being driven out of school. The authorities in Eswatini must make clear that discrimination has no place in education and ensure safeguards to prevent harassment and to protect all students’ dignity and wellbeing. Eswatini’s authorities must publicly reject discriminatory rhetoric and urgently reaffirm that every student has the right to education in a safe, inclusive environment. Schools must be places of learning and protection, not spaces where children are threatened with exclusion because of who they are, or who they are perceived to be. Flavia Mwangovya, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa “Amnesty International calls on…

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