Queer necropolitics of asylum: Senegalese refugees facing HIV in Mauritania

Abstract

Since 2008, homosexuality has been the subject of recurrent public controversies in Senegal, sometimes accompanied by police arrests and popular violence. In this context, a migration route has opened up to Mauritania, where some are granted refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Among them, a few are selected for 'resettlement' in a host country in North America or Europe. Many of these Senegalese gay men residing in Mauritania are infected with HIV. In recent years, some of them have returned to Senegal in a very deteriorated condition, leading in several cases to death; others have died in exile in Nouakchott. This article reports on the living conditions and access to health care of Senegalese gay men who went to Mauritania hoping for resettlement to the Global North by the UNHCR. It is based on semi-directed interviews with Senegalese gay asylum seekers as well as members of NGOs, health structures and institutions (including the UNHCR) in Nouakchott and Dakar. It shows that, despite the UNHCR's demonstrated commitment to refugee protection, the asylum (and specifically resettlement) system exposes those who rely on it to increased, sometimes fatal, health risks.

Keywords: Asylum; HIV; Mauritania; Senegal; necropolitics; queer.