How US evangelicals are using Trump’s aid cuts to attack human rights in Africa
With foreign aid being slashed and Donald Trump flexing his political muscle back in the White House, global conservatives are pushing to mould the rest of the world in their own image. The conferences form part of modern-day missionary efforts seemingly aimed at halting the advance of sexual and reproductive rights across the continent, involving a number of possible legislative bills – from a new Pan-African family values charter to a draft anti-gay bill in Kenya.
Taking to the stage in Nairobi in the summer, Slater – American herself – spoke in front of a projected photo of Adolf Hitler and the words: “He alone who owns the youth, gains the future”. FWI said the use of the quote, “obviously was critical of Hitler”. She went on: “They're after our children. They're coming after them because our children are the future of our nations”.
‘They’, it seems, being the ecosystem of international agencies like the UN and charities working on improving women and girls’ health, including access to safe abortion care and sex education – rights that have been voted through by many African states.
During the Nairobi conference, Slater was celebrating her campaigning having already blocked comprehensive sex education “in many places.” FWI runs annual training sessions to teach countries to lobby at the UN and influence negotiations with the aim of “thwarting the radical sexual rights agenda”. Her group has been involved with three such conferences in Kenya, Uganda and Sierra Leone this year.
The idea of American conservatives potentially trying to influence African laws isn’t new. Slater had previously taken the stage at a related conference in Entebbe in Uganda in 2023 to offer assistance to African parliamentarians in drafting legislation. She claimed her work had already been used to stop comprehensive sexuality education – evidence-based programmes – in the country. That year, Uganda brought in its harsh Anti-Homosexuality Act, although Slater has consistently denied being involved in its drafting. Copycat bills appeared shortly afterwards in Ghana and Kenya, promoted by lawmakers who had attended the Entebbe conference.
But this year, the speakers seemingly saw an even bigger opportunity – the vacuum left by Trump’s slashing of foreign aid. It is framed as a mission. Trump’s government is cutting off “millions...even billions of dollars” spent on “evil programmes”, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), said Thomas W Jacobson from the Global Life Campaign. "That's a good thing," he told the room which included representatives from the Kenyan and Ugandan governments, even if it means less money flowing to African countries.
Among the other speakers, ex-US Navy pilot Travis Weber from the US evangelical lobby group Family Research Council made the apparent aims of the conference even more explicit.
First, existing policies should be rolled back, he said: “The promotion of LGBT ideology and abortion to Africa and elsewhere around the world, that must be stopped”. Some could be amended, and then new ones should be introduced. Groups like his need to “actually step forward into that void,” he added. “I believe the time has come for a pro-family foreign policy from the United States.”
While progress has been uneven, Sub-Saharan Africa has seen big improvements in maternal mortality, HIV rates and healthcare access this century, saving millions of lives, in part due to the expansion of information about and access to contraception and safe abortion. Campaigners fear this progress could be under threat from a highly-conservative movement blossoming on the continent.
For example, the Maputo Protocol, drawn up through the AU 20 years ago and signed by 49 of 55 its members, guarantees sexual and reproductive healthcare for all women within the signatory countries.
A new would-be charter on African family values circulated at the Nairobi and Entebbe conferences has sections which appear to challenge those rights. A draft seen by The Independent says African states should reject legal agreements that advance reproductive rights or “normalise...LGBTQI ideologies” and ensure aid isn’t tied to such policies.
American and European movement leaders flying into Kenya to tell Africa about the continent’s values makes Esther Kimani of reproductive justice alliance Fos Feminista, “very angry".
"What they're saying is that us Africans don't even know what our African values look like... “We only have to wait for white men from Europe and America to come and teach us what African values really are,” Kimani says.
While a global movement opposing sexual and reproductive rights grows, and aid shrinks, highly conservative groups are already “moving aggressively to fill in those gaps," Kimani adds.
Wrapping up his speech in Nairobi, Ordo Iuris’ Kwasniewski signed off with a slip. “God bless America,” he said, before hastily correcting himself. “I mean...God bless Africa.”
https://www.the-independent.com/news/wor...63702.html
With foreign aid being slashed and Donald Trump flexing his political muscle back in the White House, global conservatives are pushing to mould the rest of the world in their own image. The conferences form part of modern-day missionary efforts seemingly aimed at halting the advance of sexual and reproductive rights across the continent, involving a number of possible legislative bills – from a new Pan-African family values charter to a draft anti-gay bill in Kenya.
Taking to the stage in Nairobi in the summer, Slater – American herself – spoke in front of a projected photo of Adolf Hitler and the words: “He alone who owns the youth, gains the future”. FWI said the use of the quote, “obviously was critical of Hitler”. She went on: “They're after our children. They're coming after them because our children are the future of our nations”.
‘They’, it seems, being the ecosystem of international agencies like the UN and charities working on improving women and girls’ health, including access to safe abortion care and sex education – rights that have been voted through by many African states.
During the Nairobi conference, Slater was celebrating her campaigning having already blocked comprehensive sex education “in many places.” FWI runs annual training sessions to teach countries to lobby at the UN and influence negotiations with the aim of “thwarting the radical sexual rights agenda”. Her group has been involved with three such conferences in Kenya, Uganda and Sierra Leone this year.
The idea of American conservatives potentially trying to influence African laws isn’t new. Slater had previously taken the stage at a related conference in Entebbe in Uganda in 2023 to offer assistance to African parliamentarians in drafting legislation. She claimed her work had already been used to stop comprehensive sexuality education – evidence-based programmes – in the country. That year, Uganda brought in its harsh Anti-Homosexuality Act, although Slater has consistently denied being involved in its drafting. Copycat bills appeared shortly afterwards in Ghana and Kenya, promoted by lawmakers who had attended the Entebbe conference.
But this year, the speakers seemingly saw an even bigger opportunity – the vacuum left by Trump’s slashing of foreign aid. It is framed as a mission. Trump’s government is cutting off “millions...even billions of dollars” spent on “evil programmes”, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), said Thomas W Jacobson from the Global Life Campaign. "That's a good thing," he told the room which included representatives from the Kenyan and Ugandan governments, even if it means less money flowing to African countries.
Among the other speakers, ex-US Navy pilot Travis Weber from the US evangelical lobby group Family Research Council made the apparent aims of the conference even more explicit.
First, existing policies should be rolled back, he said: “The promotion of LGBT ideology and abortion to Africa and elsewhere around the world, that must be stopped”. Some could be amended, and then new ones should be introduced. Groups like his need to “actually step forward into that void,” he added. “I believe the time has come for a pro-family foreign policy from the United States.”
While progress has been uneven, Sub-Saharan Africa has seen big improvements in maternal mortality, HIV rates and healthcare access this century, saving millions of lives, in part due to the expansion of information about and access to contraception and safe abortion. Campaigners fear this progress could be under threat from a highly-conservative movement blossoming on the continent.
For example, the Maputo Protocol, drawn up through the AU 20 years ago and signed by 49 of 55 its members, guarantees sexual and reproductive healthcare for all women within the signatory countries.
A new would-be charter on African family values circulated at the Nairobi and Entebbe conferences has sections which appear to challenge those rights. A draft seen by The Independent says African states should reject legal agreements that advance reproductive rights or “normalise...LGBTQI ideologies” and ensure aid isn’t tied to such policies.
American and European movement leaders flying into Kenya to tell Africa about the continent’s values makes Esther Kimani of reproductive justice alliance Fos Feminista, “very angry".
"What they're saying is that us Africans don't even know what our African values look like... “We only have to wait for white men from Europe and America to come and teach us what African values really are,” Kimani says.
While a global movement opposing sexual and reproductive rights grows, and aid shrinks, highly conservative groups are already “moving aggressively to fill in those gaps," Kimani adds.
Wrapping up his speech in Nairobi, Ordo Iuris’ Kwasniewski signed off with a slip. “God bless America,” he said, before hastily correcting himself. “I mean...God bless Africa.”
https://www.the-independent.com/news/wor...63702.html
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
