Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the influence of the international human rights system in the structuring of associations fighting for the voluntary interruption of pregnancy and the defense of homosexuality, using examples from three Francophone African countries, Cameroon, Morocco and Senegal.

Paper long abstract:

With the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, African countries have at their disposal a "model" for the development of the law of associations, dependent of the defended cause. For political as well as cultural considerations, the system of associations in these countries has only been formally liberalized and remains under strong governmental control.

In this context, the question arises of the possibility for associations to defend causes which remain not only taboo in large sections of society, but which concern acts that are illegal. Thus, abortion and homosexual relations exist in the societies of Cameroon, Morocco and Senegal, but remain largely unacknowledged and even illegal in the three countries studied. Many associations therefore seek to make the general public aware of the problems caused by the repression of abortion and / or gay relations, they carry out campaigns to prompt decision-makers for changes of the laws or their application on these two subjects. Others choose to be less explicit and the game of alliances with international players takes on great importance.

International and national texts show strong ambiguities. Formal guarantees of freedom of association are thus easily circumvented in these countries in order to prohibit the creation and / or functioning of associations whose social purpose does not correspond to socially accepted values. Such limitations therefore force associations to adopt circumvention strategies which will be analyzed and compared in this communication.