Accountability International is a South Africa-based advocacy organization that promotes liberal policies across Africa. It lobbies directly with governments and publishes scorecards critical of African governments on LGBT issues, criminal justice, AIDS interventions, and abortion. ^{1 2 3}

Accountability International uses the concept of intersectionality to claim that certain groups are victims of human rights violations. It justifies its policy advocacy based on specific combinations of “identity,” socio-economic status, behavior, and geopolitical factors. ⁴

Background

Accountability International, originally named AIDS Accountability International, was founded in 2004 in South Africa as a liberal political advocacy organization. It originally operated to create “scorecards” that rate how governments across Africa were responding to the AIDS epidemic. In 2006, it changed its name to Accountability International and expanded its advocacy to cover issues related to LGBT interests, people with disabilities, women, drug users, abortion access, and criminal justice. ^{5 6}

Accountability International participates in the African Union Commission to advocate directly with participating governments. It also provides individuals with toolkits so they can engage in their own advocacy in alignment with Accountability International. ⁷

Campaigns

Decriminalization

In 2015, Accountability International founded its “Challenging Criminalisation Project,” which operated until 2020 and advocated for policies that reduce the number of criminal punishments. ⁸

The campaign advocated against policies designed to prevent homeless people from dwelling in public spaces and laws that criminalized assisted suicide. It also advocated for open-border policies and legal punishments for road crashes, blaming governments for “inadequate training.” ⁹

Normalizing LGBTQ Identities

From 2015 until 2020, Accountability International ran a campaign named “Destabilising Heteronormativity Project” that advocated for cultural acceptance across Africa for the various gender identities and sexualities of the LGBT communities. ¹⁰

The campaign includes working with South African universities to produce academic papers normalizing LGBT identities and sexual orientations, partnering with the African Union Commission to advocate in support of liberal policies on LGBT issues, providing grants for lawyers pursuing litigation related to LGBT issues, engaging in media campaigns that seek to normalize LGBT identities and sexual orientations, and work with religious and spiritual leaders to promote normalization of LGBT people. ¹¹

COVID Lockdown Criticisms

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Accountability International published a series of reports commentating on policy decisions African governments made. ¹²

Accountability International’s COVID-19 reports criticized lockdowns that restricted travel, implemented curfew, and constrained business operations as human-rights violations. It produced an analysis of how each African nation’s government’s COVID restrictions based on whether its restrictions were human rights violations. The analysis also cites increased instances of domestic violence and child abuse that occurred when people were confined to their homes. ¹³

Accountability International’s COVID reports published criticisms on how COVID restrictions, in addition to existing policies, resulted in restrictions on abortion services and gender-transition services. In response, it advocated for public funding of abortion and gender-transition services as well as eliminating restrictions on the services. ¹⁴

Leadership

Chilean native and Swedish refugee Rodrigo Garay is the founder and board chairman of Accountability International. He is also the CEO and founder of Working for Change and Diversitas, which both advocate for diversity quotas for businesses in Sweden. Garay previously worked as executive director for World Infection Fund at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, as the executive director of International Competence, and as chief executive for the International AIDS Society. ¹⁵

1. “African Union Commission.” Accountability International, May 23, 2022. https://accountability.international/projects/african-union-commission/.
2. “Scorecards.” Accountability International, August 16, 2021. https://accountability.international/scorecards/.
3. “Our Achievements.” Accountability International, September 14, 2021. https://accountability.international/about-us/our-achievements2/
4. “Our Vision, Mission and Values.” Accountability International, October 12, 2020. https://accountability.international/about-us/our-vision-mission-and-values/.
5. “Scorecards.” Accountability International, August 16, 2021. https://accountability.international/scorecards/.
6. “Our Achievements.” Accountability International, September 14, 2021. https://accountability.international/about-us/our-achievements2/.
7. “African Union Commission.” Accountability International, May 23, 2022. https://accountability.international/projects/african-union-commission/.
8. “Challenging Criminalisation Globally.” Accountability International, November 14, 2022. https://accountability.international/projects/challenging-criminalisation-globally/.
9. “Challenging Criminalisation Globally.” Accountability International, November 14, 2022. https://accountability.international/projects/challenging-criminalisation-globally/.
10. “Destabilising Heteronormativity Project 2015.” Accountability International, May 23, 2022. https://accountability.international/projects/destabilising-heteronormativity-project-2015-ongoing/.
11. “Destabilising Heteronormativity Project 2015.” Accountability International, May 23, 2022. https://accountability.international/projects/destabilising-heteronormativity-project-2015-ongoing/.
12. “Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Scorecard for Africa – 2020.” Accountability International, May 23, 2022. https://accountability.international/coronavirus/.
13. “Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Scorecard for Africa – 2020.” Accountability International, May 23, 2022. https://accountability.international/coronavirus/.
14. “Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Scorecard for Africa – 2020.” Accountability International, May 23, 2022. https://accountability.international/coronavirus/.
15. “Our Board.” Accountability International, February 23, 2023. https://accountability.international/about-us/our-board/.