United Nations pledge last December promising that Mali would promote and protect human rights. While LGBTQ rights were not specifically mentioned, the pledge stated that vital human rights include access to education, employment, and health care, as well as the ability to be paid fairly, voting rights, the right to free speech, the right to privacy, and mutual respect.The LGBTQ community faces much hostility in Mali, a predominantly Islamic African country where homosexuality is viewed as a Western import.At the same time, Sharia law, or Muslim religious law, does not tolerate same-sex relations, and people can face extrajudicial punishments ranging from subjection to conversion therapy and amputation to flogging to death.That means that most LGBTQ Malians are forced to remain closeted or do LGBTQ-specific work under a veil of secrecy.