Consulate assistance courts criticism
Former tennis star Margaret Court has been condemned for her role in helping the tiny east African state of Burundi, known for its harsh treatment of gay people, to establish a consulate in Australia.
Court’s husband, Barry, has been appointed honorary consul. He is a pastor in the Pentecostal church that she founded in Perth in 1995, and which was instrumental in setting up the Burundi diplomatic office, approved by the Australian government, in the same city.
Court has become a divisive figure within Australia and in international tennis because of her extreme views, denouncing homosexuality as an ungodly ‘‘lust for the flesh’’ and claiming that gay tendencies in people are ‘‘of the devil’’.
The consulate was opened last year, not by President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi but by his wife, Denise. He would risk arrest by the International Criminal Court were he to leave his country.
In Burundi, being young gay is
acrime, and people have been imprisoned on the grounds of their sexuality. The Australian government has a ‘‘do not travel’’ warning for the country because of high levels of violence and the ‘‘significant threat’’ of a terrorist attack.
Nkurunziza’s 14 years in power has been marked by accusations of violence and human rights abuses. In September, a United Nations report warned that Burundi was at risk of a new wave of atrocities as elections loomed.
A spokesman for activist group Survivors and Victims of the Burundi Dictatorship said: ‘‘It is very concerning that a famous Australian lady would support a regime which kills people, discriminates against LGBTI people, and uses rape as a weapon.’’