Niger’s military government has enacted a new criminal law criminalizing homosexuality.
The West African country has become the latest country in Africa to criminalize homosexuality, just months after Senegal doubled the penalties for consensual same-sex relationships.
The new criminal law took effect On June 11, the law makes anyone who “commits or attempts to commit an immoral or unnatural act, or engages in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, or asexual (LGBTQIA+) acts” punishable by five to 10 years in prison and a fine. It remains unclear how authorities will determine what constitutes “asexual behavior.”
The same penalties apply to anyone who officiates, witnesses, or helps organize same-sex marriages, and anyone who rents or provides space for such ceremonies.
Homosexuality was not previously illegal in Niger, but it remained highly stigmatized in the Muslim-majority country.
Currently, 66 countries, including 33 in Africa, criminalize homosexuality and transgender identity. In Somalia, Uganda and Mauritania, same-sex acts can be punishable by death.
In December 2024, neighboring Mali criminalized homosexuality following a military coup. Last September, lawmakers in neighboring Burkina Faso, following a military coup, passed a law criminalizing homosexuality, even though the country did not inherit colonial-era criminal laws from European colonizers that criminalize sodomy.
Last month, Ghanaian lawmakers passed a bill that criminalizes promoting “LGBTQ activism” and defending LGBTQ rights, expands existing bans on homosexuality and carries penalties of up to 10 years in prison.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
