Burkina Faso’s government has passed a law banning homosexuality, with those found guilty facing two to five years in prison, according to the state broadcaster.
The draft law was unanimously passed on Monday by 71 unelected members of the country’s transitional government, which has been in place since the military seized power under the leadership of the now President Ibrahim Traore, after two coups in 2022.
Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala announced the law on national broadcaster RTB and said those guilty would also face fines along with serving prison time.
“If a person is a perpetrator of homosexual or similar practices, all the bizarre behaviour, they will go before the judge,” he said, adding that foreign nationals would be deported under the law.
The new law is expected to go into effect immediately.
The latest law is part of Burkina Faso’s wider reform of family and citizenship legislation and will be “popularised through an awareness campaign”, according to officials.
However, rights activists are likely to call out the restrictions on the new legislation and limits imposed on legal recourse in nationality cases.
Since the military took power in 2022, soldiers have said they plan to stabilise the country amid a worsening security crisis and provide better governance.
However, rights groups have accused the military government of cracking down on human rights with large-scale arrests and military conscription of critics.
Burkina Faso becomes the latest African country to ban homosexuality, joining more than half of African countries that penalise the sexual orientation with either prison sentences or the death penalty.
Neighbouring country and ally, Mali, also adopted laws criminalising homosexuality in November 2024.
In recent years, Ghana and Uganda have toughened their anti-homosexuality laws, garnering intense criticism.
In Uganda, a law was adopted with the provision that made “aggravated homosexuality” a capital offence and imposed penalties for consensual same-sex relations of up to life in prison.
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