Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (AP) – The parliament of Burkina Faso has adopted a law that prohibits homosexuality with perpetrators with two to five years in prison, the state -allegator reported at the end of Monday.
The changed family code was approved by parliament on Monday in a unanimous vote that brings the code into effect for more than a year after it was approved by the military government of CAPT. Ibrahim Traore.
Burkina Faso participates in the list of more than half of the 54 countries of Africa with laws that prohibit homosexuality with the penalties ranging from a few years in prison to the death penalty. The laws, although criticized abroad, enjoy popularity in the countries where the locals and civil servants have criticized homosexuality as behavior imported from abroad and not as sexual orientation.
The new law immediately comes into effect with persons in the same sex relationships who risk prison sentences and fines, said Minister of Justice Edasso Rodrigue Bayala during a briefing broadcast by the Staatsstv. He described homosexual acts as 'bizarre behavior'.
Officials praised the new law as a recognition of “marriage and family values” in Burkina Faso.
“You will go to court,” said the Minister of Justice, who addressed perpetrators.
Burkina Faso was run by the army after a coup in 2022, the soldiers said that it would stabilize the country in the midst of an worsening safety crisis and better governance.
However, the law group accuses the junta of clamping human rights with the unbridled arrest and military service of critics.
Since he came to power in September 2022 after the second coup of Burkina Faso that year, the Junta leader has also positioned himself as a pan-African leader with rhetoric of independence of the Western one who often resonates with the young population of Africa.
