Niger recriminalizes homosexuality

Niger is the latest African country to recriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations.

The Associated Press on June 12 reported the country’s military junta announced a new penal code under which anyone who “commits or attempts to commit an immodest or unnatural act or practices lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual (LGBTQIA+) acts” will face between five and 10 years in prison and a fine.

“This same penalty is applicable to persons who officiated the marriage, to the witnesses of the alleged spouses, as well as to persons who have given their consent for the celebration of the marriage and to the organizers,” reads the new code that took effect on June 11.

Niger borders Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Algeria, Libya, and Chad.

The AP notes homosexuality had not been criminalized in Niger. Anti-LGBTQ+ stigma, however, was widespread.

Lawmakers in Burkina Faso last September recriminalized homosexuality in the country. Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on March 31 signed into law a bill that increased the penalty for anyone convicted of engaging in consensual same-sex sexual relations from one to five years in prison to five to 10 years.

Ghanaian lawmakers late last month approved a bill that would, among other things, criminalize LGBTQ+ allyship.