Burkina Faso’s Parliament passes law banning homosexuality

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.

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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.

Burkina Faso joins the list of more than half of Africa’s 54 countries that have laws banning homosexuality, with the penalties ranging from several years in prison to the death penalty. 

The laws, though criticised abroad, enjoy popularity in the countries where locals and officials have criticised homosexuality as behaviour imported from abroad and not a sexual orientation.