News emerged last week that the government of Gabon outlawed ‘sexual relations between persons of the same sex’ in July 2019.
Article 402(5) of the central African country’s Penal Code now criminalises adult, consensual, same-sex activity, with a maximum sentence of six months’ imprisonment and a fine of up to five million FCFA (£8,433). The law is applicable to both men and women.
‘It is truly shocking that Gabon has taken such a retrogressive step, marking it as an outlier when the global trend is for reform in favour of the human rights of LGBT people,’ says Téa Braun, Director of the Human Dignity Trust.
Gabon is one of 88 member states and governments who make up the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), and has a mixed legal system based on local customary law and French civil law, the latter of which, unlike the British colonial system, did not export laws criminalising sexual orientation.
By making this backwards move, Gabon now joins countries with grave human rights records such as Mauritania, Cameroon and Egypt, to become one of only 12 members of the OIF to criminalise all same-sex sexual activity.
We urge the government of Gabon to immediately remove these archaic provisions from the penal code. The OIF and the international community must also take a stand against the introduction of these laws, which across the world enable discrimination, violence and harassment against LGBT people.
‘We urge the government of Gabon to immediately remove these archaic provisions from the penal code. The OIF and the international community must also take a stand against the introduction of these laws, which across the world enable discrimination, violence and harassment against LGBT people,’ added Braun.
Gabon is now one of 73 jurisdictions around the world that criminalises adult, consensual, same-sex relations. This number has declined dramatically in recent decades, through a mix of legislative reform and court judgments.
Almost half of all remaining criminalising countries are on the African continent. However, several African nations, including South Africa, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Seychelles and Botswana, have been regional leaders by repealing or striking out these discriminatory laws in recent years.
The introduction of this harsh new provision banning same-sex relations comes as part of a wholesale revision of the Gabon Penal Code. Despite criminalising consensual conduct, Section 402 now qualifies it as ‘indecent assault.’
Read the Gabon country profile on the Trust’s website.
Notes to editors
- The Human Dignity Trust works with LGBT activists around the world to defend human rights in countries where private consensual sexual activity between adults of the same sex is criminalised. We link the international legal community with local organisations that are challenging laws that persecute people on the basis of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
- Visit the Trust’s interactive map to see which countries across the world still criminalise LGBT people.
For more information contact:
Emma Eastwood, Head of Strategic Communications, HDT
T: +44 (0)20 7419 3770 / E: emmaeastwood@humandignitytrust.org / Twitter: @HumanDignityT