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Notícies :: sexualitats |
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Nigerian Assembly Votes to Criminalize LGBTI Community with Sweeping Anti-Homosexuality Bill
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per Kerry Kennedy
Correu-e: reply-f2f70b01fb-ddcc5e4e50-3379 ARROBA u.cts.vr (no verificat!) |
31 mai 2013
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Kerry Kennedy, on behalf of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights (RFK Center), expressed outrage over the passage of a bill by Nigerian lawmakers that bans gay marriage, threatens AIDS and HIV outreach programs, removes protections for gay organizations, and criminalizes gay couples who appear in public together. |
The bill mandates harsh prison terms of up to 14 years for offenders, and up to 10 years for witnesses or those who help gay couples marry. Language contained in the bill also threatens international funding for AIDS and HIV outreach programs, a dire and unacceptable possibility for a country that boasts the world's third-largest population of people living with HIV and AIDS. While two similar bills have been proposed in Nigeria’s House of Assembly since 2006, today marked the first time one has passed. It now awaits President Goodluck Jonathon’s signature before it becomes law.
“This bill makes discrimination against LGBTI people the law of the land,” said Kerry Kennedy, President of the RFK Center. “We call on President Jonathon to respect international human rights by refusing to sign this bill into law.”
In particular, the bill targets the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community, as well as civil society and domestic human rights defenders. Nigeria’s LGBTI community already faces open discrimination, neglect, and ill-treatment throughout the country, and as such, the bill establishes a dangerous precedent for the persecution of a highly marginalized and vulnerable segment of society.
“Nigeria’s elected officials are obliged, and have in fact sworn, to protect the basic rights of all citizens, regardless of sexual orientation,” said Santiago A. Canton, Director of RFK Partners for Human Rights at the RFK Center. “This bill represents a breach of Nigeria’s domestic and international legal obligations.”
Nigeria has both acceded to and ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which commits its parties to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to privacy, freedom of speech, assembly, and association. Under international law, any person arrested or detained as a result of this law would be subject to arbitrary and unlawful detention.
The RFK Center strongly urges President Jonathon to reject this dangerous legislation. |
This work is in the public domain |
