The European Parliament is to call on the Nigerian Government and Parliament not to adopt the proposed 'Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act' in its current form. If passed, the Nigerian bill would mean anyone who speaks out or forms a group supporting lesbian and gay people's rights would be imprisoned. Virtually any public discussion or visibility around lesbian and gay lives would be silenced. Yesterday, members of the European Parliament voted 61-24, with one abstention, on a wide-ranging human rights resolution that included a call to abolish the death penalty and to intervene in individual cases of persons tried under Sharia law and sentenced to death, amputation, flogging or other inhuman and degrading treatment that violates the Nigerian Constitution as well as international human rights law. The resolution also demands that Nigeria addresses the continuing problem of the exploitation of children and calls on the Nigerian Government to take immediate and effective measures to protect its citizens, put an end to the violence, and the perceived widespread corruption. Opposition to the Nigerian bill has been widespread. Locally, Labour MP Charles Chauvel sent an urgent plea to Foreign Minister Winston Peters, asking him to contact Nigeria to express deep concern about the negative impact that adoption of the Bill would have upon international perceptions of Nigeria's approach to human rights, the democratic process and basic principles of fairness, the rule of law and non-discrimination. “We shouldn't feel that we can't do anything about repressive developments in these places,” said Chauvel. Ref: UK Gay News, GayNZ.com (m)