Burundi has become the latest African nation to outlaw homosexuality, making it a criminal offense punishable with heavy fines and up to two years in prison. Burundi's president Pierre Nkurunziza secretly signed the legislation into law last Wednesday, and now civil rights groups are starting campaigns to have it repealed. Human Rights Watch says: "We deeply regret that the Burundian government has made a decision that writes human rights violations into law (and) will hamper Burundi's attempts to fight AIDS, by further marginalising an at-risk population. "We respectfully remind the government of Burundi that according to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, arrests on the basis of sexual orientation are, by definition, human rights violations. We will carefully monitor any arrests made on the basis of this law. "We urge the government of Burundi to act promptly to decriminalise homosexual conduct." Burundi joins dozens of African nations which outlaw homosexual acts, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Morocco, Algeria, Ghana and Namibia.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Tuesday, 28th April 2009 - 10:18am