News
Based on the African (Banjul) Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Liberal International and the Africa Liberal Network join forces in calling for the African Union to strongly condemn the adoption of the ‘Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill’ by the Nigerian parliament and to discourage President Goodluck Jonathan from signing this bill into law.
On Thursday 30 May, Nigeria’s parliament adopted the ‘Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill’, a law that allows up to 10 years’ imprisonment for gay, lesbian and bisexual people who marry or display affection and even 14 years for visitors. This is the harshest piece of legislation against LGBT persons adopted worldwide since 12 northern Nigerian states endorsed Islamic Sharia law in 2000 and 2001, punishing consensual same-sex activity by death.
“In January 2012.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged leaders at an African Union summit to respect gay rights. Today we see his words are not heard. So now it is time for African leaders to show moral leadership, now their own Banjul is pushed aside so harshly by the Nigerian Parliament”, LI LGBT Rights Working Group Coordinator Frank Van Dalen says.
President of the Africa Liberal Network, Olivier Kamitatu Etsu, states, “we strongly condemn this bill as it stands in direct opposition to the ALN’s Liberal Manifesto for Africa, adopted in Abidjan in 2012, which upholds the protection of all fundamental human and political rights and envisions a society in which every individual is able to express themselves freely and fulfil their personal destiny in a tolerant environment free from sectarian fundamentalism.”
Liberal International and the Africa Liberal Network will address United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay directly with an appeal to take prompt action towards the Nigerian President and the African Union to prevent the adopted bills becoming Nigerian law.
Note for the Editors:
The African (Banjul) Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights guarantees every individual to enjoy the human rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind such as sex or other status. Liberal International’s LGBT rights working group operates under the auspices of the LI Human Rights Committee, chaired by Abir al-Sahlani MP, Vice President on the LI Bureau.