Amnesty International is sounding the alarm. In a report published this Tuesday, January 9, the human rights NGO is moved by the resurgence last year, on the African continent, of discriminatory laws against LGBTI people. While 31 African countries still criminalize homosexuality in Africa, Amnesty looked at 12 countries whose justice systems increasingly target and discriminate against LGBTI communities.
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For the human rights NGO, “ legal mechanisms are used in these countries as instruments of oppression against LGBTI people “. In several of these states, laws have been tightened considerably over the past year.
The most striking example concerns Uganda, where after months of hostile speeches, an anti-homosexuality law was passed last spring, a law which notably provides for the death penalty in cases of “aggravated homosexuality”. According to Amnesty International, Ugandan police carried out forced anal tests on 18 people last year to try to prove they were homosexual. A practice which constitutes in the eyes of the NGO a serious violation of human rights.
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Such tests have also been carried out in Tanzania, wherehomosexuality is considered a crime and where sexual acts between men are punishable by a maximum sentence of thirty years. “ It is deeply distressing to witness the promotion of proposals and practices such as “anal testing”, “castration”, “genital verification” and so-called “conversion therapy” as if they are were acceptable practices in a fair and rights-respecting framework », denounces the NGO in this report.
Amnesty is particularly concerned about the evolution of situation in Ghanaa country that could soon adopt one of the most repressive laws on the continent against LGBTI people.
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