Under the new law, foreign nationals who engage in homosexual conduct in the West African nation could face deportation.
The Burkina Faso Parliament on Sept. 1 passed legislation that criminalizes conduct promoting same-sex relationships in the West African nation, according to the state-run broadcaster.
The legislation, known as the Persons and Family Code, was passed unanimously by 71 unelected members of the nation’s transitional parliament, installed after the military seized power in 2022.
Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala told the nation’s state-run broadcaster that under the new law, any person who engages in homosexual practices could face two to five years in prison along with fines.
Bayala said offenders would have to face legal proceedings, while foreign nationals who violate the law could be deported for repeat offenses. The government said the measure was intended to modernize family law and clarify nationality rules in Burkina Faso.
The law still requires approval from junta leader Ibrahim Traore, who seized power in September 2022 after ousting Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Damiba in a military coup. Damiba had taken control earlier that year, overthrowing then-President Roch Kabore in another military takeover.
Amnesty International, a human rights organization, said the legislation is a setback for the nation.
“This does nothing but create discrimination and violates the right to equality before the law,” Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s regional director for West and Central Africa, said in a statement.
Sivieude said the law conflicts with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which Burkina Faso has ratified.
“We are alarmed and deeply concerned by the criminalization of same-sex relations between adults,” he said. “Everybody is entitled to respect for their private and family life and to enjoy that right without fear and discrimination.”
Sivieude called on Traore to refer the legislation back to the transitional parliament for revision. However, Amnesty International welcomed some provisions of the law, such as those that set the minimum marriage age at 18 for men and women, require consent from both parties as the basis of marriage, and eliminate gender discrimination in inheritance rights.
