Botswana Repeals Anti-Gay Laws as Africa’s Crackdown Widens
The change formalises a 2019 High Court judgment that struck down the provisions as unconstitutional. Activists from Legabibo say the amendment underscores the government’s commitment to human rights, even as momentum elsewhere on the continent moves in the...
Botswana has scrapped the sections of its penal code that outlawed same-sex relations, a decisive move that cements one of the continent’s most significant advances for LGBTQ rights.
The change formalises a 2019 High Court judgment that struck down the provisions as unconstitutional. Activists from Legabibo say the amendment underscores the government’s commitment to human rights, even as momentum elsewhere on the continent moves in the opposite direction.
- Advertisement -
Several nations, including Senegal, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali, have introduced or considered tougher anti-LGBTQ measures. Human rights organisations warn that rising nationalist rhetoric and outside influences are driving fresh crackdowns. Homosexuality remains criminalised in 31 African countries, and in some — notably Uganda and Mauritania — the death penalty still applies in certain cases.
