Burkina Faso passes law banning homosexuality

The junta-run African country Burkina Faso has passed a law banning homosexuality, with punishments of up to five years in jail.

The military group that controls the West African country of Burkina Faso after seizing the nation by force three years ago has criminalised homosexuality and instituted punishments of up to five years in jail, according to reports sourcing news agency AFP.

Though homosexuality is illegal in nearly 30 African countries, it was not in Burkina Faso until the military seized power under leader Ibrahim Traoré.

According to France 24, the draft law was adopted by 71 unelected members of a transitional parliament in place since 2022.

“The law provides for a prison sentence of between two and five years as well as fines,” Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala reportedly said on national broadcaster RTB.

“If a person is a perpetrator of homosexual or similar practices, all the bizarre behaviour, they will go before the judge,” he said. He added that foreign nationals would be deported.

The law is part of a wider reform of family and citizenship legislation and will be “popularised through an awareness campaign”, officials said.

The country moved to criminalise homosexuality in late 2024. In July of that year, Bayala said homosexual relations would be prohibited but gave no further details at the time.

The move is part of a wider sweep across multiple African countries to crack down on homosexuality.

Mali, similarly ruled by a junta, adopted a law criminalising same-sex relations in late 2024. Ghana lawmakers in March this year introduced regressive anti-LGBT legislation, and Uganda passed an Anti-Homosexuality Bill in 2023.

However, Kenya recently ordered a trans rights bill in a landmark legal ruling; a judge ruled in favour of a trans woman after she was arrested on charges of ‘impersonation’, and ordered the government to pass legislation to protect transgender men and women.

Despite the win,sweeping anti-homosexuality laws were drafted in 2023 in the country, with one politician saying he wanted to “kick LGBT people out of Kenya completely”. 

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