A Step Backward as Burkina Faso Votes to Make Homosexuality Illegal

Burkina Faso’s transitional parliament has passed legislation criminalising same-sex intimacy for the first time in the country’s history.

On Monday, lawmakers in the unelected Transitional Legislative Assembly unanimously adopted a new Persons and Family Code, which includes provisions that outlaw homosexuality.

Those found guilty of “behaviour likely to promote homosexual practices and similar practices” face two to five years in prison and large fines ranging from two million CFA francs (€3,000) to ten million CFA francs (€15,000). Foreign nationals convicted under the law will also be deported.

In July 2024, Burkina Faso’s cabinet announced its intention to take this regressive step. Until now, the West African nation had never criminalised homosexuality. The move comes under the rule of the country’s military government, which seized power in a September 2022 coup.

Amnesty International Responds

Amnesty International welcomed some progressive provisions in the new family code, including setting the minimum marriage age at 18 for both boys and girls, establishing consent between parties as the foundation of marriage, and eliminating gender discrimination in inheritance rights.

However, the organisation strongly condemned the targeting of LGBTQ+ people.

“We are alarmed and deeply concerned by the criminalisation of same-sex relations between adults,” said Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

“This does nothing but create discrimination and violates the right to equality before the law. It is at odds with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both ratified by Burkina Faso.”

Sivieude urged President Ibrahim Traoré to send the Code back to the Transitional Legislative Assembly for revision before signing it into law.

“Everybody is entitled to respect for their private and family life and to enjoy that right without fear and discrimination,” he added.

Following Mali’s Lead

Burkina Faso now follows in the footsteps of its neighbour Mali, which also criminalised homosexuality in December 2024 under a new penal code.

The Malian law defines consensual same-sex intimacy as “unnatural acts” and “offences related to indecent exposure” and punishes it with up to two years in prison and a fine of 200,000 CFA francs (€300). Both nations are currently governed by unelected military juntas.

Burkina Faso’s decision adds to the list of around 30 African countries that continue to criminalise consensual same-sex intimacy. Such laws have historically been used to justify discrimination, violence, and human rights abuses against LGBTIQ+ people across the continent.