The Monument of National Heroes in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou.
The military government of the West African nation said it has adopted the draft of an amended family code that outlaws same-sex relations.
by Beza Lealem
Burkina Faso announced a ban on homosexual acts on July 9. “Henceforth homosexuality and associated practices will be punished by the law,” the country’s justice minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
The new legislation, which is part of a broader overhaul of Burkina Faso’s marriage laws that would recognise only religious and customary unions, still needs to be passed by the military-controlled parliament and approved by the interim president Ibrahim Traoré, who seized power in a coup in 2022.
Burkina Faso is among 22 out of 54 African states where same-sex relations are not currently criminalised, according to ILGA (the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association). While homosexuality is condemned or frowned upon in the country, it has never been outlawed, according to a BBC report.
The president of Burkina Faso’s national commission for human rights (the CNDH), Gonta Alida Henriette Da, reportedly said that making homosexuality illegal “would be the greatest violation of human rights and impact hundreds of thousands of people.”
More than 23 million people live in Burkina Faso. According to Human Rights Watch, the country’s “human rights situation deteriorated considerably in 2024, as deadly attacks by Islamist armed groups against civilians surged and military forces and pro-government militias committed abuses during counterinsurgency operations.”