United Nations calls countries to decriminalize homosexuality

The United Nations (UN) human rights chief and UNAIDS’s executive director have reiterated their calls for countries to decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations.

“Laws criminalizing LGBTQ+ people must be consigned to history,” said Volker Türk and Winnie Byanyima in a statement. The “decriminalization of LGBTQ+ people is vital for protecting everyone’s human rights and everyone’s health,” they added.

The statement notes Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Bhutan, Botswana, the Cook Islands, Dominica, Gabon, India, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Palau, St. Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles, Singapore, and Trinidad and Tobago over the last decade have repealed laws that criminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations.

There are 61 countries that have laws that criminalise homosexuality, and nearly half of these are in Africa. Check them below:

From ILGA