UN: Nigeria's law against gays is "draconian"
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said she was alarmed by the severity of the country's legislation; "I have rarely seen a law that in so few paragraphs directly violates so many basic and universal human rights," she stated.
From Agência Brasil*
Brasilia - The new Nigerian law that criminalizes the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, as well as organizations, activities and people who support them, has been classified by the United Nations (UN) as "draconian". The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said she was alarmed by the severity of the legislation.
The law provides for prison sentences of 14 years for those who establish a same-sex union and ten years in prison for those who administer, witness, incite, or assist in marriage between people of the same sex.
"I have rarely seen a law that in so few paragraphs directly violates so many basic and universal human rights," Navi said on Tuesday (14). "Rights to privacy and non-discrimination, rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, rights to freedom from arbitrary arrests and detentions: this law destroys them all."
The Nigerian Senate approved a revised version of the bill to ban same-sex marriage in December, and President Goodluck Jonathan signed it into law earlier this month.
The High Commissioner also warned of the risk that the law could reinforce existing prejudices against members of the LGBT community and lead to an increase in violence and discrimination. Navi Pillay said she hoped the Nigerian Supreme Court would review the constitutionality of the new law as soon as possible.
"This draconian new law makes an already bad situation much worse. It proposes to ban same-sex marriage ceremonies, but in reality, it does much more than that," he added. "It turns anyone who participates in, witnesses, or helps organize a same-sex marriage into a criminal. It punishes people for showing any affection in public for someone of the same sex. And, by banning gay organizations, it jeopardizes the vital work of human rights advocates who speak out for the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people, and transvestites."
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the UN-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have expressed similar concerns. The institutions fear that the new law will impede access to essential services for LGBT communities who may be at high risk of HIV infection, given that, according to UNAIDS, Nigeria has the second-largest HIV epidemic in the world.
*With information from the UN