OutRage!: Nigeria's svage anti-gay laws- PROTESTS REQ.
pirate | 19.01.2007 09:58 | Gender | Repression | Social Struggles | World
OutRage! News Jan 19th... (addresses for protests etc are in the text below....)
Nigeria – Savage new anti-gay law
World’s most sweeping, draconian homophobic legislation
Fear grips lesbian and gay community in Nigeria
Inaction by US, Britain and EU – Bill will soon become law
London – 18 January 2006
“Nigeria seems certain to legislate one of the world’s most sweeping
and repressive anti-gay laws, unless international pressure is bought
to bear on the Nigerian government in the next few weeks,” said Peter
Tatchell of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights
group OutRage!.
“We appeal to gay and human rights groups worldwide to take urgent
action to press the Nigerian government to uphold international human
rights law and to drop this draconian legislation.
See protest information below.
“A new bill, currently being debated in the Nigerian parliament, is
the most comprehensively homophobic legislation ever proposed in any
country in the world. Its extremism is rivalled only by the death
penalty that exists for homosexuality in several Islamic
fundamentalist states,” added Mr Tatchell.
“The bill is primarily concerned with banning same-sex marriage, but
its sub-clauses go much further. They will strip lesbian and gay
Nigerians of their already limited civil rights. The bill outlaws
almost every expression, affirmation and celebration of gay identity
and sexuality, and prohibits the provision of sympathetic advice and
welfare support to lesbians and gay men.
“Violations will be punished with an automatic five year jail
sentence.
“The draconian measure will outlaw membership of a gay group,
attending a gay meeting or protest, advocating gay equality, donating
money to a gay organisation, hosting or visiting a gay website, the
publication or possession of gay safer sex advice, renting or selling
a property to a gay couple, expressions of same-sex love in letters or
emails, attending a same-sex marriage or blessing ceremony, screening
or watching a gay movie, taking or possessing photos of a gay couple,
and publishing, selling or loaning a gay book or video.
“Even mere socialising by two or more gay people is likely to be
interpreted as illegal.
A full briefing on the new bill follows below.
“It widens Nigeria’s already harsh anti-gay laws, to criminalise any
expression, public or private, of homosexuality. Attending a private
gathering of gay people, or imparting HIV prevention information to a
gay person, will become a crime.
“Even before this new legislation, homosexuality was punished with a
14-year jail term under civil law, and by the death penalty in the
northern regions of the country that are governed by Sharia law.
“The new legislation is backed by the Anglican Church in Nigeria and
by its notoriously homophobic Archbishop, Peter Akinola. They are
encouraging and endorsing the bill’s victimisation of their gay
countrymen and women, including the victimisation of their fellow
Christians who are gay.
“The new law will criminalise gay Christian gatherings, blessings and
celebrations. It is a direct attack on both the Christian and gay
communities of Nigeria,” said Mr Tatchell.
The bill is entitled, “The Prohibition of Relationships Between
Persons of the Same Sex, Celebration of Marriage by Them, and for
Other Matters Connected Therewith.” It has been approved by the
Federal Executive Council and is now before the National Assembly. It
is expected to be passed and become law shortly.
Under the bill, a penalty of five years imprisonment will be imposed
on any person who “goes through the ceremony of marriage with a person
of the same sex,” or who “performs, witnesses, aids or abets the
ceremony of same sex marriage,” or who “is involved in the
registration of gay clubs, societies and organisations, sustenance,
procession or meetings, publicity and public show of same sex amorous
relationship directly or indirectly in public and in private.”
What you can do:
Email your protest to the Nigerian High Commissioner in London.
Since Nigeria is a member of the Commonwealth, please also email the
Commonwealth Secretary-General, urging him to press the Nigerian
government to scrap the new anti-gay law.
Remind both men that this homophobic bill enshrines severe, illegal
discrimination and is a violation of Nigeria’s commitment to uphold
international human rights law.
You could also ask your own MP to write a protest letter to the
Nigerian High Commissioner.
Nigerian High Commissioner in London
His Excellency Dr. Christopher Kolade
Email:
hc@nigeriahc.org.uk
Fax: 0207 8398746
Phone: 020 78391244
Address: Nigerian High Commission, 9 Northumberland Avenue, London,
WC2N 5BX
Secretary-General of the Commonwealth
Rt Hon Donald C McKinnon
Email: secretary-general@commonwealth.int
Fax: 020 7930 0827
Phone: 020 7747 6500
Address: Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House, Pall Mall,
London SW1Y 5HX, UK
Further information: Peter Tatchell, OutRage! 020 7403 1790
Background
On 19 January 2006, Justice Minister and Attorney-General, Chief Bayo
Ojo, presented to the Federal Executive Council of Nigeria an “Act to
Make Provisions for the Prohibition of Relationship Between Persons of
the Same Sex, Celebration of Marriage by Them, and for Other Matters
Connected Therewith.”
The bill has since been approved by the Federal Executive Council and
is now before the National Assembly. It is expected to be passed and
become law shortly.
Under the bill, a penalty of five years imprisonment will be imposed
on any person who “goes through the ceremony of marriage with a person
of the same sex,” or who “performs, witnesses, aids or abets the
ceremony of same sex marriage,” or who “is involved in the
registration of gay clubs, societies and organisations, sustenance,
procession or meetings, publicity and public show of same sex amorous
relationship directly or indirectly in public and in private.”
Anything deemed to acknowledge, support, condone, acquiesce, endorse
or promote a "same-sex amorous relationship" or gay people’s welfare
and human rights will become illegal.
Already, Chapter 42, section 214, of Nigeria’s criminal code penalises
consensual homosexual conduct between adults with 14 years’
imprisonment. This law was originally introduced by the British
colonial administration in the nineteenth century.
In addition, Sharia law, which was introduced in northern Nigeria in
1999, criminalises ‘sodomy’ in Chapter III “Hudud and Hudud related
offences”, Part III “Sodomy (Liwat)”, Section 128-129 of the Kano
State Shari’a Penal Code Law 2000.
By criminalising the peaceful expression of gay identity and any
association in furtherance of lesbian and gay welfare and rights, the
bill strikes at the fundamental freedoms previously enjoyed by the
people of Nigeria – providing a dangerous precedent that could be used
to later target and restrict the rights of other minorities and human
rights advocates.
The Bill Contravenes International Law
The new law undermines fundamental freedoms protected under
international law.
The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights affirms the equality
of all people:
Article 2 states: “Every individual shall be entitled to the enjoyment
of the rights and freedoms recognized and guaranteed in the present
Charter without distinction of any kind such as race, ethnic group,
colour, sex, language, religion, political or any other opinion,
national and social origin, fortune, birth or other status.”
Article 3 enshrines equality before the law.
Article 26 says: “Every individual shall have the duty to respect and
consider his fellow beings without discrimination, and to maintain
relations aimed at promoting, safeguarding and reinforcing mutual
respect and tolerance.”
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to
which Nigeria acceded without reservations in 1993, protects the
rights to freedom of expression (article 19), freedom of conscience
(article 18), freedom of assembly (article 21), freedom of association
(article 22), and affirms the equality of all people before the law
and the right to freedom from discrimination (articles 2 and 26).
In the historic, landmark 1994 legal case of Toonen v Australia, the
United Nations Human Rights Committee, which monitors the compliance
of member states with the ICCPR, ruled that sexual orientation should
be understood to be a status protected from discrimination under these
ICCPR articles. States cannot therefore legitimately limit the
enjoyment of human rights on the basis of sexual orientation.
The UN Human Rights Committee has since urged states not only to
repeal laws criminalising homosexuality but to also enshrine the
prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation into their
constitutions or other fundamental laws.
This new bill, if passed, would seriously restrict essential freedoms,
as well as the activities of human rights defenders and members of
civil society.
The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders states in
article 5 that “everyone has the right, individually and in
association with others, at the national and international levels: a)
to meet or assemble peacefully; b) to form, join and participate in
non-governmental organizations, associations or groups.” Article 7 of
the declaration affirms that “Everyone has the right, individually and
in association with others, to develop and discuss new human rights
ideas and principles and to advocate their acceptance.”
Indeed, the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General on
Human Rights Defenders has specifically called attention to the
"greater risks... faced by defenders of the rights of certain groups
as their work challenges social structures, traditional practices and
interpretations of religious precepts that may have been used over
long periods of time to condone and justify violation of the human
rights of members of such groups. Of special importance will be...
human rights groups and those who are active on issues of sexuality,
especially sexual orientation." ("Report of the Special Representative
to the Secretary General on human rights defenders," UN Doc.
E/CN.4/2001/94 (2001), at 89g)
* Our thanks to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights
Commission for providing research and information for this background
briefing.
Ends
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nigeria – Savage new anti-gay law
World’s most sweeping, draconian homophobic legislation
Fear grips lesbian and gay community in Nigeria
Inaction by US, Britain and EU – Bill will soon become law
London – 18 January 2006
“Nigeria seems certain to legislate one of the world’s most sweeping
and repressive anti-gay laws, unless international pressure is bought
to bear on the Nigerian government in the next few weeks,” said Peter
Tatchell of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights
group OutRage!.
“We appeal to gay and human rights groups worldwide to take urgent
action to press the Nigerian government to uphold international human
rights law and to drop this draconian legislation.
See protest information below.
“A new bill, currently being debated in the Nigerian parliament, is
the most comprehensively homophobic legislation ever proposed in any
country in the world. Its extremism is rivalled only by the death
penalty that exists for homosexuality in several Islamic
fundamentalist states,” added Mr Tatchell.
“The bill is primarily concerned with banning same-sex marriage, but
its sub-clauses go much further. They will strip lesbian and gay
Nigerians of their already limited civil rights. The bill outlaws
almost every expression, affirmation and celebration of gay identity
and sexuality, and prohibits the provision of sympathetic advice and
welfare support to lesbians and gay men.
“Violations will be punished with an automatic five year jail
sentence.
“The draconian measure will outlaw membership of a gay group,
attending a gay meeting or protest, advocating gay equality, donating
money to a gay organisation, hosting or visiting a gay website, the
publication or possession of gay safer sex advice, renting or selling
a property to a gay couple, expressions of same-sex love in letters or
emails, attending a same-sex marriage or blessing ceremony, screening
or watching a gay movie, taking or possessing photos of a gay couple,
and publishing, selling or loaning a gay book or video.
“Even mere socialising by two or more gay people is likely to be
interpreted as illegal.
A full briefing on the new bill follows below.
“It widens Nigeria’s already harsh anti-gay laws, to criminalise any
expression, public or private, of homosexuality. Attending a private
gathering of gay people, or imparting HIV prevention information to a
gay person, will become a crime.
“Even before this new legislation, homosexuality was punished with a
14-year jail term under civil law, and by the death penalty in the
northern regions of the country that are governed by Sharia law.
“The new legislation is backed by the Anglican Church in Nigeria and
by its notoriously homophobic Archbishop, Peter Akinola. They are
encouraging and endorsing the bill’s victimisation of their gay
countrymen and women, including the victimisation of their fellow
Christians who are gay.
“The new law will criminalise gay Christian gatherings, blessings and
celebrations. It is a direct attack on both the Christian and gay
communities of Nigeria,” said Mr Tatchell.
The bill is entitled, “The Prohibition of Relationships Between
Persons of the Same Sex, Celebration of Marriage by Them, and for
Other Matters Connected Therewith.” It has been approved by the
Federal Executive Council and is now before the National Assembly. It
is expected to be passed and become law shortly.
Under the bill, a penalty of five years imprisonment will be imposed
on any person who “goes through the ceremony of marriage with a person
of the same sex,” or who “performs, witnesses, aids or abets the
ceremony of same sex marriage,” or who “is involved in the
registration of gay clubs, societies and organisations, sustenance,
procession or meetings, publicity and public show of same sex amorous
relationship directly or indirectly in public and in private.”
What you can do:
Email your protest to the Nigerian High Commissioner in London.
Since Nigeria is a member of the Commonwealth, please also email the
Commonwealth Secretary-General, urging him to press the Nigerian
government to scrap the new anti-gay law.
Remind both men that this homophobic bill enshrines severe, illegal
discrimination and is a violation of Nigeria’s commitment to uphold
international human rights law.
You could also ask your own MP to write a protest letter to the
Nigerian High Commissioner.
Nigerian High Commissioner in London
His Excellency Dr. Christopher Kolade
Email:
hc@nigeriahc.org.uk Fax: 0207 8398746
Phone: 020 78391244
Address: Nigerian High Commission, 9 Northumberland Avenue, London,
WC2N 5BX
Secretary-General of the Commonwealth
Rt Hon Donald C McKinnon
Email:
secretary-general@commonwealth.int Fax: 020 7930 0827
Phone: 020 7747 6500
Address: Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House, Pall Mall,
London SW1Y 5HX, UK
Further information: Peter Tatchell, OutRage! 020 7403 1790
Background
On 19 January 2006, Justice Minister and Attorney-General, Chief Bayo
Ojo, presented to the Federal Executive Council of Nigeria an “Act to
Make Provisions for the Prohibition of Relationship Between Persons of
the Same Sex, Celebration of Marriage by Them, and for Other Matters
Connected Therewith.”
The bill has since been approved by the Federal Executive Council and
is now before the National Assembly. It is expected to be passed and
become law shortly.
Under the bill, a penalty of five years imprisonment will be imposed
on any person who “goes through the ceremony of marriage with a person
of the same sex,” or who “performs, witnesses, aids or abets the
ceremony of same sex marriage,” or who “is involved in the
registration of gay clubs, societies and organisations, sustenance,
procession or meetings, publicity and public show of same sex amorous
relationship directly or indirectly in public and in private.”
Anything deemed to acknowledge, support, condone, acquiesce, endorse
or promote a "same-sex amorous relationship" or gay people’s welfare
and human rights will become illegal.
Already, Chapter 42, section 214, of Nigeria’s criminal code penalises
consensual homosexual conduct between adults with 14 years’
imprisonment. This law was originally introduced by the British
colonial administration in the nineteenth century.
In addition, Sharia law, which was introduced in northern Nigeria in
1999, criminalises ‘sodomy’ in Chapter III “Hudud and Hudud related
offences”, Part III “Sodomy (Liwat)”, Section 128-129 of the Kano
State Shari’a Penal Code Law 2000.
By criminalising the peaceful expression of gay identity and any
association in furtherance of lesbian and gay welfare and rights, the
bill strikes at the fundamental freedoms previously enjoyed by the
people of Nigeria – providing a dangerous precedent that could be used
to later target and restrict the rights of other minorities and human
rights advocates.
The Bill Contravenes International Law
The new law undermines fundamental freedoms protected under
international law.
The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights affirms the equality
of all people:
Article 2 states: “Every individual shall be entitled to the enjoyment
of the rights and freedoms recognized and guaranteed in the present
Charter without distinction of any kind such as race, ethnic group,
colour, sex, language, religion, political or any other opinion,
national and social origin, fortune, birth or other status.”
Article 3 enshrines equality before the law.
Article 26 says: “Every individual shall have the duty to respect and
consider his fellow beings without discrimination, and to maintain
relations aimed at promoting, safeguarding and reinforcing mutual
respect and tolerance.”
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to
which Nigeria acceded without reservations in 1993, protects the
rights to freedom of expression (article 19), freedom of conscience
(article 18), freedom of assembly (article 21), freedom of association
(article 22), and affirms the equality of all people before the law
and the right to freedom from discrimination (articles 2 and 26).
In the historic, landmark 1994 legal case of Toonen v Australia, the
United Nations Human Rights Committee, which monitors the compliance
of member states with the ICCPR, ruled that sexual orientation should
be understood to be a status protected from discrimination under these
ICCPR articles. States cannot therefore legitimately limit the
enjoyment of human rights on the basis of sexual orientation.
The UN Human Rights Committee has since urged states not only to
repeal laws criminalising homosexuality but to also enshrine the
prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation into their
constitutions or other fundamental laws.
This new bill, if passed, would seriously restrict essential freedoms,
as well as the activities of human rights defenders and members of
civil society.
The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders states in
article 5 that “everyone has the right, individually and in
association with others, at the national and international levels: a)
to meet or assemble peacefully; b) to form, join and participate in
non-governmental organizations, associations or groups.” Article 7 of
the declaration affirms that “Everyone has the right, individually and
in association with others, to develop and discuss new human rights
ideas and principles and to advocate their acceptance.”
Indeed, the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General on
Human Rights Defenders has specifically called attention to the
"greater risks... faced by defenders of the rights of certain groups
as their work challenges social structures, traditional practices and
interpretations of religious precepts that may have been used over
long periods of time to condone and justify violation of the human
rights of members of such groups. Of special importance will be...
human rights groups and those who are active on issues of sexuality,
especially sexual orientation." ("Report of the Special Representative
to the Secretary General on human rights defenders," UN Doc.
E/CN.4/2001/94 (2001), at 89g)
* Our thanks to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights
Commission for providing research and information for this background
briefing.
Ends
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
pirate
Comments
Hide the following 11 comments
This article is racist
20.01.2007 09:42
Ignore their racist agenda against Nigeria.
Mohammed
Homepage:
http://www.uaf.org,uk
Sorry - don't understand last comment
20.01.2007 11:56
When the British state persceuted and imprisioned British gays in the 1950's for being gay, were the people who oppossed those laws also racists?
Please explain.
African
Homepage:
http://www.mask.org.za/index.php?page=home
Axis of evil?
20.01.2007 14:46
Tatchell et al should go out there ASAP and tell the “savage” Nigerians how to run their own country.
I’m sure the Nigeria would be just as accommodating as the UK would be if Nigerians or any other nation were telling us how to run this country…
Unite against shit-stirrers
Maybe Radical Christiany Is the Way Forward
21.01.2007 02:27
Ladigbolu, a retired Methodist Arch Bishop of Ilesha Diocese noted that already, the whole world was at a cross-road over the issue of gay and lesbianism and suggested that the way out was for the church to seek better understanding of these group of persons, who were at the moment are considered deviants.
He told Saturday Independent that at present, the gay and lesbian communities were on the increase in the country “as more and more of them are coming out of their closet”.
“And more will still come. In America, I know of a number of community churches that are gay churches. Because the church was discriminating against them, they now started their own churches and they have their own pastors and they do their own marriages and everything in their own churches. And now the law in the United States forbids you from discriminating against them because they are gay. I am sure Nigeria will soon come to that level too,” he noted.
He advised the church to seek better understanding of these groups of persons instead of being hostile to them or treating them as outcasts in the society.
“The church should seek better understanding of them. We should avail ourselves of all the available literature on this phenomenon. What makes a man likes a man? Is there something more to it? We should be that tolerant. I am not saying that we should admit them into our churches, or join them in holy matrimony when they come to the church, but what I am saying is that the church, like we are trying to understand HIV/AIDS, should also try and understand the gays and the lesbians,” he said.
The bishop stated that “may be from that understanding, we would hear God speaking to the church as to which direction we should go. Is our present attitude the best under God? Do we have all the answers to the issue of lesbianism and gay from the Bible? Are there new insights that God is bringing because God is always bringing something new. He is always bringing new knowledge and new understanding of this universe and the church should be tolerant to gain knowledge so that our actions would not be from the point of bias and prejudice but from a point of sympathy and knowledge”.
To him the issue of being gay or lesbian is a universal one which has several ramifications because a lot of people are now approaching it.
“Some of them will say that is how God made them, that I am made not to like men in spite of being a woman, that I am made to like men like myself. And if people tell you that and they say it is coming from inside because that was the way they were born or that was the way the environment created them, what do you do? You have no right to say how God has made you is wrong, of course from the religious point of view when you look at the Bible, the Bible condemns male and male mating and female and female mating and so you look at the word of God, you look at the claim people who are experiencing this kind of feeling and you are left somehow in a fix just as they are hanging somewhere”.
He admitted that the world had always being at a cross roads over the issue and called for a deeper reflection over it.
“You know until recently, until the last ten years most of the gay were not coming out of the closet.
They were merely pretending. Some of them will even marry and raise children but inside of them they were still looking for men to sleep with. Now that they are beginning to feel that there are more of them than we are beginning to imagine, they begin to set up their own network and are coming out to tell the world that that is the way God has made them and are not ashamed of it. You can not kill them, you can not throw them away, they belong to families and communities and that is why I am saying that the church should seek better and greater understanding of this phenomenon under God so that we can react properly,” he stressed.
Sola Shittu (Reporter Ibadan )
“Homophobes”
21.01.2007 14:17
Some of them will say that is how God made them, that I am made not to like homosexuals, that I am made to like heterosexuals like myself. And if people tell you that and they say it is coming from inside because that was the way they were born or that was the way the environment created them, what do you do? You have no right to say how God has made you is wrong...
That is the way God has made them and they are not ashamed of it.
ditto
Bigots Above, you're on the wrong website!
22.01.2007 15:06
Georgie
Georgie
22.01.2007 21:16
“I guess that Mohammed (the Muslim?) dislikes gays because his silly religion tells him to!” - Now who’s the bigot?
I don’t know about you but I instinctively seem to dislike some gays and not others. I’m suspicious of the ultra-camp faggoty types. I actually think they are mad. But have absolutely no problem with other gays. Does that make me a homophobe in your obstinate and intolerant mind?
U R A Bigot
U R more bigoted than you think
23.01.2007 10:16
Lily Savage (really faggoty)
Sceptical?
23.01.2007 15:26
Sexuality orientation is not fixed. There is no evidence to support your assumption. In fact all the research indicates that sexuality orientation is a lifestyle choice, in the same way obesity is a lifestyle choice, i.e. a subconscious conditioning, or psycho-social conditioning similar to a learned belief of God. Sexuality orientation is not fixed it is merely a matter of culture or personal preference.
And “finding Islam sickening” is mindless stereotyping and completely and utterly bigoted. But there again disliking militant Islam does not equate to a dislike of all Muslims, in the same way disliking certain gays does not equate to a dislike of all homosexuals.
The word faggot appears in the dictionary to mean a person who takes it up the arse (literally or metaphorically) as a chore or service for the seniors. Therefore Blair could be said to be a faggot to Bush. If you think the word faggot refers to all gays then it is you who is the homophobe.
If you hear a man call a woman a slut do you assume he is referring to all women as sluts? If a woman calls a man a chauvinist do you assume she is referring to all men as chauvinists? Of course not! Thus, some gays are faggots in the same way some women are sluts and some men are chauvinists.
F U & the Thought Police
Excuse ME!
24.01.2007 16:44
What a load of poo! How is being gay a lifestyle choice? Show me the evidence please! That implies that gays could have been straight if they'd chosen to be. But how can that be when the majority are not the least bit attracted to the opposite sex? I take it you also had to choose whether to be gay or straight! How did you choose and are you attracted to both sexes equally?
Also, if it is a choice then why would anyone choose to be gay with the discrimination which is prevalent in society. Jus look at the present kerfuffle with the religious bigots trying to exempt themselves from new discrimination laws. Laughable really. Religion is the biggest lifestyle choice of all, no one really has to hold such archaic views and justify them by referring to manuscripts from the stone age.
Bella Emberg (fat 'cause it's a lifestyle choice)
subconscious psycho-social conditioning
24.01.2007 19:24
“if it is a choice then why would anyone choose to be gay with the discrimination which is prevalent in society.”
For precisely the same reason anyone choose to be obese with the discrimination which is prevalent in society, i.e. it is not necessarily a conscious choice to be gay or obese, although that may be the case for some, it can be a subconscious choice for the majority.
Besides, have you thought why anyone would choose to dye their hair green and put a safety-pin through their nose with the discrimination they face in society? Yet they do. Some do as an act of rebellion, to challenge the norms of society. Which is fine with me, just don’t tell me they were born that way.
.