Towards non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation: The normative basis and procedural possibilities before the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the African Union

Human Rights Quarterly

Volumn 29, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 86-111

  Murray, Rachel ^a   Viljoen, Frans ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA   (South Africa)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GENDER DISPARITY; GENDER IDENTITY; GENDER RELATIONS; HOMOSEXUALITY; HUMAN RIGHTS;

AFRICA;

EID: 34047131357     PISSN: 02750392     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/hrq.2007.0010     Document Type: Article

References (149)

1. African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, art. 5, adopted 27 June 1981, O.A.U. Doc. CAB/LEG/67/3 Rev. 5 (entered into force 21 Oct. 1986), reprinted in 21 I.L.M. 58 (1982) [hereinafter African Charter].
2. The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights is provided for under art. 30 of the African Charter; the first Commissioners were inaugurated on 2 November 1987, when its first session took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
3. Wayne Morgan, Queering International Human Rights Law, in Sexuality in the Legal Arena 208-27 (Carl Stychin & Diddi Herman eds., 2000).
4. See, e.g., Human Rights Watch, More than a Name: State Sponsored Homophobia and its Consequences in Southern African (2003), available at hrw.org/reports/2003/safrica;
5. Amnesty Int'l Crimes of Hate: Conspiracy of Silence, Torture and Ill-Treatment Based on Sexual Identity, AI Index ACT 40/016/2001 (22 June 2001), available at http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ engact400162001.
6. S. Afr. Const. 1996, § 9(3).
7. Even in South Africa, prejudice against gays and lesbians is still rife (see Teen Beaten to Death for Being a Lesbian, Sunday Times (South Africa), 19 Feb. 2006, at 6.
8. The finding of the Constitutional Court that the prohibition of gay marriage is unconstitutional (Minister of Home Affairs v. Fourie, 2006 (3) BCLR 355 (CC)) also elicited some negative reaction in the debate that followed.
9. See, e.g., Ndungane rules out same sex marriages, SABC News, 14 Sept. 2006 (Njongonkulu Ndungane, the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, stating that same sex marriages will never be endorsed and accepted within the Anglican Church in Southern Africa), available at http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/general/0,2172,134866,00.html.
10. See information on website of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, available at http://www.ilga.org;
11. International gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, available at http://www.iglhrc.org/site/iglhrc. The South African Constitutional Court was called upon to determine the constitutionality of the common law offence of consensual same-sex between men in private (sodomy).
12. In the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality v The Minister of Justice, 1998 (12) BCLR 1517 (CC)(S.Afr.("sodomy case") the Court declared sodomy unconstitutional.
13. Human Rights Watch, More Than a Name, supra note 4, at 231-34.
14. Id. at 12-50.
15. Id. at 56-83.
16. Bill for an Act to make provisions for the prohibition of sexual relationship between persons of the same sex, celebration of marriage by them and for other matters connected therewith.
17. Leo Igwe, On the Proposed Bill to Ban Same Sex Marriages in Nigeria, the Guardian (Nigeria), 1 Mar. 2006, at 65, available at www.arsrc.org/ resources/publications/sia/jan06/viewpoint.htm.
18. Id.
19. For example, Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association, GALZ (Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe), Coalition of African Lesbians (Namibia), and Gays Lesbians Bisexuals and Transsexuals of Ghana.
20. See M'Baye draft African Charter (prepared for the Meeting of Experts, held 28 Sept. to 8 Dec. 1979, in Dakar, Senegal, OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/67/1, Introduction: "The draft is largely drawn from provisions of the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights.")
21. Toonen v. Australia, Communication 488/92, Human Rights Committee, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/50/D/488/1992 (Mar. 1994).
22. See also Young v. Australia, Communication 941/2000, Human Rights Committee, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/78/D/941/2000 (Aug. 2003).
23. In Dudgeon v. UK, 45 Eur. Ct. H.R. (ser. A)(1981), Norris v. Ireland, 142 Eur. Ct. H.R. (ser. A)(1991)
24. Norris v. Ireland, 142 Eur. Ct. H.R. (ser. A)(1991)
25. and Modinos v, Cyprus, 259 Eur. Ct. H.R. (ser. A)(1993).
26. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), U.N. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171 (entered into force 23 Mar. 1976) [hereinafter ICCPR];
27. European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, arts. 8-11 opened for signature 4 Nov. 1950, 213 U. N.T.S. 221, Europ. T.S. No. 5 (entered into force 3 Sept. 1953), as amended by Protocols Nos 8 and 11 (entered into force, 1 Jan. 1990, 1 Nov. 1998) [hereinafter European Convention].
28. See, e.g., The Social and Economic Rights Action Center for Economic and Social Rights (SERAC) v. Nigeria, Communication No. 155/96, African Commission on Human and People's Rights, ¶ 68 (May 2002). "International law and human rights must be responsive to African circumstances."
29. See, e.g., ICCPR, supra note 17, art. 17: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation."
30. The issue of sexual orientation did not feature in any of the travaux préparatoires of the African Charter, see documents reprinted in Human Rights Law in Africa 1999, at 65-105 (Christopher H. Heyns ed., 2002).
31. SERAC v. Nigeria, supra note 18.
32. Id. ¶ 65. The right to food, for example, is derived from the right to life, to health and the right to economic, social and cultural development; and is "inseparably linked to the dignity of human beings and is therefore essential in the enjoyment and fulfilment of such other rights as health, education, work and political participation."
33. African Charter, supra note 1, art. 4.
34. Id. art. 5.
35. Id. art. 6.
36. African Charter, supra note 1, Guidelines 1989, Pt. 1, ¶ 3. Article 62 of the Charter requires states to submit a report every two years indicating the legislature and other measures they have adopted to implement the Charter.
37. Id art. 10;
38. European Convention, supra note 17, art. 8. Both are worded in broad terms.
39. Justice Ackermann, referring back to the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality v The Minister of justice (sodomy case), supra note 6, which decriminalized sodomy, in National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality and others v Minister of Home Affairs and others, 2000 (2) SA 1 (CC) (S.Afr.) ¶ 42, he remarked as follows: The denial of equal dignity and worth all too quickly and insidiously degenerates into a denial of humanity and lead to inhuman treatment by the rest of society in many other ways. This is deeply demeaning and frequently has the cruel effect of undermining the confidence and sense of selfworth and self-respect of lesbians and gays.
40. See, e.g., Edwin Cameron, Sexual orientation and the Constitution: A Test Case for Human Rights, 110 S. Afr. L. J. 450, 464 (1993).
41. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), U.N. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, art. 2, ¶ 2, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3 (entered into force 3 Jan. 1976), General Comment No. 14 (2000), ¶ 18 (under the heading "Non-discrimination and equal treatment");
42. ICCPR, supra note 17, art. 2 (emphasis added).
43. Toonen, supra note 15.
44. In line with the South African Constitutional Court's approach in Harksen v. Lane, 1998 1 SA 300 (CC) at ¶ 53.
45. African Charter, supra note 1, arts. 7, 11, 14, respectively, to "every individual."
46. Media Rights Agenda and Another v. Nigeria, Communication 105/93, 128/ 94, 130/94 and 152/96, at ¶ ¶ 69-70 (1998).
47. African Charter, supra note 1, prmbl.
48. Id. art. 18(2).
49. See International Lesbian and Gay Association, World Legal Survey, available at http://www.ilga.info/information/Legal_survey/africa/ kenya.htm; http://www.ilga.Info/Information/Legal_survey/africa/ namibia.htm; http://www.ilga.info/Information/Legal_survey/africa/ uganda.htm; http://www.ilga.info/Information/Legal_survey/africa/ zimbabwe.htm
50. On background to this case, and its subsequent submission to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, see Press Release, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, United Nations group finds detention of men in Cameroon on the basis of sexual orientation to be a violation of human rights (11 Oct. 2006), available at http://www.iglhrc.org/site/iglhrc/section.php?id=5&detail=685.
51. Cameroonian Ministry of Justice, Doc 2603/CD 05/022/PPE/DDHCI/MJ, 23 Jan. 2006, on file with authors.
52. See, e.g., Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Students of African Homosexualities (Stephen O. Murray & Will Roscoe eds., 1998);
53. W. Dynes, Homosexuality in Sub-Saharan Africa, Gay Books Bull. 20-21 (1983);
54. Cary Alan Johnson, Hearing Voices: Unearthing Evidence of Homosexuality in Precolonial Africa, in The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities 132 (Delroy Constantine-Simms ed., 2000);
55. Neville Hoad, Tradition, Modernity and Human Rights: An Interrogation of Contemporary Gay and Lesbian Rights' Claims in Southern African Nationalist Discourses, 2(2) Development Update 32-43 (1998);
56. Pierre de Vos, The Constitution Made us Queer. The Sexual Orientation Clause in the South African Constitution and the Emergence of Gay and Lesbian Identity, in Sexuality in the Legal Arena, supra note 3, at 194;
57. Gregory Conerly, Are you Black First or are you Queer?, in The Greatest Taboo, supra note 40, at 7.
58. Oliver Phillips, Constituting the Global Gay: Issues of Individual Subjectivity and Sexuality in Southern Africa, in Sexuality in the Legal Arena, supra note 3, at 17;
59. Jennifer H. Spruill, A Post With/out a Past? Sexual Orientation and the Post-Colonial "Moment" in South Africa, in Sexuality in the Legal Arena, supra note 3, at 3.
60. An example appears from the attendance by African lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-gender organizations, numbering fifty-five participants from twenty-two groups representing sixteen countries across the continent, at a conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. These organizations adopted the Johannesburg Statement on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Human Rights (13 Feb. 2004), available at http://hrw.org/lgbt/pdf/joburg_statement021304.htm.
61. See Mark Gevisser, Mandela's Stepchildren: Homosexual Identity in Post-Apartheid South Africa, in Different Rainbows (Peter Drucker ed., 2000);
62. Patrick Mosiuoa Lekota, Address at Simon Nkolis Memorial Service, in Sex and Politics in South African 130 (Neville Hoad et. al. eds., 2005).
63. Toonen, supra note 15, ¶ 8.6.
64. Id. ¶ 2.3.
65. Id. ¶ 8.6.
66. Legal Resources Foundation v. Zambia, Communication 211/98, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Afr. Hum. Rts. L. Rep. 84 (2001).
67. Legal Resources Foundation v. Zambia, Communication 211/98, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Afr. Hum. Rts. L. Rep. 84, ¶ 70(2001).
68. Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 US 186 (1986).
69. Id.
70. Id. at 213,
71. referring to Diamond v. Charles, 476 U.S. 54, 65-66 (1986).
72. Id. at 211.
73. Lawrence v. Texas, 539 US 558 (2003).
74. Id. at 571,
75. quoting Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 US 833, 850 (1992).
76. Id. at 560,
77. quoting Bowers v. Hardwick 48 US 186 at 216 (Stevens, J., dissenting).
78. Id. at 560.
79. National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality v Minister of Justice, 1999 (1) SA 6 (CC) (S.Afr.).
80. Id. ¶ 136.
81. Id.
82. Id.
83. Id. ¶ 137.
84. Toonen, supra note 15, 8.6.
85. See, e.g., Kanane v. The State, High Court of Botswana, Trial No. F94 of 1995;
86. Kanane v. The State, Court of Appeal of Botswana, Criminal appeal No. 9 of 1995.
87. See, e.g., World Health Organization, The World Health Report 2004: Changing Hisory 1 (2004);
88. the predominance of heterosexual transmission may also be deduced from the facts that the HIV infection rates of women is higher than that of men, and from the high rate of infection among pregnant women compared to national HIV averages (see UNAIDS, 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, available at http://data.unaids.org/pub/GlobalReport/2006/ 2006_GR_CH02_en.pdf.
89. Women make up an estimated 59 percent of all adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa (at 15);
90. HIV prevalence among women attending antenatal clinics is higher than the overall population-based prevalence (Figure 2.1, at 11)).
91. On an "embryonic" epidemic among men who have sex with men, especially in North Africa, see A. D'Adesky, Moving, Mountains: The Race to Treat Global AIDS 164-66 (2004).
92. Toonen, supra note 15, ¶ 6.5.
93. Id. ¶ 8.5.
94. Id. quoting with approval a statement by the Australian government.
95. Id.
96. See, e.g., in respect of Nigeria, on the possible abuse of same-sex offenses, Court sentences man to death by stoning (10 July 2005), available at http://www.365Gay.com;
97. Nigeria Sodomy Suspects Freed, Sunday Times, 7 Dec. 2005.
98. African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Prisons in Malawi: Report of the Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa, Series IV, No. 9, at 29 (2002), available at, http://www.penalreform.org/download/rs/malawi_english.pdf.
99. Id. ¶ xi, at 51.
100. See, e.g., the following statement by Mr. Nyoka, Commissioner General of Prisons, Namibia, during a workshop on Health in African Prisons: "Although homosexual activity is known to occur, statutes in many jurisdictions make sexual activity in prison a punishable crime. It is correctly argued that condom distribution would condone and promote this behaviour." Workshop on Health in African Prisons (organized by Penal reform International, Uganda Prison Service with the support of NORAD) in Kampala, Uganda (12-13 Dec. 1999)(on file with authors).
101. The Foundation for AIDS Research, Issue Brief no. 4, HIV Prevention for Men who Have Sex with Men (June 2006), available at http://www.amfar.org/ binary-data/AMFAR_PUBLICATION/download_file/46.pdf. Both vaginal and anal intercourse have been shown to be efficient routes for HIV transmission, as the epithelium of both tracts has receptors that easily bind to HIV. However, compared to the vagina, rectal tissue is much more vulnerable to tearing during intercourse and the larger surface area of the rectum/colon provides more opportunity for viral penetration and infection.
102. See Resolution on AIDS Prevention in Africa, adopted 48th Ordinary Sess., Council of Ministers, O.A.U. Doc. CM/Res.1165(XLVIII) (1988);
103. Report of the Secretary-General on the Follow-Up of OAU Declarations on HIV/AIDS in Africa - Doc. CM/2079(LXVIII), O.A.U. Council of Ministers, 68th Sess., O.A.U. Doc. CM/Dec.423(LXVIII) (1998);
104. Establishment of an African Fund for AIDS Control, O.A.U. Assembly of Heads of State and Government, 34th Sess., O.A.U. Doc. AHG/ Dec.125(XXXIV) (1998);
105. Resolution on the Prevention and Control of AIDS in Africa, adopted 52d Ordinary Sess., Council of Ministers, O.A.U. Doc. CM/Res.1302(LII) (1990);
106. Maputo Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Other Related Infectious Diseases, adopted 10-12 Jul. 2003, A.U. Assembly, 2d Ordinary Sess., A.U. Doc. Assembly/AU/Decl.3 (II) (2003);
107. Decision on AIDS Watch Africa (AWA) and the Implementation of the Abuja and Maputo Declarations on Malaria, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other related Infectious Diseases in Africa, A.U. Assembly, 3rd Ordinary Sess., A.U. Doc. Assembly/AU/Dec.42 (111) (2004). In April 2001, a Summit on HIV/AIDS was held in Abuja, resulting in the Abuja Framework and Abuja Declaration for Action for the Fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases in Africa. Abuja Framework for Action for the Fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases in Africa, O.A.U. Doc. OAU/SPS/ABUJA/4 (2001);
108. Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases, adopted 24-27 Apr. 2001, O.A.U. Doc. OAU/SPS/ABUJA/3 (2001) [hereinafter Abuja Declaration].
109. Abuja Declaration, supra note 74, ¶ 12.
110. See also Resolution on AIDS and Africa: Agenda for Action, AHG/ Res.216(XXVIII).
111. Abuja Declaration, supra note 74, ¶ 7.
112. As is argued below, ¶¶ A-D.
113. African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Report of the African Commission's Working Group of Experts on Indigenous Populations/ Communities, adopted at African Commission 35th Sess., Banjul (2004).
114. See, e.g., Communication 155/96 SERAC, supra note 18.
115. The members of the Commission are: Salamata Sawadogo (Chair), Yasser Sid El Hassan (Vice Chair), Reine Alapini-Gansou, Mohammed A. Ould Babana, Musa Ngary Bitaye, Adv. Faith Fansy Tlakula, Angela Melo, Sanji Mmasenono Monageng, Mumba Malila, Bahame Tom Mukirya Nyanduga, and Kamel Rezag-Bara.
116. The Commission is served by a full time secretariat based in Banjul.
117. AU Constitutive Act (11 July 2000), available at http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/AboutAU/Constitutive_Act_en.htm.
118. Statutes of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union, AU Doc Experts/PRC/ECOSOCC Statutes/Rev.5 (June 2004).
119. African Charter, supra note 1, art. 62, reads as follows: Each state party shall undertake to submit every two years, from the date the present Charter comes into force, a report on the legislative or other measures taken with a view to giving effect to the rights and freedoms recognised and guaranteed by the present Charter.
120. See, e.g., Eighteenth Annual Activity Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, adopted 4-5 July 2005, 5th Ordinary Sess., Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, EX.CL/ 199 (VII), Annex I.
121. The South African Commissioner Barney Pityana was willing to ask the Namibian government during the examination of its state report at the twenty-ninth session whether the statements made by the President and Minister of Home Affairs and other leading politicians that gay and lesbian people should be arrested and thrown into jail for no reason but that they are gay and lesbian, were inflammatory and incite unlawful arrests and ordinary citizens to harass and victimize people for no reason but their sexual orientation. The question was not answered by the government delegation. Rachel Murray, Report of 29th Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, at 60 (on file with authors).
122. Authors' personal notes taken during the African Commission's thirty-eighth session.
123. In particular, S. Afr. Const. 1996, § 9(3), supra note 5, prohibiting unfair discrimination on the basis of, amongst others, "sexual orientation."
124. Press Release, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), Cameroon: Public Homophobia Increases on the Eve of Sodomy Trial (2 Mar. 2006), available at http://www.iglhrc.org.
125. Cameroon C. Pén. 347(a). Whoever has sexual relations with a person of the same sex shall be punished with imprisonment for from six months to five years and a fine of from 20,000 to 200,000 francs.
126. Cameroon Refuses to Release Acquitted Homosexuals, Afrol News, 3 May 2006, available at http://www.afrol.com/articles/19065.
127. Id.
128. Notes of Judith Oder, Lawyer, Africa Programme, INTERIGHTS, who attended the session. (On file with authors.) We thank her for allowing us to make use of her notes.
129. Id.
130. Id.
131. Press Release, International Lesbian and Gay Association, Arrests in Cameroon: Seven Men Convicted and Sentenced on Sodomy Charges (14 June 2006), available at http://www.ilga.org/ news_results.asp?FileCategory=7&ZoneID=2&FileID=833.
132. The Commission has so far not held oral examinations under African Charter, supra note 1, art. 62, in the absence of the state delegation or in the absence of any report.
133. For example, at the thirty-seventh session of the Commission in April 2005, Mauritanian NGOs and others complained that the state report from the Mauritanian government had been only recently submitted, and was therefore not included as an item on the draft agenda. They were therefore only aware of the oral examination when they arrived at the session and so did not have time to prepare a shadow report.
134. See, e.g., Chidi Anselm Odinkalu & Camilla Christensen, The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights: The Development of its Non-state Communications Procedures, 20 Hum. Rts. Q. 235, 237-39 (1998).
135. See, e.g., Katangese Peoples' Congress v. Zaire, Communication 75/92, Eighth Annual Activity Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Annex VI at 12 (1995).
136. William Courson v. Zimbabwe, Communication 136/94, Eighth Annual Activity Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples'Rights, Annex VI at 21 (1995);
137. 2000 African Human Rights Reports 335 (1995).
138. William Courson v. Zimbabwe, Communication 136/94, Eighth Annual Activity Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples'Rights, Annex VI at 21 (1995);
139. 2000 AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REPORTS 335, ¶ 3 (1995)("The communication was withdrawn by the author").
140. International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Making the Mountain Move: An Activists Guide to How International Human Rights Mechanisms can Work for You 39 (2000), available at www.iglhrc.org/files/ iglhrc/reports/unguide.pdf.
141. See, e.g., Resolution on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Africa, O.A.U. Doc. ACHPR/Res.73(XXXVI)04 (2004).
142. See, e.g., Resolution on the Human Rights Situation in Togo, ACHPR/ Res.75(XXXVII)05 (2005).
143. A number of Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups have been appointed by the Commission. These include Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons and the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression. There are Working Groups on Indigenous Populations/Communities, and the Prevention of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment in Africa, on the Death Penalty, and on Specific Issues Relating to the Work of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.
144. Resolution on the Criteria for Granting and Enjoying Observer Status to Non-Governmental Organizations Working in the field of Human and Peoples' Rights, Annex 3(b), ACHPR/Res.33(XXV)99 (1999).
145. Id Annex ¶ 2(a).
146. Id. Annex ¶ 2(b).
147. On 23 January 2006, this Committee rejected the applications of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) and the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians.
148. Bill for an Act to Make Provisions for the Prohibition of Sexual Relationship between Persons of the Same Sex, Celebration of Marriage by Them and for Other Matters Connected therewith (on file with authors). Clause 7(1) reads as follows: "Registration of Gay Clubs, Societies and organizations by whatever name they are called in institutions from Secondary to the tertiary level or other institutions in particular and, in Nigeria generally, by government agencies is hereby prohibited." Clause 7(3) reads as follows: Any person who is involved in the registration of gay clubs, societies and organizations, sustenance, procession or meetings, publicity and public show of same sex amorous relationship directly or indirectly in public and in private is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a term of 5 years imprisonment (sic.).
149. Resolution on Granting Observer Status to National Human Rights Institutions in Africa, ACHPR/Res.31(XXIV)98 (1998).