PHOTO | FILE UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at a past press briefing.
Ban Ki-moon on January 15, 2014 raised concern over a new law
prohibiting same-sex marriage in Nigeria.
NEW YORK
The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday raised concern over a new law prohibiting same-sex marriage in Nigeria.
The
law sets 14-year jail term for same-sex couples who live together and
a10-year term for “any person who registers, operates or participates in
gay clubs, societies and organisations or directly or indirectly makes
public show of same-sex amorous relationship in Nigeria.”
"UN
chief notes with alarm reports that police in northern Nigeria have
arrested individuals believed by the authorities to be homosexuals, and
may even have tortured them,” added the spokesperson.
Mr
Ban's critical response to the law follows similar remarks made on
Tuesday by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.
“Rarely
have I seen a piece of legislation that in so few paragraphs directly
violates so many basic, universal human rights,” Ms Pillay said.
“Rights
to privacy and non-discrimination, rights to freedom of expression,
association and assembly, rights to freedom from arbitrary arrest and
detention: this law undermines all of them.”
These
expressions of concern by two top UN officials along with a similar
criticism by the US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday, are the
latest examples of international opposition to anti-homosexuality
legislation in Africa.
A US State Department official
last month urged the Ugandan government to “stop enactment” of a Bill
approved by the country's Parliament that criminalises homosexual
relations between consenting adults.
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