Alex muller

Burkina Faso’s Transitional Legislative Assembly passed a law on September 1, 2025, that makes consensual same-sex relations a criminal offense, a major setback for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Under this new law, people found guilty of homosexuality could face two to five years in prison, as well as fines. The law violates LGBT people’s rights to non-discrimination and privacy.

The law is being enacted amid shrinking civic and political space and a major crackdown by the military junta on the political opposition, media, and peaceful dissent.

Until now, Burkina Faso has never had a law criminalizing consensual same-sex relations. Unlike many other African countries, it did not inherit a colonial penal code that outlawed so-called sodomy.

Passed as part of the broader Persons and Family Code, the criminalization provision was adopted unanimously by the assembly’s 71 members. It also would provide prison sentences and fines for “behavior likely to promote homosexual practices and similar practices.”

Burkina Faso’s justice and human rights minister, Edasso Rodrigue Bayala, said the new legislation responded “to the deep aspirations of our society” and showed “respect for cultural values.” 

The junta’s decision to criminalize consensual-same sex relations contravenes its obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 

Recent judgments in other African countries like Botswana, Mauritius, and Namibia have confirmed that laws that criminalize same-sex conduct violate the privacy and non-discrimination rights of LGBT people.

Beyond violating basic rights, such laws foster violence and abuses against LGBT people. In 2014, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights strongly urged African Union member states to “end all acts of violence and abuse” targeted against persons due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Burkina Faso’s junta president, Ibrahim Traoré, should not sign the Persons and Family Code into law. Instead, he should refer it back to the assembly for revision. The revised code needs to respect the rights of non-discrimination and privacy of everyone in Burkina Faso regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity.