Human Rights of Women
Source: Amnesty International UK
Life sentences proposed for the 'crime' of homosexuality.
It's already a crime to be gay in Gambia: adults found to have had consensual same-sex relationships currently face up to fourteen years in prison.
But if a proposed amendment to the country's Criminal Code is passed, current laws punishing people for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI) in Gambia will be toughened, and criminal sentences extended.
The Criminal Code (Amendment) Act 2014 builds on existing laws and goes even further to criminalise LGBTI individuals. It introduces the new crime of 'aggravated homosexuality' for 'serial offenders' and gay or lesbian people who live with HIV – which comes with the punishment of a lifetime in prison.
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh © APGraphicsBank
Our campaign to stop the Bill
The proposed Bill is extremely close to becoming law. It was passed by Gambia's parliament, the National Assembly, on 25 August. It is now with Gambia's president, who can either assent to the Bill, in which case it will become law immediately, or reject it and return it to the National Assembly for further review.
Over 30,000 people in the UK took part in our campaign to stop the Bill, by sending an email to President Jammeh or sending a text to sign our petition. We handed a petition with all of these signatures to Gambia's embassy in the UK.
There has not yet been any official announcement of whether the Bill has been passed or denied.
Building discrimination into the law
'We know what human rights are. Human beings of the same sex cannot marry or date.'
President Yahya Jammeh
The current Criminal Code punishing people who identify – or are accused of identifying as – gay or lesbian already violates Gambia's own constitution, which says that all people must be equal and free from discrimination before the law. It also stipulates that national laws must not embed or encourage discrimination.
The existing law also violates international human rights standards that Gambia claims to abide by, including the African Charter on Human and People's Rights.
If President Jammeh assents to the proposed amendments to the Criminal Code and increases punishments for homosexuality, he will further entrench human rights violations in his country's laws.
Gambia's human rights crisis
This Bill comes at a time when the space for free speech in Gambia is rapidly shrinking. This is particularly evident in restrictions on the media, where the government controls what is printed and broadcast.
Human rights defenders, journalists and political activists face harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and enforced disappearance. President Jammeh has repeatedly criticised human rights defenders for promoting and protecting the human rights of sexual minorities.