Burkina Faso Enacts Anti LGBT Criminalizing Law

By Melanie Nathan, September 02, 2025.

The West African country, Burkina Faso’s transitional parliament passed legislation outlawing conduct deemed to promote LGBTQ practices, introducing fines, prison sentences and other sanctions for persons convicted:

Parliament passed a law banning homosexuality with offenders facing two to five years in prison, according to the state broadcaster.

The amended family code was approved by the parliament in an unanimous vote that puts the code into effect more than a year after it was approved by the military government of Capt. Ibrahim Traore.

This law notches the criminalization of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) to make it the 65th in the world.

The Persons and Family Code law, making Burkina Faso the latest in a series of African countries to introduce new laws criminalizing LGBT people and activity, also tightens rules on nationality and stateless people.

It is important to note that when this law was first introduced the Minister of Justice announced, that even prior to a Parliamentary enactment, the military warned it would be considered in effect. This enactment now raises the law to a formality that was previously ignored by the Junta.

Regardless of the passage of the law, and even prior to the Junta coup, Burkina Faso is among the most dangerous of countries for LGBTQI+ people on the Continent, due to societal and religious taboos that drove LGBTQI+ people into hiding and caused extreme persecution including, violence. This is now exacerbated by the nature of this new government.

The military that took over Burkina Faso in a 2022 coup has grown increasingly intolerant of dissent amid worsening Islamist militant violence and insurgencies.

As I note in my country conditions reporting for asylum cases on behalf of LGBTQI+ Burkinabes:

"Reflecting on the general human rights conditions in Burkina Faso is important because while such serves to apply to all populations, LGBTI people are an ostracized, severely marginalized minority social group, without the protection of the state, and as such are more susceptible to the human rights abuses delineated in the general section of the report which serves to lend credibility to the harms they suffer:

"Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearance; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by and on behalf of the government; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; serious abuses in a conflict, including reportedly unlawful or widespread civilian deaths or harm, enforced disappearances or abductions, physical abuses, and conflict-related sexual violence or punishment; … serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including violence or threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, censorship, or enforcement of or threat to enforce criminal libel laws to limit expression; substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association; inability of citizens to change their government peacefully through free and fair elections; serious and unreasonable restrictions on political participation; serious government corruption; extensive gender-based violence, including domestic or intimate partner violence, sexual violence, workplace violence, …forced marriage, … Beyond opening investigations, the Transition Authorities did not take credible steps to identify and punish officials who may have committed human rights abuses.”[1]"

It is also important to note in general, that criminalization is dangerous and onerous for LGBTI people, whether enforced or not, for all the harms and violence such serves to license. At the same time several countries, where anti LGBT sentiment is higher than a 75% intolerance level (Equaldex and Afrobarameter) and which do not have criminalizing laws at all, also harbor harsh anti-homosexuality repercussions and violence, such as Rwanda. The trend on the Continent at this time is for countries to seek introduction of new legislation witj enhanced punitive measures, such as Uganda's enactment of The Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023, known as the KILL THE GAYS BILL. Ghana and Kenya are currently poised to pass similar laws.

According to AP reporting:

"Burkina Faso joins the list of more than half of Africa’s 54 countries that have laws banning homosexuality with the penalties ranging from several years in prison to the death penalty. The laws, though criticized abroad, enjoy popularity in the countries where locals and officials have criticized homosexuality as behavior imported from abroad and not a sexual orientation.

The new law goes into effect immediately with individuals in same-sex relationships risking prison sentences as well as fines, Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala said during a briefing broadcast by the state TV. He described homosexual acts as “bizarre behavior.”

[1] 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Burkina Faso, https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/burkina-faso/#

TRAORE BURKINA FASO

COUNTRY CONDITIONS EXPERT WITNESS

CONTACT: Melanie Nathan, B.A. LL.B  commissionermnathan@gmail.com

Melanie Nathan, Executive Director of African Human Rights Coalition is a qualified country of origin expert witness in the United States and global immigration courts, providing expert written country conditions  reports and testimony for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, non-binary, LGBTQI + asylum seekers from African Countries, to include those perceived as such,  activists, allies and human rights defenders.

Melanie also consults multinational corporations regarding briefings and policy for operations and issue impacted by anti-homosexuality laws and country conditions.