State-Sponsored Homophobia : a world survey of laws criminalising same-sex sexual acts between consenting adults : an ILGA report

L. Itaborahy

This fifth issue of this annual report on State-sponsored homophobia sees unfortunately an increase in the total number of countries in the world with a legislation persecuting people on the basis of their sexual orientation, which now are 78 against the 76 of last year. Though one "new entry" - Benin - is due to our improved knowledge as to the laws of the country and to the confirmation of the existence of such a law by the very words of the Benin representative uttered during the Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council last year. The other entry - South Sudan - represents a real disappointment: one would have hoped that the birth of a new country would have been also the occasion to improve the legislation inherited from the old country the new one was once part of. The only consolation, is that at least South Sudan has not adopted the death penalty for "crimes against the order of nature" that Sudan infamously continues to have in its penal code.