LGBTQ+ rights under attack in Burkina Faso.

photo by AluminumAzalea on pixabay.com

Gender diversity and various expressions of sexual orientations are documented throughout recorded human history, in multiple cultures and civilisations on every continent. In particular, within the African region, many peoples’ cultures understood gender and sexual orientation as something fluid, missing a binary approach to it. 

However, this changed when European colonialism took over the continent: the international community, nowadays, recognizes how colonialism imposed several systems of oppression, among which we find “the criminalization of gender and sexual nonconformity”. Indeed, to ensure control over the colonized people, every aspect of their lives, including gender identity and expression, and sexual orientation, had to be regulated by the colonizers. 

Highlighting this step is crucial to comprehend the current situation in many African States: the majority of them inherited a colonial penal code and, therefore, criminalize same-sex conduct and LGBT+ rights in general to this day. Specifically, only 22 States out of 54 allow same-sex relations in the continent, while in some States being queer is even punishable by death. 

Nevertheless, this statistic worsened when, on 1st September 2025, Burkina Faso’s Transitional Legislative Assembly passed a law that “makes consensual same-sex relations a criminal offense”. 

Burkina Faso experienced two coups in 2022: during the first one, in January, the democratically elected president, Roch Marc Kaboré, was removed and replaced by the military leader Paul-Henri Damiba. Then, in September 2022, the now ruling military junta took over power, dissolving the government, suspending the constitution, and appointing Captain Ibrahim Traoré as president. However, the coups “were welcomed and celebrated by many in the region”, perceived as a victory against the influence of the former colonial power, France, and as a catalyst of Pan-Africanism. 

Despite this, the newly approved law raises preoccupation regarding the respect of basic human rights: members of the LGBT+ community have reported feeling concerned for their own safety, worried about a possible persecution not only from the authorities, but from the population as well. The fear of safe spaces getting shut down and “mutual support networks” getting cut off has now intensified, especially for non-nationals Burkinabè who, according to the new legislation, could also be deported if caught breaking the law.

Moreover, this criminalization of same-sex relations goes against the obligations undertaken by the country with the ratification, in 1984, of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, not to mention the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Burkina Faso in 1999. 

Conversely, other African countries like Namibia, Botswana, and Mauritius have reiterated how laws criminalizing same-sex relations “violate the privacy and non-discrimination rights of LGBT people”. In addition, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights had already issued, in 2014, the “Resolution on Protection against Violence and other Human Rights Violations against Persons on the basis of their real or imputed Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity”. The Resolution highlights the violations of the African Charter happening around the continent, condemning the attacks towards persons based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and explicitly urging States to end the violence and abuse, whether committed by State or non-state actors.

Official sources: 

• OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights), https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/ie-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity/sogi-colonialism-and-reparations

• BBC (2025), Burkina Faso's parliament votes to outlaw homosexual acts. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2060er4062o

• HRW (Human Rights Watch, 2025) Burkina Faso Criminalizes Same-Sex Conduct Junta Leader Should Send New Family Law Back to Assembly for Revision. https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/09/03/burkina-faso-criminalizes-same-sex-conduct

• The Guardian (2025), Prison time, fines and ostracisation: anti-gay law shocks community in African country seen as relatively safe. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/sep/06/anti-gay-law-african-jail-term-five-years-promoting-homosexuality-burkina-faso

• The Guardian (2024), Success is contagious – so I’m rooting for the African countries throwing off European rule. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/02/african-countries-european-rule-coups-pacts-mali-niger-burkina-faso

• The Guardian (2022), Burkina Faso’s military leader ousted in second coup this year. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/30/burkina-fasos-military-leader-ousted-in-second-coup-this-year

• ACHPR (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 2014), Resolution on Protection against Violence and other Human Rights Violations against Persons on the basis of their real or imputed Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity - ACHPR/Res.275(LV)2014. https://achpr.au.int/en/adopted-resolutions/275-resolution-protection-against-violence-and-other-human-rights-violations

• African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1981) https://au.int/en/treaties/african-charter-human-and-peoples-rights

• OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 1966), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights

written by Alice Scotti