Monday, September 23, 2013

Bangladesh Refuses to Decriminalize Homosexuality

Bangladesh has rejected a UN recommendation to decriminalize homosexuality, angering gay rights activists in the country, The Independent reports

Bangladesh
The reaction followed a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva on Friday, where Bangladesh accepted 164 of a total 196 recommendations made by the body.

Among the measures rejected was a recommendation to abolish Section 377 of the national penal code which criminalizes consensual same-sex relationships.

According to a UN summary of the UPR meeting, Abdul Hannan, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN Office at Geneva, told the council that his country could not accept recommendations that conflicted with “constitutional and legal provisions” or “socio-cultural values of the country”.

India and Nepal, whose laws criminalizing sodomy were also a relic of British colonialism, have both repealed their laws.

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