11 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Burkina Faso’s transitional government on Wednesday approved a bill called the Code of Persons and the Family, which includes a provision that “enshrines” the ban on homosexuality in the country, which was now legal despite widespread discrimination against such people.
“Homosexuality and other similar practices are now prohibited and will be punished by law,” said Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala after a Cabinet meeting, according to a statement from the Burkinabe presidency.
Bayala also said that this project “includes great innovations” with respect to the “sociocultural reality” of the country and its traditions.
The law also provides for the withdrawal of nationality for “acting against the interests of Burkina Faso”, without any effect on the children of the person deprived of it, and imposes a five-year period for acquiring it for foreigners who marry a Burkinabe citizen.
It also reduces the age of majority from 20 to 18, stating that marriage may take place at 16 years of age “exceptionally and with the authorization of a judge.” In addition, it recognizes customary and religious marriages by means of their transcription in the civil registry.
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