GABON: Same-sex relations decriminalised

In July, Gabon joined the select group of Sub-Saharan African countries that do not punish consensual same-sex relations. With 48 votes for, 24 against and 25 abstentions, its lower house of parliament passed a government initiative to decriminalise homosexuality in late June, and the Senate did the same in early July, with a 59 to 17 vote and four abstentions. This bill reversed the effects of a law that had been passed just a year earlier, which declared same-sex relations in Gabon as ‘an offence against morality’ and punished them with prison sentences of up to six months and fines.