African Union Must Act to Protect LGBTQIA+ Rights Across Africa

GOOD Statement by Keagen Gertse, GOOD National Leadership Committee LGBTQIA Representative:

The GOOD Party is deeply concerned by Burkina Faso’s regressive amendments to its Persons and Family Code, passed by the country’s transitional Parliament on 2 September 2025. These amendments criminalise same-sex relations, marking a dangerous step backwards for human rights on the African continent.

The new law, which took effect immediately, imposes harsh penalties: a prison sentence of 2 to 5 years and fines ranging from €3,000 to €15,000. Foreign nationals convicted under this law also face deportation. This is a blatant assault on the rights and dignity of LGBTQIA+ people.

Burkina Faso joins a growing list of African nations, particularly in West and East-Central Africa, that are adopting increasingly punitive laws against the LGBTQIA+ community. Uganda, for example, has gone as far as to legislate the death penalty for certain same-sex acts. These countries are all members of the African Union (AU) and signatories to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, yet they are acting in direct contradiction to the fundamental principles of equality, dignity, and non-discrimination.

GOOD is calling on the African Union to end its deafening silence on this escalating human rights crisis. The AU cannot continue to turn a blind eye while member states strip Africans of their basic rights. It must use its institutional instruments and political platforms to condemn these laws, defend the rights of LGBTQIA+ persons, and uphold the values enshrined in its own charter.

Same-sex relations were legally recognised in Burkina Faso following independence in 1996. The re-criminalisation of LGBTQIA+ people is not only a betrayal of progress, it sets a precedent that endangers lives across the continent. It emboldens violence, social exclusion, and state-sanctioned hate.

GOOD remains unwavering in our stance: All people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, deserve to live freely, love openly, and pursue happiness without fear of persecution.

South Africa is a continental leader in protecting LGBTQIA+ rights, we cannot stand by while our neighbours legislate hate. The time for continental solidarity is now.

GOOD calls on civil society, political parties, international partners, and ordinary citizens across Africa to speak out because injustice to one of us is injustice to all of us.

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