Malawi places moratorium on anti-homosexuality laws
[JURIST] Justice Minister Samuel Tembenu announced this weekend that there will be a moratorium placed on anti-homosexuality laws in Malawi, effectively suspending enforcement of these laws until a decision is made regarding repeal. Along with this decision [BBC report] came the release of two men that were arrested under these laws. Many human rights groups are in favor of this move, but conservative groups within the country are asking the government to maintain the current position despite international influence. Malawi is one of the poorest nations in the world, relying heavily on international aid, but a large sum of aid also goes to gay rights groups. The US alone has put in over $350 million into supporting gay rights groups in sub-Saharan Africa [NYT report]. Because of its standing, religious leaders are worried the government will repeal the law to please donors. Tembenu acknowledged that Malawi is a signatory to international treaties that allow homosexual acts, but he also requests the appreciation from international communities as to the sensitivity of the matter in his country. Homosexuality is seen negatively in many African countries. Malawi has been no different historically, and the topic has been the target of both Catholic and Muslim leaders in the country.
In January 2014 Malawi's high court [official website] began hearing a petition by human rights group Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP) [advocacy website] challenging the jail sentences of three convicted gays and seeking to overturn laws that criminalize homosexuality in the country [JURIST report]. The UNAIDS [official website] task force along with local human rights groups and the Malawi Law Society were challenging [Reuters report] the constitutionality of the nation's anti-homosexual laws. Anti-homosexual laws have become common in African nations, causing much internal and international contention between such countries, human rights groups, aid organizations and the international community. About 37 African nations currently have [CGE backgrounder] some form of law criminalizing homosexuality. Also in January 2014, the president of Nigeria signed [JURIST report] into law a bill banning same-sex marriages and criminalizing homosexual associations, meetings and societies by subjecting them to punishment of up to fourteen years in prison. The new law caused a significant amount of international outcry, and was referred [JURIST report] to as "draconian" by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Malawi's relationship with anti-gay laws has been anything but constant. In November 2012 the nation issued a moratorium suspending the nation's anti-gay laws, only to reverse [JURIST reports] that position just three days later amid an outcry of protest from the Christian community. Malawi President Joyce Banda vowed [JURIST report] to decriminalize homosexuality in her first address to the nation in May 2012, a promise that has yet to be kept. The current legal challenge to Malawi's anti-gay laws is also not a novel one, in 2011 the Malawi Law Commission was ordered [JURIST report] to review several anti-gay laws, which ultimately proved unsuccessful.
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