ngo advocates for homosexuality

By Frank Namangale (The Daily Times - Malawi)

January 23, 2007: A local NGO, Centre for the Development of People (Cedep), is unhappy with some sections in the Penal Code of Malawi that criminalise homosexuality and wants them repealed.

But Attorney General (AG) Jane Ansah said in an interview Monday that what Malawi has is a law that could be changed by Malawians themselves if they wanted.

�If Malawians say this is what they want, it will be so, but I cannot say what government�s stand is. Malawians speak through national constitutional conferences,� Ansah said.

The Blantyre-based NGO, in a press statement that appeared in The Daily Times of Monday headlined �Gaps and areas of inconsistency in the Constitution and the Penal Code of Malawi�, says some sections are fatally responsible for government�s failure to fully implement the National Aids Policy Provisions.

Cedep says sections 153 and 156 of the Penal Code target any conduct or forms of behaviour that are not heterosexual.

�It should be observed that the sections do not draw a line whether or not such practices happen in private or in public or those involved are consenting adults or not.

�As a type of law, its distinctive mark is that it adopts a technique that is essentially condemnatory and authorises the use of violence against citizen and the deprivation of certain rights and freedoms,� reads the statement.

But according to Ansah, who stressed that it was her personal view, every law has got background, citing the right to privacy law, which she said came against the opening of people�s mail and taping telephones conversations.

�The issue of homosexuality was never discussed at the national constitutional conference. If they say homosexuality is done in private, how come people know about it? Nowhere in the world do people have sex in public, but sex still takes place,� said Ansah, stressing that was her own opinion as a human rights expert.

The statement by the NGO says the decision to criminalise conduct of other forms of behaviour should have a principled and rational basis.

�By the way, is it the State�s business to dictate to its citizens how to play sex and with whom? And why should people be sent to jail merely for their unique sexual orientation in circumstances where what they do does no harm to anyone,� it reads.

It says by criminalizing sexual practices between two consenting adults in private, the offences were a serious threat to the citizen�s constitutional rights to privacy, dignity and freedom of association.

The sections, the statement argues, empower the State to violate the rights of its citizens to privacy under the guise of enforcing morality.

Cedep recommends to the Malawi Law Commission conducts a comprehensive review of penal statutes to determine whether the criminal offences they create are consistent with constitutional and international human rights standards.

The Commission, reads the statement, should be guided by principle rather that populist rhetoric in which prejudice against non-conformism masquerades as public morality and so called cultural values.

Cedep�s operations manager Gift Prapeace said in an interview yesterday they would shortly write to Malawi Law Commission on the matter.

Few years ago Malawi Human Rights Resource Centre (MHRRC) urged Malawians to debate whether to legalise homosexuality or not, citing the same reasons that it impedes on the citizens� human rights, but their call was met with condemnation from the general public and religious community.