A group that advocates for gay rights on Tuesday condemned the decision by the Botswana government to contest last month’s High Court ruling that decriminalised homosexuality in the country.
Botswana Network on Ethics Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) executive director Cindy Kelemi said the government decision to appeal “not only affirms the persistent homophobia and transphobia marginalisation of existing minority groups in Botswana, it harms their human dignity.”
“We therefore hope the distinguished justices of the Court of Appeal would free Botswana from its colonial shackles and join the leagues of progressive and human rights-conscious states by dismissing the said appeal,” Kelemi said.
Her comments came a few days after Botswana’s Attorney General Abraham Keitshabe last week revealed that the government was appealing a High Court decision legalising homosexuality in the country.
Keitshabe argued that the High Court had erred in arriving at its conclusion that Sections 164 (a), Section 164 (c) and Section 165 of the Penal Code violated the constitutional rights of gays and lesbians.
The provisions criminalize same-sex sexual conduct between consenting adults and prescribe a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment.
KO/jn/APA