Thursday 21 May 2009

EU - plus Armenia and Georgia, but not Azerbaijan - condemns Burundi for its recent criminalisation of gay sex

PrideSource reports that EU issued a statement condemning Burundi's criminalisation of gay sex. What is becoming a positive pattern and a welcome consequence of closer ties with the EU, Armenia and Georgia aligned themselves with this statement. What is also notable is absence of Azerbaijan from all recent gay rights statement (UN, EU).
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The European Union, in a declaration issued by its presidency, has criticized the African nation of Burundi for its recent criminalization of gay sex.

"The criminalisation of consensual same-sex relations presents a violation of the rights to privacy, equality and non-discrimination as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," the EU said May 11. "Adoption of such a norm is contradictory to Burundi's obligations under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter of Human and People's Rights."

The declaration also says bans on gay sex impede the fight against HIV by driving marginalized communities underground.

In addition to the 27 member nations of the EU, the declaration was supported by Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia and Ukraine.

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