Namibia’s Justice Minister Yvonne Dausab says the government cannot police the sex lives of individuals and will not regulate or criminalise homosexuality, reports The Namibian.
Namibians who identify as LGBT were free to practise their sexuality and were ‘entitled to all the protection afforded by the Namibian Constitution under the Bill of Rights and the principles of state policy’.
There has been widespread debate about the issue in Nambia, sparked by reports that the government will consider abolishing the common law offences of sodomy and unnatural sexual offences. The debate on homosexuality was intensified after Swapo Party Youth League secretary Ephraim Nekongo described homosexuality as ‘satanic and demonic’.
Dausab said the common law offence of sodomy and unnatural sexual acts ‘is clearly outdated and discriminatory’. This, Dausab said, was because the law does not criminalise consensual sexual activity between women.
The sodomy law is among 33 apartheid-era laws considered obsolete and needing to be repealed. In its latest report on the repeal of obsolete laws submitted to Dausab earlier this month, the Law Reform and Development Commission directed the government to abolish the law because it violates the fundamental rights of the individuals and enforces a culture of homophobia.
Full The Namibian report (Open access)