Burkina Faso issues first sentence for 'homosexuality and related practices'https://www.advocate.com/world/burkina-faso-homosexuality-conviction-africa 🔗Ryan Adamczeski (23 Dec 2025)
Burkina Faso has issued its first known conviction for homosexuality since banning same-sex sexual relations earlier this year.
An individual identified as K.M. was charged with sentenced to 24 months' imprisonment, a fine of 2,000,000 CFA francs (approximately $3,581), and ordered expelled from the country following completion of the sentence, the African Human Rights Coalition has confirmed. The official charges were "homosexuality and related practices."
"AHRC expresses grave concern over this conviction, particularly given the sweeping and vague language of the new law, its application against a vulnerable foreign national, and the penal severity including post-sentence expulsion," the organization said in a statement. "This represents the first known enforcement of the 2025 criminalization statute and marks a significant escalation in the legal persecution of LGBTQI+ people in Burkina Faso."
While LGBTQ+ identities are not widely accepted in the nation, they were not previously outlawed. The ban comes as part of the junta's overhaul of marriage laws after usurping power from the country's former military ruler, Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Damiba. Human Rights Watch has previously said the 2022 military coup in Burkina Faso was "responsible for serious abuses, further degrading [the country's] human rights and humanitarian situation."
