Related Research Articles
The Indian Penal Code (IPC) was the official criminal code in the Republic of India, inherited from British India after independence, until it was replaced by Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in December 2023. It was a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of the first Law Commission of India established in 1834 under the Charter Act of 1833 under the chairmanship of Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay. It came into force on the subcontinent during the British rule in 1862. However, it did not apply automatically in the Princely states, which had their own courts and legal systems until the 1940s. The code has since been amended several times and is now supplemented by other criminal provisions.
Section 377A was a Singaporean law that criminalised sex between consenting adult males. It was introduced under British colonial rule in 1938 when it was added to the Penal Code by the colonial government. It remained a part of the Singapore body of law after the Penal Code review of 2007 which removed most of the other provisions in Section 377. It was subsequently repealed in its entirety in 2023.
Section 377 of the British colonial penal code criminalized all sexual acts "against the order of nature". The law was used to prosecute people engaging in oral and anal sex along with homosexual activity. As per Supreme Court Judgement since 2018, Indian Penal Code Section 377 is used to convict non-consensual sexual activities among homosexuals with a minimum of ten years imprisonment extended to life imprisonment. It has been used to criminalize third gender people, such as the apwint in Myanmar. In 2018, then British Prime Minister Theresa May acknowledged how the legacies of British colonial anti-sodomy laws continue to persist today in the form of discrimination, violence, and death.
Homosexuality in India has been documented and discussed in various artworks and literary works since ancient times and continues to be a major discussion point as LGBTQ rights are advanced in modern politics. Homosexuality is legally permitted in India, though same-sex unions only have limited recognition.
Article 200 was a section of the Penal Code of Romania that criminalised homosexual relationships. It was introduced in 1968, under the communist regime, during the rule Nicolae Ceaușescu, and remained in force until it was repealed by the Năstase government on 22 June 2001. Under pressure from the Council of Europe, it had been amended on 14 November 1996, when homosexual sex in private between two consenting adults was decriminalised. However, the amended Article 200 continued to criminalise same-sex relationships if they were displayed publicly or caused a "public scandal". It also continued to ban the promotion of homosexual activities, as well as the formation of gay-centred organisations.
The Penal Code 1871 sets out general principles of the criminal law of Singapore, as well as the elements and penalties of general criminal offences such as assault, criminal intimidation, mischief, grievous hurt, theft, extortion, sex crimes and cheating. The Penal Code does not define and list exhaustively all the criminal offences applicable in Singapore – a large number of these are created by other statutes such as the Arms Offences Act, Kidnapping Act, Misuse of Drugs Act and Vandalism Act.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people face widespread prosecution in Uzbekistan. Same-sex sexual activity between men is illegal in Uzbekistan. The punishment is up to three years in prison. Uzbekistan is one of just two post-Soviet states in which male homosexual activity remains criminalised, along with Turkmenistan.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Myanmar are subject to official persecution and discrimination, with LGBT people facing severe challenges not experienced by others. Same-sex sexual activity is illegal and section 377 of Myanmar's Penal Code 1861, enacted in 1886, subjects same-sex sexual acts to a term of imprisonment of up to 20 years in prison. Heterosexual anal intercourse and oral sex are also illegal. Transgender people are subject to police harassment and sexual assault, and their gender identity is not recognised by the state. During the country's long military dictatorship under the authoritarian State Peace and Development Council between 1988 and 2011, it was difficult to obtain accurate information about the legal or social status of LGBT Burmese citizens. Following the 2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, improvements in media and civil freedoms have allowed LGBT people to gain more visibility and support in the country. Despite the 2015 electoral victory of the National League for Democracy, which promised improved human rights and whose leader Aung San Suu Kyi had once called for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, there have been no changes to anti-LGBT laws. Nevertheless, LGBT activists have noted a growing climate of societal acceptance and tolerance toward LGBT people, in line with worldwide trends.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are generally discriminated against in Libya. Homosexual activity is criminalised for both men and women within Libya, and homophobic attitudes are prevalent throughout the country. Since the fall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011, the discriminatory laws regarding homosexuality in Libya remain unchanged.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Zambia face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity is illegal for both men and women in Zambia. Formerly a colony of the British Empire, Zambia inherited the laws and legal system of its colonial occupiers upon independence in 1964. Laws concerning homosexuality have largely remained unchanged since then, and homosexuality is covered by sodomy laws that also proscribe bestiality. Social attitudes toward LGBT people are mostly negative and coloured by perceptions that homosexuality is immoral and a form of insanity. However, in recent years, younger generations are beginning to show positive and open minded attitudes towards their LGBT peers.
A sodomy law is a law that defines certain sexual acts as crimes. The precise sexual acts meant by the term sodomy are rarely spelled out in the law but are typically understood by courts to include any sexual act deemed to be "unnatural" or "immoral". Sodomy typically includes anal sex, oral sex, manual sex, and bestiality. In practice, sodomy laws have rarely been enforced against heterosexual couples, and have mostly been used to target homosexual couples.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are generally discriminated against in the Maldives.
Naz Foundation v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi (2009) is a landmark Indian case decided by a two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court, which held that treating consensual homosexual sex between adults as a crime is a violation of fundamental rights protected by India's Constitution. The verdict resulted in the decriminalization of homosexual acts involving consenting adults throughout India. This was later overturned by the Supreme Court of India in Suresh Kumar Koushal vs. Naz Foundation, in which a 2 judge bench reinstated Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. However, even that was overturned by a 5 judge bench in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India in 2018, decriminalizing homosexuality once again.
Alice Nkom is a Cameroonian lawyer, well known for her advocacy towards decriminalization of homosexuality in Cameroon. She studied law in Toulouse and has been a lawyer in Douala since 1969. At the age of 24, she was the first black French-speaking woman called to the bar in Cameroon.
Lawyers Collective is a non-governmental organization in India which promotes human rights, especially on issues relating to women's rights, HIV, tobacco, LGBT and parliamentary corruption in India. On 1 June 2016, Govt of India suspended the FCRA registration of the NGO for alleged violation of FCRA norms. This revoking of the license was challenged in the Bombay High Court and the case is currently pending. The Central Bureau of Investigation filed a first information report on 13 June 2019 relating to charges of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, false statement made in declaration and various sections under the FCRA and Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act 1988.
The majority of the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations, formerly known as the British Commonwealth, still criminalise sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex and other forms of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. Homosexual activity remains a criminal offence in 31 of the 56 sovereign states of the Commonwealth; and legal in only 25.
Capital punishment as a criminal punishment for homosexuality has been implemented by a number of countries in their history. It currently remains a legal punishment in several countries and regions, most of which have sharia–based criminal laws except for Uganda.
Navtej Singh Johar &Ors. v. Union of India thr. Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice (2018) is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India that decriminalised all consensual sex among adults, including homosexual sex.
Sexual consent plays an important role in laws regarding rape, sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence. In a court of law, whether or not the alleged victim had freely given consent, and whether or not they were deemed to be capable of giving consent, can determine whether the alleged perpetrator is guilty of rape, sexual assault or some other form of sexual misconduct.
Myo Yan Naung Thein is a Burmese pro-democracy activist, and former chief research officer of the National League for Democracy's Central Committee for Research and Strategy Studies. He is a former political prisoner who spent more than 10 years in prison during his three terms. Myo Yan Naung Thein is the founder and director of the Bayda Institute.
References
- ↑ "Myanmar - Penal Code, 1861". ILO. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
- ↑ Kreß, Claus; Barriga, Stefan (2016-10-27). The Crime of Aggression: A Commentary. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-10749-5.
- ↑ Leader-Elliott, Ian (2017). "Review of Criminal Law in Myanmar". Singapore Journal of Legal Studies: 192–199. ISSN 0218-2173.
- 1 2 "Beyond the Coup in Myanmar: Echoes of the Past, Crises of the Moment, Visions of the Future". HLS Clinical and Pro Bono Programs. 2021-05-07. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
- 1 2 "Burma's Political Prisoners and U.S. Policy". Congressional Research Service. 2021-01-04.
- ↑ "Justice denied as regime targets activists' lawyers". Frontier Myanmar. 2022-08-30. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
- ↑ "Myanmar's criminal law and justice system perpetuates stigmatization, discrimination, and human rights violations against its LGBTQ people, new report finds". International Commission of Jurists. 2019-11-08. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
- ↑ Myay, Chan (2013-11-29). "LGBT Groups Call for Burma's Penal Code to Be Amended". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
- ↑ Slow, Oliver (2016-02-27). "The left-over laws: Myanmar's colonial hangover". Frontier Myanmar. Retrieved 2023-03-02.