General Article Factbox: lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights around the world

Topic Selected: Sexuality and Gender
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By Astrid Zweynert

  • Homosexuality is illegal in 76 countries, including five that have the death penalty (Mauritania, Sudan as well as 12 northern states in Nigeria and the southern parts of Somalia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen).
  • Incitement to hatred based on sexual orientation is prohibited in just 24 countries.
  • Africa has gone from bad to worse in the past ten years, with 36 countries now having laws criminalising homosexuality. They are: Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon (1972), Comoros, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
  • More than half of Asian and Middle Eastern countries still criminalise homosexuality but there have been some notable steps in India, where gay sex was decriminalised in 2009, and Nepal and Pakistan r...

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