NIAMEY, NIGER – In a policy shift that deepens legal restrictions on LGBTQIA+ people across West Africa, Niger’s ruling military junta has enacted a sweeping new penal code that formally criminalizes same-sex relations and LGBTQIA+ identity, a senior adviser to the country’s justice ministry confirmed Friday to the Associated Press.
The new legislation, which went into full effect Thursday, marks a major change from Niger’s prior legal framework, where same-sex relations were never explicitly outlawed, even as widespread social stigma marginalized LGBTQIA+ communities for decades. Niger is the second West African nation to implement such a ban this year, following similar restrictive legislation passed in Senegal earlier in 2024.
According to the full text of the penal code, any individual found to have “committed or attempted to commit an immodest or unnatural act or practices lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual (LGBTQIA+) acts” faces a mandatory prison sentence ranging from five to 10 years, in addition to substantial financial fines. The harsh penalties extend far beyond the individuals engaged in same-sex relationships: anyone who officiates a same-sex marriage, acts as a witness for the union, consents to the ceremony, or organizes the event is subject to the same five-to-10-year prison term and fines.
Hamidou Julien, the justice ministry adviser who confirmed the law’s implementation, did not comment on whether the junta plans to prioritize enforcement of the new provisions in the coming months. Human rights observers have already raised alarms over the policy, noting that it will exacerbate systemic discrimination and push already marginalized LGBTQIA+ Nigeriens further underground.
The legal change places Niger among a large bloc of African nations with anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation. Across the continent’s 54 recognized countries, more than 30 currently classify same-sex sexual conduct as a criminal offense. Many of these nations, including Kenya, Sierra Leone and Tanzania, impose maximum prison sentences of 10 years or longer for conviction. In three African countries – Somalia, Uganda and Mauritania – people convicted of same-sex relations can legally be sentenced to death.