UN Chief: India Should Decriminalize Homosexuality

by Michael Jones · 2009-03-23 14:22:00 UTC
Topics:

Navi Pillay

Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has been a vocal supporter of efforts to decriminalize homosexuality around the globe.  She took that message to India this week - where she's on a three-day visit - to urge the country to do away with its archaic anti-sodomy laws.

Per Pillay:

India should repeal...dated and colonial-era laws that breach contemporary international human rights standards. These range from laws which provide the security forces with excessive emergency powers, including the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, to laws that criminalise homosexuality.

Laws that criminalize homosexuality are just that - a breach of international human rights standards.  That's why it is such welcome news that the U.S. last week signed a UN statement calling for the global decriminalization of homosexuality.  Anything less is tantamount to condoning human rights violations.

India, for its part, is waiting for its High Court to rule on whether the country's anti-sodomy laws - known as Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code - should be thrown out.  Pillay now adds her voice to the side of throwing out the archaic law that's a leftover of British colonialism.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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