The new criminal code makes homosexuality a crime
Since 13 December 2024, homosexuality has been a crime in Mali. A break with more than six decades of legal history.
On 13 December 2024, a new criminal code came into force in Mali. At first glance, it is a reform that, among other things, condemns gender-based violence. But the articles on "offences against public morals" contain an addition that fundamentally changes the lives of queer people in the country. Same-sex acts are now classed as an offence against morality.
Mali is thus breaking with its own history. Unlike many francophone neighbours, such as Senegal or Côte d'Ivoire, the country did not adopt the colonial ban when it became independent from France in 1960. For more than six decades, Malian criminal law contained no provision against homosexuality. That did not mean queer people were safe. According to Human Rights Watch, vague sections on "public indecency" were repeatedly used against them.
But the new law goes further than a mere ban. It is also a crime to approve of, promote or facilitate homosexuality in words, images or writing, in public or in private. This carries up to seven years in prison. What exactly counts as "promotion" remains unclear. It is precisely this vagueness that frightens activists. "We all live in constant fear, now more than ever," one person told Human Rights Watch.
Behind the law is the military junta that has ruled the country since the coups of 2020 and 2021. Justice Minister Mamadou Kassogué had previously described homosexuality as "unnatural" and announced its criminalisation. The step was justified as protecting "traditional and moral values".
Mali is not alone in this. The military governments in Burkina Faso and Niger have also introduced similar bans. The anthropologist Christophe Broqua also sees this as a sign of distancing from the West. For queer people in the Sahel, the space is getting ever narrower.