a href=http://www.hrw.org/Human Rights Watch/a has a new report, a href=http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/12/17/alien-legacy-0This Alien Legacy: nbsp;The Origins of "Sodomy" Laws in British Colonialism/a detailing the ongoing influence of British colonial laws criminalizing consensual homosexual conduct. nbsp;The report a href=http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/17/sodomy-laws-show-survival-colonial-injusticedescribes/a blockquotehow laws in over three dozen countries, from India to Uganda and from Nigeria to Papua New Guinea, derive from a single law on homosexual conduct that British colonial rulers imposed on India in 1860./blockquote br / According to Scott Long, director of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights program at Human Rights WatchblockquoteHalf the world's countries that criminalize homosexual conduct do so because they cling to Victorian morality and colonial laws/blockquoteWhile some rulers cling to the idea the laws reflect indigenous culture, the report a href=http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/17/sodomy-laws-show-survival-colonial-injusticedraws/a a different conclusion.blockquoteBritish colonial rulers brought in these laws because they saw the conquered cultures as morally lax on sexuality/blockquoteblockquoteColonies and countries that retain versions of this British sodomy law include:
p nbsp; nbsp;* In Asia and the Pacific: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, India, Kiribati, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Myanmar (Burma), Nauru, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Western Samoa. (Governments that inherited the same British law, but have abolished it since include: Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.)
br / nbsp; nbsp;* In Africa: Botswana, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
br //blockquoteOther nations retain similar laws based on different British statutes.
pFrom the a href=http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/12/17/alien-legacyreport/a:blockquoteMore than 80 countries around the world still criminalize consensual homosexual conduct between adult men, and often between adult women./blockquoteblockquoteColonial legislators and jurists introduced such laws, with no debates or "cultural consultations," to support colonial control. They believed laws could inculcate European morality into resistant masses./blockquoteThe original statute, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, wasblockquotethe first colonial "sodomy law" integrated into a penal code-and it became a model anti-sodomy law for countries far beyond India, Malaysia, and Uganda. nbsp;Its influence stretched across Asia, the Pacific islands, and Africa, almost everywhere the British imperial flag flew./blockquote
pClinging to old Judeo-Christian standards in a modern world is not an acceptable stance.blockquoteIn 1994, the UN Human Rights Committee - which authoritatively interprets the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) - held that sodomy laws violate the rights to privacy and to non-discrimination./blockquoteIf we are to see real justice and humanity in our world these laws must be repealed across the globe. nbsp;
pHumankind's tendency to cling to the past and repeat the errors of the past has kept us in dark times for long enough. nbsp;The time has come to move into the 21st Century with forethought and with justice for one and all.
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