This archive report was first published on 6 July 2019.
Botswana's government has announced plans to appeal a high court ruling that decriminalized homosexuality, potentially reinstating a law that punished gay sex with up to seven years in prison.
On June 2019, a panel of three judges ruled that sections of the penal code that ban gay sex are unconstitutional as they violate privacy, liberty, and dignity; are discriminatory, and serve no public interest.
Attorney General Abraham Keetshabe stated that the high court was mistaken in its conclusion in overturning the colonial-era law, and has decided to note an appeal with the Court of Appeal.
Botswana's ruling came after Kenya's high court upheld its law banning gay sex, keeping same-sex relations punishable by 14 years in jail, drawing strong criticism from the United Nations and rights activists.
Botswana is the latest country in Africa to decriminalize same-sex relations, following Angola in January, Seychelles in June 2016, Mozambique in June 2015 and Sao Tome and Principe, and Lesotho in 2012.
