{"id":13,"area":"Africa","region_name":"Gambia","iso_2":"GM","region_sub":null,"legal_code_title":"Criminal Code from 1965","legal_code_title_citation_1":"Text of the law is available at: https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/SERIAL/75289/107490/F973061365/GMB75289%20pp%201284_1316.pdf","legal_code_title_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body":"Article 144 - “(1) Any person who: (a) has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature; or (b) [...]; (c) permits any person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature; is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for a term of 14 years. (2) In this section “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature” includes: (a) carnal knowledge of the person through the anus or the mouth of the person; (b) inserting any object or thing into the vulva or the anus of the person for the purpose of simulating sex; and (c) committing any other homosexual act with the person.\n\nArticle 145 - “Any person who attempts to commit any of the offences specified in the last preceding section is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.”\n\nArticle 147(2) - “Any female person who, whether in public or private, commits any act of gross indecency with another female person, or procures another female person to commit any act of gross indecency with her, or attempts to procure the commission of any such act by any female person with herself or with another female person, whether in public or private, is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for a term of five years. Section 147(3) further specifies that ̳act of indecency includes any homosexual act.”\n\nArticle 144A - “(1) A person commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality where the: (b) offender is a person living with HIV; [...] (f) offender is a serial offender; [...] (2) A person who commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life.","legal_code_body_citation_1":null,"legal_code_body_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body_citation_3":null,"legal_code_body_citation_4":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments":"Gambia’s Criminal Code states that a “person who has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature ... or\npermits any person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature” commits a felony known as an\n“unnatural ofense”, and on conviction is punishable by a fourteen-year prison term. An attempt to commit an “unnatural\nofense” is also a felony, on conviction, punishable by seven years of imprisonment. \n\nAlthough The Gambia recieved and rejected (‘noted’) 12 recommendations regarding decrimialisation and non-discrimination\nbased on SOGI at it’s 2nd cycle UPR process in October 2014, the State made no reference to this issue. Gambia’s 3rd UPR\nwill be in April 2019.\nIn February 2015, the Committee on Rights of the Child entreated (at para. 29) The Gambia to, “[e]nsure that children\nwho belong to LGBTI groups and children from LGBTI families are not subjected to any form of discrimination, and repeal\nthe legal provisions criminalizing homosexuality”.\n\nIIn March 2015, the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) recommended (para.12) that The Gambia\nadopt non-discrimination legislation in line with its obligations under the Treaty (Art. 2(2)), and in line with its general\nComment 20. It also urged the State to repeal or amend all legislation that could “result in discrimination, prosecution\nand punishment” to people based on SOGI, and to “take all the necessary steps to combat and prevent discrimination” for\nLGBT people.\nIn July 2015, the CEDAW Committee urged “… the State party to repeal the provisions of the Criminal Code on “unnatural\nofences” and “aggravated homosexuality”, end the arbitrary detention of lesbians and provide them with efective\nprotection from violence and discrimination and provide appropriate training to law enforcement ofcials”.\nIn its signifcant report on The Gambia (February 2016), Human Rights Watch observes that section 144A ‘Aggravated\nhomosexuality’, “is taken literally verbatim from section three of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, which was later\noverturned by Uganda’s Constitutional Court in August 2014 on technical grounds”. It is also clear that The Gambia is\nincreasingly embracing Islamic law in its governance practices, which will lead to further erasure of the rights of sexually\ndiverse people in a country where they are already vilifed, suspected and targeted in a climate of political unsteadiness.","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_1":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_2":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_3":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_4":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_5":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_6":null,"legal_code_scruff_comments":null,"prison_term_min_length":0,"prison_term_max_length":null,"prison_term_notes":null,"prison_term_not_specified":null,"prison_term_years":null,"prison_term_life":true,"prison_term_mandatory":null,"fine_min_amount":null,"fine_max_amount":null,"fine_currency":null,"fine_notes":null,"fine_not_specified":null,"fine_amount":null,"fine_mandatory":null,"penalty_death":false,"penalty_death_notes":null,"penalty_corporal_punishment":null,"penalty_corporal_punishment_notes":null,"penalty_hard_labor":null,"penalty_hard_labor_notes":null,"penalty_banishment":null,"legal_code_explicitly_references_same_sex_acts":true,"legal_code_explicitly_references_acts_against_nature":true,"legal_code_differentiates_anal_sex_from_other_acts":null,"legal_code_indicates_hiv_as_aggravating_factor":true,"legal_code_indicates_age_of_consent_homosexual_acts_over_18":null,"existing_laws_used_to_target_gays_but_not_anti_gay":null,"islamic_sharia_law":null,"islamic_sharia_law_notes":null,"laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction":null,"laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction_notes":null,"laws_not_specifically_homophobic":null,"laws_status_unclear":null,"laws_status_unclear_notes":null,"persecution_non_state_agents":null,"criminalization_under_consideration":null,"recently_decriminalized":null,"propaganda_law_under_consideration":null,"propaganda_law_title":null,"propaganda_law_title_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_body":null,"propaganda_law_body_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_ilga_comments":null,"legal_developments_2023_2024_summary":null,"legal_developments_2023_2024_citations":"ILGA World, Laws On Us: A Global Overview of Legal Progress and Backtracking on SOGIESC, 1st Ed. (Geneva, May 2024) (country not referenced in Ch.1/2 narrative).","status_change_type":"Unchanged (not mentioned in 2024 report)"}