{"id":24,"area":"Africa","region_name":"Namibia","iso_2":"NA","region_sub":null,"legal_code_title":"Combating of Immoral Practices Act of 1980","legal_code_title_citation_1":"Text of the law is available at: http://www.lac.org.na/laws/annoSWA/CRIMINAL%20LAW%20AND%20PROCEDURE%20(1980)%20-%20Combating%20of%20Immoral%20Practices%20Act%2021%20of%201980%20(annotated).pdf","legal_code_title_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body":"Section 8 – “Any person who in public commits any immoral act with another person shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding three thousand rand or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years or to both such fine and such imprisonment.”","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":"Sodomy remains a crime in Namibia according to the Roman-Dutch common-law, which was imposed by the South Africans. Common-law is a legal tradition based mainly on precedent court verdicts, while there is no codified sodomy provision in Namibia.","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_1":"232 See Submission in the UPR review of Namibia at: http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session10/NA/JS1_JointSubmission-eng.pdf.","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":4,"prison_term_notes":null,"prison_term_not_specified":true,"prison_term_years":null,"prison_term_life":null,"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":null,"legal_code_explicitly_references_acts_against_nature":null,"legal_code_differentiates_anal_sex_from_other_acts":null,"legal_code_indicates_hiv_as_aggravating_factor":null,"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":true,"laws_status_unclear_notes":"Sodomy is a non-codified common law crime","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":"Continues to criminalise 'sodomy' via inherited Roman-Dutch common law (Criminal Procedure Act 25, 2004, Art. 299). A constitutional challenge filed by Friedel Dausab was heard by the Windhoek High Court in 2023; judgment was reserved until 17 May 2024 (after report cutoff).","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), p.41.","status_change_type":"Unchanged; litigation pending (judgment reserved)"}