{"id":52,"area":"Asia","region_name":"Pakistan","iso_2":"PK","region_sub":null,"legal_code_title":"Penal Code established by Act XLV from 1860 & Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act from 2016","legal_code_title_citation_1":null,"legal_code_title_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body":"Section 377 - “Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than two years nor more than ten years, and shall also be liable to a fine.”\n\nSection 294 - “Whoever to the annoyance of others does any obscene act in any public place; or sings, recites or utters any obscene songs, ballad or words, in or near any public place, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine, or with both.”\n\nSection 34(1) - “The Authority shall have the power to remove or block or issue directions for removal or blocking of access to an information through any information system if it considers it necessary in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court or commission of or an incitement to an offence under this Act.”","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":"There were no direct mentions of SOGI in either of Pakistan’s UPR outcome documents in May 2008 and October 2012. Only in 2008 were there civil society submissions (ILGA and ILGHRC) on the issue (it appears that of the 38 civil society submissions made in 2012, none had a SOGI context). However, there were recommendations concerning the protection of human rights defenders and the training of public employees ( judges, police, etc) in international human rights standards in their 2nd cycle UPR. Pakistan’s 3rd cycle UPR will be in November 2017. \nPakistan has been particularly vocal at the Human Rights Council and at various UN fora in its refusal to embrace SOGI within the scope of the various human rights Treaty Bodies, and in its promotion of the ‘traditional values of humankind’ resolutions at the Human Rights Council. Most recently, throughout 2016, Pakistan took the lead in opposing the appointment of a United Nations SOGI mandate holder, Vitit Muntabhorn. In June 2012, at the 19th session of the HRC, at the reading of a report mandated by the first SOGI resolution (A/HRC/19/42) of September 2011, Pakistan led a walkout by member States of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which was unprecedented behaviour in that forum. They were objecting to “attempts to create” “new standards” regarding SOGI that “seriously jeopardise the entire international human rights framework”. Pakistan continues to object to the application of international human rights standards to SOGI in UN forums. \nAccording to Kaleidoscope Trust, in April 2014, a serial killer confessed to killing three gay men because of their sexual orientation, yet Pakistani media depicted the serial killer as “the epitome of righteousness”. Section 294 is reportedly often deployed to target male and trans sex workers.","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":2,"prison_term_max_length":10,"prison_term_notes":null,"prison_term_not_specified":null,"prison_term_years":true,"prison_term_life":null,"prison_term_mandatory":true,"fine_min_amount":null,"fine_max_amount":null,"fine_currency":null,"fine_notes":null,"fine_not_specified":true,"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":true,"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":true,"islamic_sharia_law_notes":"Islamic Sharia Law may be in effect in various tribal areas.","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":"Penal Code (1860) Sec. 377 criminalisation is unchanged. A May 2023 Federal Shariat Court ruling (Shariat Petition No. 5) narrowed the separate Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act (2018) on Islamic-law grounds; this does not itself alter same-sex criminalisation and was under Supreme Court appeal as of 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.57.","status_change_type":"Unchanged (adjacent litigation over transgender rights law, not same-sex criminalization)"}