Gay Travel Advisory

Bangladesh

Penal Code established by Act XLV from 1860

Sources
  1. Text of the law is available at: http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/

Legal Code Text

Section 377- “Whoever voluntary has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with man, woman, or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

ILGA Analysis & Notes

While referencing family values at its 2nd cycle UPR in April 2013, the Bangladeshi Minister for Foreign Affairs concurred with the newly-found position of the National Human Rights Commission that LGBT people should be protected from violence and discrimination in law. However, throughout 2016 the levels of violence and threat from religious radicals that LGBT people have been exposed to have exponentially risen, and the State has not offered protection. As such, many have been forced to leave their homes and flee the country for fear if their lives. There are no SOGI-based NGOs in Bangladesh, although there are some long-standing CSOs, such as Boys of Bangladesh and the Bhandu Social Welfare Society, and online communities such as Roopbaan, Shambhab (a lesbian network) and Vivid Rainbow. It is unlikely that these groups can register as NGOs as it is understood that Section 377 extends to membership of a SOGI-based organisation, a view endorsed (at p.8) by one of Bangladesh’s only barristers concerned with SOGI issues, Sara Hossain. Bangladesh accepted a recommendation to carry out sensitisation training with public officials regarding SOGI discrimination at its 1st UPR, but this issue was not picked up at its 2nd cycle review, nor is there evidence that such sensitisation has significantly occurred. The capacities of seven South Asian National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) to respond to LGBTI concerns were assessed in 2013, amongst them that of Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s 3rd cycle UPR will be in January 2018. On 15 November 2013, Bangladesh legally recognised the Hijras population as being a ‘third sex’ for purposes of voting, travel, identification and other core civil rights. In January 2013, Bangladesh’s first ever LGBTI magazine, Roopbaan was published and it has expanded its initiatives (at p.40) into organising awareness and advocacy, including two public events - ‘Rainbow rally’ - to promote friendship and diversity in Dhaka in 2014 and 2015. However, in April 2016 organisers had to cancel the rally because of threats and opposition from Islamists, and four arrests were reported. On 25 April 2016, the editor of Roopbaan, Xulhaz Mannan, and fellow activist Mahbub Tonoy, were gruesomely executed in an apartment in Dhaka. In February 2015 Avijit Roy, the author of Bangladesh’s first scientific book (2010) on same-sex sexual identity, was savagely murdered on the streets of Dhaka, seemingly by religious fundamentalists.

Existing criminalisation continues to be enforced; 2023-24 reports document police detentions of same-sex couples (e.g. Satkhira and Manikganj districts) typically following reports from neighbours, alongside continued high levels of documented violence against LGBTI people.