The brand new regulation overturned a colonial-era “vice towards nature” provision that was seen as a ban on gay relations.
The modifications had been handed in January 2019 by Angola’s parliament, however was not signed into regulation by the nation’s president till November 2020. It went into impact on Feb 10, 2021.
The brand new regulation additionally prohibits discrimination based mostly upon an individual’s sexual orientation.
The modifications got here from the primary rewriting of the nation’s penal code since gaining independence in 1975. Angola had beforehand been a colony of Portugal, and the amended legal guidelines had been a remnant of the colonial-era rule that inspired discrimination towards the LGBTQ+ neighborhood.
In accordance with Human Rights Watch, the earlier legal guidelines on same-sex sexual relations had been hardly ever prosecuted, however served as a foundation for undue scrutiny and discrimination. The brand new regulation consists of imprisonment of as much as two years for discrimination based mostly on sexual orientation.
