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Senegal’s National Assembly passed legislation on Wednesday that doubles the maximum prison term for same-sex relations to ten years, adds new criminal penalties for the promotion or financing of homosexuality, and removes judicial discretion to suspend sentences or reduce terms below the statutory minimum, completing a process that Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko had publicly committed to when his government came to power in 2024.
The vote was 135 in favour, zero against, and three abstentions, with no member of the assembly opposing the bill. The near-unanimous result, in a legislature dominated by Sonko’s Pastef party, was not unexpected: the legislation had been approved by the Council of Ministers on February 18, introduced to parliament by Sonko in a speech on February 24, and formally placed on the assembly’s agenda by official summons on March 6. Wednesday’s session, which opened at 11 a.m. in Dakar, constituted the final procedural step in its adoption into law.
The amended Article 319 of Senegal’s Penal Code replaces a provision last revised in 1966. That original article, which made no explicit reference to homosexuality by name, prescribed terms of one to five years and fines of 100,000 to 1,500,000 CFA francs, approximately $2,676 — for “acts against nature” between persons of the same sex. The new version specifies that acts against nature encompass homosexuality, bisexuality, “transsexuality,” zoophilia, and necrophilia. Those convicted face five to ten years in prison and fines of up to 10 million CFA francs, roughly $17,700. A judge may not grant a suspended sentence, nor reduce a prison term below the minimum threshold. Where such acts are committed against a minor, the legislation mandates the imposition of the maximum sentence. Those found guilty of publicly advocating, promoting, or financing conduct defined as against nature face separate prison terms of three to seven years.
Wednesday’s vote was the fourth time the Senegalese parliament has considered anti-homosexuality legislation since 2016, with earlier initiatives in 2021 and 2024 failing to pass. The difference this time was the presence of a government willing to sponsor the bill directly, with Sonko’s Pastef holding a working majority following parliamentary elections in late 2024.
The weeks preceding the vote were marked by a visible escalation in both public pressure and law enforcement activity. Supporters of the bill, including members of parliament from the ruling party, organised multiple demonstrations in Dakar in which participants chanted slogans against homosexuality and carried signs showing rainbow symbols crossed out. Simultaneously, arrests of men accused of same-sex conduct increased sharply. According to the International Federation for Human Rights, 27 men were detained between February 9 and February 24 alone, charged under the existing Article 319 as well as, in some cases, under a separate provision criminalising the voluntary transmission of HIV, which carries a penalty of up to ten years.
Among those arrested in early February were two public figures: Pape Chinch Diallo, a media presenter, and Djiby Dramé, a musician, whose cases attracted substantial national coverage and were followed by street protests demanding tougher legislation. A local conservative Islamic organisation, Jamra, separately announced it held a list of 635 names of individuals it alleged to be homosexual, and said it intended to use that list to pursue the formal dissolution of sixteen LGBT rights organisations by the state. The government has not publicly responded to that claim.
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Human Rights Watch, which had called for the release of those detained and the repeal of Article 319, said in a statement last month that the law as it existed — let alone the amended version — was being applied not against conduct alone but against perceived identity, citing documented cases of arrest based on appearance or location rather than evidence of any specific act. The organisation called on the Senegalese government to honour its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, all of which Senegal has ratified.
The International Federation for Human Rights described the bill before its passage as a serious attack on freedom of expression and association, warning that the promotion clause placed at risk anyone who expressed a favourable view of the rights of LGBTQ people, including lawyers, journalists, and health workers.
France 24 noted that in Senegal, LGBTQ advocacy is frequently characterised in public discourse as a vehicle of Western cultural interference, and that religious organisations have staged demonstrations over several years demanding stronger penalties. Before entering government, Sonko had criticised France’s military presence in Senegal and the West’s promotion of gay rights in the same speeches, framing both as forms of foreign imposition. His government forced the cancellation in 2025 of a planned film screening on LGBT themes co-organised by the United Nations and the Dutch embassy in Dakar, with Senegal’s Foreign Ministry objecting on social media to the nature of the event.
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The law’s passage places Senegal within a broader regional pattern. Mali criminalised same-sex relations and their promotion in 2024. Burkina Faso followed in 2025, imposing terms of up to five years for same-sex conduct — its first such legislation. Niger’s junta has pledged to enact similar measures but has not yet done so. Ghana’s parliament is presently examining a bill that would raise the maximum sentence for same-sex conduct from three to five years and introduce penalties for what it describes as the “wilful promotion, sponsorship, or support of LGBTQ+ activities.” All three former French colonies in the Sahel — Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger — previously had no sodomy laws on their books.
The three Sahel states are also among those that have withdrawn from ECOWAS and announced their intention to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, moves that have occurred in parallel with their legislative turn against LGBTQ rights and their deepening alignment with Russia. Senegal, by contrast, retains its ECOWAS membership and its democratic institutions, making Wednesday’s vote the most significant shift in the community of stable West African democracies.
The bill now requires presidential assent before it enters into force. President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who won the March 2024 election alongside Sonko and has publicly endorsed the government’s social agenda, is expected to sign it. No timeline for his formal approval has been announced.
