By The Nyasa Times

Malawi government of Malawi says it will not bow down to ‘unduly’ pressure from western countries to legalise homosexuality in the country.

Attorney General Jane Ansah has said Malawians are against the practice.

She was speaking when she appeared before the Human Rights Council for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva, Switzerland.

“The people of Malawi should be allowed to decide on the issue”, Ansah is quoted as saying by The Nation newspaper of Wednesday.

The questions from UN member states followed the marriage in December last year of the gay couple Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steve Monjeza.

The two were imprisoned for 14 years and were subsequently pardoned by State President Bingu wa Mutharika in May this year.

Most donors also took Malawi to task on the arrest of gay people in Malawi and the government’s failure to curb homophobic tendencies.  Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France and the United Kingdom all asked about the arrest of gays in Malawi.

“Ansah insisted there was no homophobia or incidences of inciting violence against gays,” reports The Daily Times in its front-page story headlined ‘AG firm on gays at UN’.

She said the laws simply outlawed unnatural acts and these could be commited by a man and a woman and not just men.

“Malawi has no plans to legalise homosexuality and the wishes of Malawians should be respected,” she said.

The Attorney-General pointed out that there was no consensus even in the international community on gay rights.  She thus wondered why Malawi was being singled out on issues that the international community is failing to agree on.

She cited a failed 2008 resolution in the United Nations on which only 70 out of 192 countries voted in favour of, signifying a lack of consensus on the issue.

“Let the wishes of the people of Malawi be respected. If Malawians want to make any changes on this issue, they will do so on their own, but not because of pressure, especially when the whole world cannot agree one thing on gay rights,” she emphasized.

http://www.nyasatimes.com/national/malawi-government-says-no-to-homosexuality.html

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