Integrating a Human Rights Based Approach to Issues of Homosexuality in Nigeria: A Critique of the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2014

Abstract

The aspiration expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ‘[a]ll human beings ... born free and equal in dignity and rights', appears to clash with cultural standings on homosexuality and dignity in Nigeria. At the base of human rights violations meted out on homosexuals lies cultural justifications. Indeed, the assertion that homosexuality is ‘unafrican', hence its criminalization representing the legitimate interest of all Nigerians may not be totally correct against the state of play that our post-independence constitutional legal framework towed the path of the western liberal ideology that allows a breeding ground for individual autonomy to thrive. How can a Constitutional provision that protects the right of one to choose and to live in a way one wants, so long as he does not harm his neighbour, now provide a prohibitory inoculation to such constitutional guarantee? Can a valid claim to an African morality not offend the concept of western morality and globalization in the heated contention and unending debate between cultural relativism and universality of human rights? The thesis of this work is to appraise the Nigeria Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2014 and to critique same for violating the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria using the universal concepts of liberty, privacy protection, equality and non-discrimination to challenge violations of individual rights on grounds of sexual orientation. On the other hand, granted that some conducts are adjudged immoral, sinful and unafrican by the majority, what part does this judgment play to make harmless consensual conducts and choices criminal by the state legislators? There should be a shift in the majority's attitude towards the direction of accommodating benign differences because when a right is considered a fundamental right, it is no longer a matter of popular vote as it makes no difference that the majority of the citizens do not approve of it. The application of privacy, equality and non-discrimination principles in Nigeria will help sexual minorities to achieve equal rights. This article concludes that the Nigeria's Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2014 is unconstitutional.