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Eliminate Homosexuals Council of Europe Votes for Gays Morality Cops Target Malaysian Gays |
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By Rex Wockner
International News Report Namibian Official to Police: Eliminate Homosexuals
Namibia's home affairs minister, Jerry Ekandjo, told police
officers on October 1 to eliminate homosexuals.
Speaking to 700 new graduates of the police academy in northern Ondangwa, Ekandjo said: "We must make sure we eliminate them [gays and lesbians] from the face of Namibia. [The] constitution does not guarantee rights for gays and lesbians. "Even if gays and lesbians had a gay dog they would murder it," he said. The gay group Rainbow Project responded by urging the government "to publicly reject" Ekandjo's statements. Deputy Home Affairs Minister Jeremiah Nambinga has expressed similar sentiments. "Homosexuality is evil," he said last year. "Homosexuality is anti-social and should not only be condemned but should also be legislated against. Homosexuals are patients of psychological and biological deviations." Namibian President Sam Nujoma has said: "Those who are practicing homosexuality in Namibia are destroying the nation. ... Homosexuals must be condemned and rejected in our society." Council of Europe Votes for Gays
"This is a great development," said Nico Beger, an International Lesbian and Gay Association delegate to the Council of Europe. "The recommendations were carried by a majority of 77 percent. Although the vote is not binding on national governments, it represents a most powerful statement of democratic opinion across Europe, and as such will help influence the development of government policies across the continent." Founded following World War II, the Council of Europe aims to strengthen democracy, human rights and the rule of law in its 41 member states. The European Convention on Human Rights is the most important of its many human-rights treaties. Violations of the convention are settled by the European Court of Human Rights. The Council is governed by the foreign ministers of its member states (the Committee of Ministers) and by representatives from national parliaments (the Parliamentary Assembly). Morality Cops Target Malaysian Gays One hundred eleven Malaysian men were arrested by the Islamic Affairs Department's morality police for "attempting to commit homosexual acts" last year in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city. "Homosexuality is forbidden in Islam," Abdul Kadir Che Kob, the department's head of education and research, told TIME Asia. "It is a crime worse than murder. They are shameless people. ... How can men have sex with men? God did not make them this way. This is all Western influence." Fifty morality officers work for the department. They are permitted to arrest only Muslims and spring into action only after receiving a complaint. "Usually people give us precise information like where these men are," Abdul Kadir said. "We then go to the place, say, a hotel room. We knock and force them to open the door, but they are usually fully clothed by then. We still charge them for attempting to commit homosexual acts. "We charge them in court [and] put them through what we call Islamic counseling sessions," he said. "They recite the Koran everyday and we will tell them they have committed a grave sin." TIME did not say if any other punishment is meted out.
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