Zimbabwe official: We won’t allow gay rights
Zimbabwe’s justice minister told a visiting U.N. human rights chief that his country won’t grant human rights to gays, lesbians, bisexuals or transgender people.
Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, is in Zimbabwe to assess its compliance with international standards for human rights. She is scheduled to meet with government officials and human rights groups, who say they have compiled reports of hundreds of assaults, beatings, rapes and torture.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa denied allegations from opponents of the regime that his government has initiated violent acts against its citizens, the Associated Press reported.
Chinamasa told reporters after meeting with Pillay, “We made it clear that in our law homosexual activities are criminalized and that any person who commits homosexual activities will be arrested.”
Zimbabwe is in the midst of drafting a new constitution. A dispute has broken out over whether proposed language for the constitution would protect LGBT rights.
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