NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In a rare win for gay rights campaigners in Kenya, its Court of Appeal on Thursday ruled that it is illegal to force people suspected of being homosexual to undergo anal examinations. "The ruling is a tremendous step not only in upholding the dignity of homosexuals who'd been subjected to the indignities of anal examinations but also to the rule of law in Kenya," said Eric Gitari, the executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. "The ruling is a tremendous step not only in upholding the dignity of homosexuals who'd been subjected to the indignities of anal examinations but also to the rule of law in Kenya," said Eric Gitari, who heads the NGLHRC. The National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC), a nongovernmental organization based in Nairobi, filed a constitutional challenge after police arrested two men in Kwale County in February 2015 on charges of homosexuality, and subjected them to forced anal exams, HIV tests, and Hepatitis B tests at Mombasa’s Madaraka Hospital. The ruling reversed a 2016 High Court decision that had upheld the Kenyan authorities’ use of forced anal exams to attempt to provide evidence of homosexual conduct. The charity then challenged the ruling in the Court of Appeal in Mombasa, which has now ruled in its favor - but many African countries such as Uganda, Zambia, Egypt and Cameroon still conduct forced anal examinations.
The Kenyan Court of Appeals rules forced anal examinations on suspected homosexuals are illegal.