UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Friday welcomed an Indian court's decision to legalize consensual same sex relations, describing it as an important step toward freedom and equality.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th September, 2018) UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Friday welcomed an Indian court's decision to legalize consensual same sex relations, describing it as an important step toward freedom and equality.
On Thursday, India's Supreme Court overturned a colonial-era law, known as section 377, which banned same-sex acts as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature."
"This is a great day for India and for all those who believe in the universality of human rights. With this landmark decision, the Indian Supreme Court has taken a big step forward for freedom and equality. I hope that other courts elsewhere in the world will look to India's example and be encouraged to move in the same direction," Bachelet said in a statement.
According to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), homosexual activity remains a criminal offense in a number of other countries in Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Oman and Pakistan.
