A ruling by the High Court in Mombasa, Kenya, upholding the legality of anal tests on men suspected of engaging in homosexual sex is shocking, said Amnesty International.
The judgement was made in response to a petition brought by two men which sought to declare unconstitutional the tests that they were forced to undergo in February 2015. In their constitutional petition, the two men said doctors at the Coast General Hospital, the main government hospital in Mombasa, had conspired with law-enforcement agents to subject them to forced anal examinations in violations of their rights.
Two Kenya gay lovers
In the ruling, Judge Mathew Emukule held that there were sufficient grounds in Kenyan law for intrusion into the human anatomy to gather medical evidence of a crime, including sodomy. He also claimed the petitioners had consented to the tests.
Forced anal exams violate multiple treaties that Kenya has ratified, including the Convention against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African Convention on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Amnesty International’s Director for East Africa Muthoni Wanyeki said: “Forcible anal examinations of men suspected of same-sex relationships is abhorrent, and violates the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment under international law. They should not be allowed to continue.
“It is also absurd as the government has no business proving or disproving consensual homosexual activity. It’s a violation of the right to privacy.”