[JURIST] A Kenyan judge on Thursday upheld the use of anal examinations to determine the sexual orientation of an individual. Judge Mathew Emukule said [Guardian report] “I find no violation of human dignity, right to privacy and right to freedom of the petitioners.” The case was initiated when two men suspected of engaging in a consensual, homosexual act, a crime in Kenya, were arrested and given anal examinations and HIV and hepatitis B tests, which they described as humiliating and amounting to torture. The ruling has raised concerns throughout the area, drawing the ire of Amnesty International Director for East Africa Muthoni Wanyeki, who called [press release] “forcible anal examinations of men suspect of same-sex relationship … abhorrent,” and in violation of international laws against torture and ill-treatment, as well as to the basic right to privacy. The two men currently face up to 14 years in prison, if convicted.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals have gained increased rights globally in the last decade, but many still face discrimination and criminal punishment throughout the world. In July US President Barack Obama called on Kenya and other African countries to provide for the equal treatment [JURIST report] of LGBT individuals. In August JURIST Guest Columnists Anneke Meerkotter of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre and Graeme Reid of Human Rights Watch discussed how recent court rulings in Botswana, Kenya and Zambia illustrate significant progress [JURIST op-ed] in human rights in general and in LGBT rights in particular. Homosexuality is currently outlawed in 34 African countries and is only explicitly legal in South Africa.