David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the ambassador, Dr. Ketebu. Through her, I wish to extend my congratulations to Nigeria on the very effective way it has fought against the spread of the Ebola virus. I note that, like me, she is a member of the Anglican Church. I am a regular attendee at St. Patrick's Cathedral and a former member of its board and synod. I am not sure what a Knight of the Anglican Church is but I congratulate her on holding that position.

Many of the questions I wanted to ask have been posed by my colleagues. I will, therefore, concentrate on a particular issue about which I am greatly disturbed and which is also a matter of some concern to the international community, namely, the treatment of gay people in Nigeria and the introduction of a number of recent laws. The Associated Press published a report on 5 January 2014 in which it was stated: "First the police targeted the gay men, then tortured them into naming dozens of others who now are being hunted down, human rights activists said Tuesday, warning that such persecution will rise under a new Nigerian law." Other reports indicate that a man received 20 lashes in a northern Nigerian sharia court after being convicted of committing a homosexual act. In the context of the Bill passed by the Nigerian Parliament and recently signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is on record as stating, "Rarely have I seen a piece of legislation that in so few paragraphs directly violates so many basic, universal human rights". Will the ambassador comment on the mistreatment of gay people throughout Africa and on the completely incorrect contention that homosexuality is a western vice? It is, in fact, the intervention in respect of it that is western. I refer here to the British colonial laws, namely, the relevant Acts of 1861 and 1885, and the intervention of certain American evangelical churches which are using this as an instrument to become involved in political life in Nigeria.