Mali

In Mali, same-sex intimacy is explicitly prohibited through the new penal code enacted in 2024. The new provisions impacting LGBTIQ individuals include the following:   Article 325-1 states, “Any unnatural sexual act performed publicly with an individual of the same sex also constitutes public indecency. Indecent exposure, committed publicly and intentionally, is punishable by two years imprisonment and a fine of 200,000 francs (US$310).” Article 325-2 added the following two sentences: “Any unnatural sexual act committed with an individual of the same sex also constitutes an indecent assault. Any comment, image, public or private writing, any public or private act, likely to approve, encourage, promote or facilitate the indecent assault…is punishable by seven years imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 francs ($775).” Article 325-10 on incest, which is new, states that “Incest committed between persons of the same sex constitutes an aggravating circumstance and is punishable by seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of 10,000,000 francs ($15,537).”

The Minister of Justice, Mamadou Kassogue, stated in 2023, when the National Transitional Council introduced the new penal code, that the passage of such a law would “safeguard traditional and moral values.”

Freedom of association of LGBTIQ organizations is limited under Article 4 of the Law on Associations (Law No. 04-038) (2004), which prohibits the registration of associations with a purpose "that is contrary to law and morality." According to the 2023 U.S. Department of State Human Rights Report on Mali, local NGOs working on human rights stated that LGBTQI+ persons experienced physical, psychological, and sexual violence, which society viewed as “corrective” punishment.

*Outright research indicates that the bodily autonomy of intersex people is not respected and protected in this country.