According to the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, close to $350 million of US financial aid to Malawi was rescinded due to amendments in the country’s penal code criminalizing sodomy. This money is used for basic services in the African nation, a landlocked country that is among the world’s least developed. Only seven percent of Malawians have regular access to electricity.

Ultimately, Malawi acquiesced to bring its sodomy laws in line with those of the progressive West, but not without grave concerns about the new cultural imperialism on this issue. “In as far as we cannot run away from the fact that we need their aid it is absurd for those countries to be forcing the country to embrace immoral cultures,” said Dr. Hetherwick M. Ntaba, the chief political advisor to the president of Malawi. “We are a sovereign state and we deserve to be treated as such, aid or no aid.”

No international human rights treaty mentions sexual orientation or covers sexual behavior. More than 60 countries around the world have laws that penalize homosexual acts, and nearly every country has laws that criminalize various sexual behaviors, including pedophilia and incest.

More Information: C-FAM