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The Namibian Excessive Courtroom is about on Thursday to rule on an software for the proper of non-Namibian same-sex spouses to stay and work within the nation.
It’s the newest authorized battle with the federal government in a rustic the place homosexuality is against the law and authorities refuse to recognise marriages from outdoors the nation.
Final 12 months, two {couples} challenged the federal government’s resolution to disclaim their non-Namibian spouses work and residence permits on the grounds of their same-sex marital standing.
“These {couples} are suing in order that their same-sex marriages which are concluded in international locations the place it is lawfully permitted be recognised by Namibia and for the foreign-born spouses to be afforded the identical immigration rights as heterosexual {couples},” Omar van Reenen, an activist with the Namibia Equal Rights Motion, informed AFP Wednesday.
The rights group accuses immigration authorities of selectively making use of the regulation and what it calls “state-sanctioned homophobia”.
READ | Bid to toughen anti-gay legal guidelines fails in Senegal
Immigration legal guidelines are clear that “so long as you’re a partner lawfully married to a Namibian, you might be entitled to stay, work and research in Namibia with out permits,” Van Reenen mentioned.
One of many {couples} is Namibian citizen Johann Potgieter and his South African husband, Daniel Digashu, who have been married in South Africa in 2015.
The second case entails Namibian Anette Seiler-Lilles, who has been married to German citizen Anita Seiler-Lilles since 2017.
Their legal professionals mentioned their instances should not about altering the regulation to make it authorized for same-sex {couples} to get married in Namibia, however about recognising such marriages celebrated elsewhere.
Homosexuality is against the law in Namibia underneath a not often enforced 1927 sodomy regulation courting to its interval of South African rule.
Final October the Namibian Excessive Courtroom granted citizenship to a homosexual couple’s two-year-old son, ending a authorized battle over surrogacy and same-sex mother and father.
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