The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the top rights body of the Americas, said in a symbolic landmark ruling on Feb. 17 that Jamaica should repeal its colonial-era gay sex ban, Reuters reported.
Two Jamaicans who started the case in 2011after they were attacked by homophobic gangs and sought asylum overseassaid the 1864 ban on the "abominable crime of buggery" and "gross indecency" legitimized violence against LGBT+ people.
It is the first time the IACHR has ruled that criminalizing gay and lesbian people violates international law, said the Human Dignity Trust, an LGBT+ legal advocacy group which brought the case.
Jamaica is one of nine Caribbean countries that criminalize same-sex relations; the penalty for same-sex intimacy is up to 10 years in jail, with hard labor.