United Nations secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has urged African leaders to respect GLBT rights.

At a two-day African Union summit in Ethiopia, Ban Ki-Moon told the assembly that discrimination against people based on their gender and sexual orientation “had been ignored or sanctioned by many states for far too long.”

He told African delegates that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity encourages governments “to treat people as second class citizens or even criminals”.

Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries, including Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya and Botswana.

The USA and UK have previously warned African countries criminalising homosexual acts that foreign aid would be withheld.

Watch part of his address here: