DAKAR, Senegal (AFP) — Senegal’s ministers have adopted a bill to “toughen penalties” for same-sex relations and child sex abuse that next heads to the National Assembly, following multiple arrests in separate cases.

Police this month have arrested 17 men, including two local celebrities and a well-known journalist, for same-sex relations under anti-LGBTQ laws, with human rights groups condemning the detentions.

In a separate case, investigators dismantled a paedophile gang operating between the country and France, arresting 14 people.

For the past 10 days, many Senegalese media outlets have run leading stories on the same-sex relations and paedophilia arrests, often conflating them.

The bill advanced by Senegal’s cabinet of ministers late Wednesday concerns both cases.

Ministers said they had “examined and adopted” a bill amending the current penal code, “clarifying the definition of unnatural acts” as well as increasing the penalties.

Under the current code, “indecent assault” against children under age 13 is punishable by two to five years in prison.

“Unnatural acts with a person of the same sex” carries a sentence of one to five years in prison.

When contacted by AFP, authorities declined to specify to what extent the penalties would be increased.

In recent years, LGBTQ issues have regularly stirred controversy in Senegal and pro-LGBTQ advocacy is frequently denounced as a tool used by Westerners to impose foreign values.