diff --git a/Lib/logging/handlers.py b/Lib/logging/handlers.py
index bdf82aff6e9..d752063c1bf 100644
--- a/Lib/logging/handlers.py
+++ b/Lib/logging/handlers.py
@@ -31,6 +31,11 @@ try:
     import codecs
 except ImportError:
     codecs = None
+try:
+    unicode
+    _unicode = True
+except NameError:
+    _unicode = False
 
 #
 # Some constants...
@@ -779,6 +784,11 @@ class SysLogHandler(logging.Handler):
             self.encodePriority(self.facility,
                                 self.mapPriority(record.levelname)),
                                 msg)
+        # Treat unicode messages as required by RFC 5424
+        if _unicode and type(msg) is unicode:
+            msg = msg.encode('utf-8')
+            if codecs:
+                msg = codecs.BOM_UTF8 + msg
         try:
             if self.unixsocket:
                 try:
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 49c739f77db..6946706d09e 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -418,6 +418,8 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #7077: logging: SysLogHandler now treats Unicode as per RFC 5424.
+
 - Issue #7099: Decimal.is_normal now returns True for numbers with exponent
   larger than emax.