Uganda’s parliament will again discuss a bill criminalizing homosexuality and gender identity, the eventual passage of which will violate a number of fundamental rights, the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced this Friday.
The “Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023” was presented to parliament in Kampala this Thursday by a deputy, Asuman Basalirwa, and is being presented as a revised and expanded version of the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2014.
That law strengthened existing prison sentences for same-sex sexual conduct and banned the “promotion of homosexuality”, but was overturned by a court on procedural grounds.
“One of the most extreme features of this new bill is that it criminalizes people simply for being who they are, in addition to further encroaching on the right to privacy and freedom of expression and association, already under threat in Uganda. come”emphasizes Oryem Nyeko, Ugandan HRW researcher, quoted in a statement by the human rights organization.
“Ugandan politicians should focus on passing laws that protect vulnerable minorities and affirm fundamental rights and stop persecuting LGBT people to gain political capital”he added.
Like the law passed in 2014, this bill expands the criminalization of same-sex acts, including prohibitions such as touching another person “with intent to commit an act of homosexuality.”
Persons found guilty of the “crime of homosexuality” can be imprisoned for up to ten years. The bill also carries a penalty of up to five years in prison for “promoting homosexuality” and declares all same-sex sexual conduct non-consensual.
Uganda’s penal code punishes “carnal knowledge against the order of nature”, a phrase interpreted as sexual interaction between people of the same sex, already punishable by life imprisonment, although this punishment, which lives on from the colonial penal framework, is rarely used applied . .
The deputy signing the new bill admitted its purpose is “to look at this colonial law and adapt it to the current situation”.
This is not the first time Uganda’s parliament has tried to criminalize homosexuality again since the 2014 law was overturned. In 2021, it passed the Sex Offenses Act, which made any “sexual act between people of the same sex”, as well as anal sex between people of any sex, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
On August 3, 2021, President Yoweri Museveni rejected the Sexual Crimes Bill and returned it to parliament, stating that it covered crimes already provided for in the Penal Code.
These attempts to criminalize homosexuality are always followed by periods of increasing repression of sexual minorities in Uganda, HRW warns.
“In the space of five months since the passage of the 2013 anti-homosexuality law, LGBT people have experienced a notable increase in arbitrary arrests, police abuse and extortion, job losses, evictions and homelessness, with many people fleeing the country”underlined in the statement.
“The Ugandan government targeting a vulnerable minority and diverting attention from further repression of rights groups is an all too familiar tactic”said Nyeko.
“What the government is trying to do should raise alarm bells among civil society groups in Uganda and the international community, as it points to an increase in repression and the stifling of voices from the opposition and civil society groups in general”added the HRW researcher.
Source: DN
